An extra socket, a different tile, a partition moved twenty centimetres: changes during a job are normal. What is less normal is finding out at invoice time that the client doesn't remember asking for them, or not at that price. The variation is the answer, provided you get it approved before carrying it out, and can find that approval again.
The rules around variations depend on your contract (works contract, house-building contract, subcontracting) and your status. This article gives field habits, not legal advice: for the form required in your case, rely on your contract, your insurer or a lawyer.
Why a text message's "ok" isn't enough
It is enough at the time, and not afterward. Three weeks later, the message says "ok for the change" without saying which one, with no price, no effect on the schedule. The client may have been answering another question. And if two people were to decide, one of them can say they weren't aware.
A useful approval answers the same questions as any record of a decision: what, who, when, on what basis.
What a variation must describe
Written to be understood by someone who wasn't on site, a variation contains:
- The change, precisely. "Addition of two sockets in the kitchen, window side, as per the attached plan," not "small electrical change."
- Its effect on the price, including when there is none: "no extra cost" is information.
- Its effect on the schedule, if the deadline changes, with the new date.
- The document it relates to: the original quote or plan, in its reference version, so the variation isn't read alone.
- A photo or sketch when text alone is ambiguous.
If you are unsure of the pricing, don't present the variation: an approval on a provisional amount breeds the next dispute.
Who must answer
This is the point most often forgotten. In a couple, do both need to give their agreement, or is one of them authorised? For a company, who commits it? Ask at the start of the job, note the answer, and then address each variation to the right people. When two decision-makers must answer, ask them together rather than one after the other: each answers on their own, and you see who is holding things up.
How to present the request
- One request per variation. Don't mix three changes in one message: the client would accept two and hesitate on the third, and the answer would stay unclear.
- An explicit yes or no, with the option to refuse and say why. A reasoned refusal beats silence.
- A deadline tied to the job. "Answer before Thursday, so the electrician can come Monday": the client understands their delay has a consequence.
- No work before the answer. It is the rule that costs the most to keep on a job that is moving, and the one that avoids the most disputes.
When the client hesitates between two solutions (two tiles, two partition positions), present them side by side with their price difference: the choice and the approval then happen in one go.
Where to keep the approval
The variation, the answer and the date must be found in the same place, attached to the job, and not in the mailbox of one of the participants. At handover or final invoice, you must be able to list the approved changes in order, with the date and name of each. That is what closes the discussion before it starts.
With Kolinea
In Kolinea, the job is a folder shared with the client, who enters through a link, confirmed by an email code, with no account. You submit the variation as a sign-off: the client accepts it, or refuses it and says why. The acceptance carries the date, time and their name, stays attached to the object submitted and cannot be changed afterward. When two people must answer, you ask them together.
For two solutions to compare, a choice decision offers two to six options, in text or image. Each request has a recipient, a deadline and automatic reminders.
Kolinea neither prices nor invoices: it keeps the record of the approval. And it is a simple approval, not a qualified electronic signature. The renovation contractors page shows a complete job with quotes and variations, and the home builders page a construction folder: the button opens the example folder. For following the site as a whole, see site updates with your client, without WhatsApp. To start with your clients, go to the home page.