I'm being told the change is included in my scope
We priced one thing, we are being made to build another, and the answer keeps coming back that it's all design development.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
What's happening?
A revised drawing adds work, and your main contractor calls it design development or says it was in your scope all along. The label on the drawing does not decide it. What decides it is what you priced: the tender drawings at their revision, the specification, your clarifications and who carries the design.
Build it without challenge and the extra goes into the job as if it was always there, with its cost. Some items will be clear changes, some will be included, and some will stay open. Whether a change is paid also depends on who instructed it, any notice your subcontract needs and how it is valued.
The solution
Compare the revised drawing with everything you priced: the tender drawings at their revision, the specification, your clarifications and the design responsibility. Mark each item as changed, included or unresolved, with the document that decides it. Ask for a written instruction before the disputed work is built, so the only argument left is whether it is a change.
Variation Claim does that comparison for you and values the changed items on your subcontract's own rules. On the next job, Unpaid Variation Prevention checks every drawing revision against the last on the day it arrives. Added scope is then confirmed as a change before anyone calls it design development.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
A fit-out subcontractor has priced partitions from the tender drawings at revision B. Revision D adds acoustic insulation to 1,200 metres of partition, and the main contractor calls it design development.
What happens
- Before labelling anything, the subcontractor compares the whole agreed scope: the tender drawings, the specification and its clarification schedule. The clarifications expressly excluded acoustic upgrades.
- It reads the design split alongside, which gives it no partition design, and every revision from B to D with its issue sheet.
- The acoustic insulation, £28,000 on the subcontractor's measure, is recorded as changed. It appears nowhere in the priced documents and was excluded in the clarifications.
- Fire-stopping at the partition heads, £6,000, could reasonably be read from the specification, so it is recorded as included.
- The door frame type, £4,000, is left unresolved. Two versions of the door schedule exist, and neither is marked as the tender issue.
- Who instructed it and what it is worth are dealt with separately. The subcontractor asks for a written instruction before ordering the insulation, and gets one.
The three items in figures
| Item | Amount | Basis recorded |
|---|---|---|
| Acoustic insulation | £28,000 | Changed |
| Fire-stopping at partition heads | £6,000 | Included |
| Door frame type | £4,000 | Unresolved |
The outcome
The insulation is measured after installation and agreed at £25,000. The unresolved frame item is carried forward with both versions of the schedule attached.