Prime Contract Change Orders from the Owner / Architect are the only documents that can revise the
scope of work, contract amount, and contract time for a project.
As discussed in the PCO chapter, there will be many issues that will come up during a project. Many of
them will require added cots to the Prime Contract or its subcontractors. A Prime Contract Change Order
must be issued for all approved Change Order Requests or PCO’s. Depending on the size of the job,
change orders can be issued for each Change Order Request or several Change Order Requests can
be included in one Change Order. A minimum of one Change Order every one to two months should be
issued by the Architect / Owner.
The following steps should be must be completed when a change order is received.
Obtain change order from the architect for all approved cost proposals. Send the architect a list of
approved change orders from your log to remind the architect of the need for the change order. This will
aid the architect in compiling the change order information and reduce the amount of confusion and
revisions when the change order is issued. It may be necessary to start gathering the change order
information at the beginning of the month in order to have it completed in time to be included in the
billing.
Review the change order for:
- Correct original contract amount
- Review the Prime Contract to confirm that it matches the amount show on the Prime Contract
Change Order - Previous change order amounts
- Add the amount of each previous change order and confirm that it matches the amount shown on
the current change order - Current change order amount – Add all of the currently approved PCO’s or COR’s and confirm that
they match amount shown on the current change order - Contract completion date – Review the prime contract and confirm that the date matches the
original date on the change order. Then add any time extensions to date to confirm that the current
contract date is correct. - Proper descriptions for the change orders – Review each pco and confirm the description noted
in the pco matches that of the change order. If he description does not match it may imply work to
be performed that was not included in the original PCO. Once signed it will technically be
included in the contract. - All proper signatures for the changed work – To be considered fully executed the Owner, architect
and contractor must signed the change order. Usually the owner signs the change order after the
architect and contractor.
The Prime Contract change order is an official contract document. The information must be verified as
being correct before the being signed by the Prime Contractor..
When the signed PCCO is received back fully executed, complete subcontract change orders and budget
adjustments as noted in the subcontractor change order section
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