Variations · One module of the operating system
Price it once. Get it signed on a link.
The contract sum updates itself.
A variation module that separates what the client sees from what the work actually costs you. Build the variation from real budget and takeoff lines, compose a clean client-facing summary over the top, and the editor refuses to send unless that summary reconciles to the price. The client approves by signature on a single-use link, and the contract sum, the budget lines and the next progress claim all move the moment it lands. Variations is one module of the construction operating system, so none of that is re-keyed.
The Founding Builders Programme · Onboarding in small cohorts
01 / What it does
What this feature does
Variations is the module that carries an agreed change to scope from the moment it is priced to the moment it appears on a claim. What a variation is under an Australian residential contract, and why the document, price, approve, then build sequence carries so much weight, is covered in the reference on variations. This page is about the machinery: how the change is built, what the client is shown, how the approval is captured, and what moves in the job the moment it is approved.
Every variation here has two layers. Underneath sits the internal build-up: priced lines, each stamped with where it came from (a takeoff measurement, a budget line, a product, or a manual entry) and linked back to the budget line and estimate line behind it. Over the top sits the client-facing summary, composed separately, in the language a homeowner actually reads. The two layers are held together by a reconciliation rule rather than by anyone remembering to check. Because every module shares one data model, an approved variation keeps cost tracking honest and arrives in progress claims without being typed a second time. The judgement side of the discipline, the conversation and the timing, lives in the managing variations guide. The builders who lean on this module hardest are renovation builders, where a change a fortnight is the normal case rather than the exception.
02 / Why it matters
Why builders need it
A cost breakdown invites negotiation
Hand a client your marked-up line-by-line build-up and the conversation becomes a line-by-line argument. Composing the client rows separately keeps the internal costing internal, without hiding the price.
Client summaries drift from the price
A summary retyped into an email quietly stops adding up to the variation total. Here the editor will not send a variation whose client rows do not reconcile to the sell amount, so the two can’t disagree.
Agreed on site, never documented
The change that lives only in a site conversation is the one that turns into a discount at the end of the job. A variation that takes minutes to raise and send is a variation that gets raised.
Approval you can point to
The client signs by typing their name against the variation, and a decline has to carry a reason. The link is single-use and retires the moment a decision lands, so there is one dated record, not a thread.
Approved variations that never get claimed
Extra work that was approved and never billed is the quietest way to lose margin. On approval a progress claim for that variation is created for you, sitting in ready to send.
The budget stops describing the job
A variation filed as a PDF leaves the budget describing a job that no longer exists. Approval writes the cost side into the budget lines, so committed costs and the cost-to-complete forecast stay true.
03 / The VIABUILD way
How VIABUILD handles it
Two layers on one variation: your costed build-up underneath, the client’s summary over the top, and a reconciliation rule that will not let them disagree.
You build the variation the way you build anything else that is priced: lines drawn from a takeoff, from a budget line, from a product, or entered manually, each keeping a link back to where it came from. That is the internal layer, and it is where your rates and your margin live.
The client layer is composed on top of it, separately. You write the rows the homeowner sees, in their language, at the price they are being asked to approve. A single row can summarise a dozen internal lines, so the client reads “Supply and install extended eaves, $4,180” and, alongside it, “Credit: omitted rear window, -$900”. Omissions and credits are composed the same way, because a variation moves in both directions. What the client never sees is which part of that $4,180 was labour, which was material and which was margin.
The rule that makes this safe is refusal. If the client rows do not reconcile to the variation’s sell amount, the editor will not send it. There is no state in which the summary the client signed says one number and the variation says another. Builders who price differently can switch on a price visibility setting instead, which shows the client descriptions with only the totals block underneath.
Approval goes out as a branded PDF plus a link. The client approves or declines by typing their name as a signature, and a decline requires a reason, so a knock-back arrives with the information you need to re-price rather than as silence. The token is single-use and retires the moment a decision lands.
- Client rows composed separately from your costing
- Refuses to send if the client rows don’t reconcile
- Price visibility toggle: descriptions and totals only
- Branded PDF plus a signed approval link
- A decline requires a reason; the link then retires
- Contract sum, budget and claim all move on approval
04 / The workflow
How it runs, step by step
- 01
Build the variation
Add the priced lines. Each carries its source (takeoff, budget, product or manual) and a link back to the budget line and estimate line it came from, so the variation can always explain itself later.
- 02
Compose what the client sees
Write the client-facing summary rows over the top: plain descriptions at the price being approved, including any credits for omitted work. Your internal line-by-line cost and margin stay internal.
- 03
The reconciliation gate
The editor checks the client rows against the variation’s sell amount and refuses to send if they don’t reconcile. A summary that quietly disagrees with the price never reaches the client.
- 04
Send the PDF and the link
The variation goes out as a branded PDF with a link to approve. If you price differently, the price visibility setting sends the client descriptions with just the totals block.
- 05
The client signs, or declines with a reason
They approve or decline by typing their name as a signature. A decline has to carry a reason. The token is single-use, so it retires the moment the decision is recorded.
- 06
The contract sum and the budget move
On approval the contract sum increases, the budget lines are created or adjusted, each variation line is stamped with the budget line it landed on, and an audit event is written.
- 07
The claim is already waiting
A progress claim for that variation is created in ready to send. The whole approval sequence is guarded, so a repeated or concurrent approval cannot double-add, and a crash part-way through can be resumed.
05 / FAQ
Common questions.
No, not unless you put it there. The client-facing summary rows are composed separately from the internal cost lines, so the homeowner reads something like “Supply and install extended eaves, $4,180” while your line-by-line cost and margin stay internal. Builders who prefer to show even less can switch on the price visibility setting, which sends the client descriptions with only the totals block.
A refusal rather than a warning. If the client-facing rows do not reconcile to the variation’s sell amount, the editor will not send the variation at all. That removes the failure where a summary is edited late, no longer adds up, and gets signed anyway.
The variation is sent as a branded PDF plus a link. The client approves or declines by typing their name as a signature. A decline requires a reason, so you get something to re-price against instead of silence. The link’s token is single-use and retires as soon as a decision is recorded, which means one dated decision per variation rather than an email thread to interpret.
Four things, in one guarded sequence. The contract sum increases. The budget lines are created or adjusted, with each variation line stamped with the budget line it landed on. An audit event is written. A progress claim for that variation is created in ready to send. Because the sequence is idempotent, a repeated or concurrent approval cannot double-add, and if it is interrupted part-way through it can be resumed rather than half-applied.
No, and deliberately so. Client Selections shows the variance against the allowance and notifies you when a choice goes over, but converting that over-allowance amount into a variation is a decision you make, not something the system does behind you. Some over-runs are absorbed, some are re-selected, and some become a variation. The mechanics of that call are covered in the guide to handling quotes over allowance.
Each line carries a source type: a takeoff measurement, a budget line, a product, or a manual entry, plus a link back to the budget line and the estimate line behind it. That provenance is what lets an approved variation land on the right budget line instead of as an unattached lump, and what lets you answer months later where a number came from.
06 / Keep reading
Related features & guides
Raise the next variation before the work starts.
Start with 7 days free: the whole operating system, real data. $199 for your first month, then $555/mo. Price a real change, compose what the client sees, send it for signature, and watch the contract sum, the budget and the next claim move on approval.