Price the extra work, get it approved, and bill it
Appello keeps every change order on the job it belongs to. Price it from your own labour, material and equipment rates, send the customer a branded PDF, and track it until it is approved. Once it is approved, the change order is added to the job value and gets its own line on the next progress report and invoice, so extra work does not go unbilled. It is built for insulation, mechanical and electrical subcontractors, and it is live in Appello today.
Construction change order software: how it works
Open it on the job
Each change order is created on the job and numbered under the job number, so CO 7 on job 26-014 is never mixed up with another job's. Add the customer's reference number, the estimator, and the RFI that started it.
Price it your way
Enter one number when the GC wants a price today. Or build it line by line: labour at your trade-level rates, material at your catalog prices, equipment at your rates, each with its own markup. Overhead, contingency and tax sit on the same record.
Send a document that looks like yours
Write the change order letter on your own branded template, with merge tags for the job and customer. The AI Co-Pilot in the editor can draft the wording from the change order. Download the PDF and send it to the customer.
Bill it once it is approved
Statuses are yours to name. When a change order reaches your approved status, Appello adds it to the job value and records the date. It then shows up on the job's progress reports and the next progress invoice as its own line, with its number and the customer's reference.
A normal week with it
- Tuesday
The foreman flags a re-route of the chilled water line. The PM links the RFI, prices the change order from the crew's rates and the material catalog, and sends the PDF.
- Thursday
The GC approves it. The PM changes the status, and the job value goes up by the change order total.
- Month end
The progress report already has a line for the change order. The office enters the percent complete, and it bills on the invoice with the GC's reference number.
What change orders cost without a system
Most unbilled extra work is not disputed. It just never made it from an email thread onto an invoice.
- Change orders get approved on a phone call and never written up.
- Pricing is a guess, because the rates live in someone else's spreadsheet.
- The job value on paper is three change orders behind the job in the field.
- Approved extras get left off the monthly invoice and found at closeout, if at all.
Construction change order software: common questions
Do approved change orders show up on progress invoices?
Yes. Once a change order is approved in Appello, it is added to the job value and appears as its own line on the job's progress reports. Bill it by percent complete like any other line, and the progress invoice carries the change order number and the customer's reference number.
Can I price a change order with my union labour rates?
Yes. Itemized change orders in Appello price labour from your trade-level rates, material from your catalog and equipment from your equipment rates. Each line carries its own markup, and you can add overhead, contingency and tax.
Can the field create change orders from the phone?
No. Appello's change orders are created and priced in the web app, usually by the PM or estimator. The field's part is the RFI or site note that starts it, which can be linked to the change order.
Change orders, on your own jobs
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