Accepted Estimate Flow and Change Orders

The moment your client accepts an estimate, two things happen. The estimate locks, and a set of new options appears. This article covers both: what an accepted estimate can do, and how change orders work when something needs to change after acceptance.

Part 1 — What happens when your client accepts

The estimate is locked

An accepted estimate cannot be edited.

This is on purpose. The accepted estimate is the version your client signed. It stays exactly as it was, so there is never a question later about what was originally agreed.

What opens up instead

Once accepted, the estimate menu gives you:

Once you create a change order, Create Change Order becomes Update Change Order.

Part 2 — Set your change order behaviour first

Before you create your first change order, there is one setting to decide on. It sits under Preferences, headed:

Accepted change order behaviour — choose how an accepted change order affects the linked estimate.

You have two options.

Option 1 — Update Linked Estimate

Everything you change in an accepted change order flows back into the estimate. The estimate value, its payment terms and its line items all update to match.

Choose this when you want one single agreed figure with your client, kept up to date as the job evolves.

Option 2 — Keep Change Order Independent

The change order takes its starting data from the estimate, but nothing you do in it touches the estimate. The estimate stays exactly as it was accepted, and the change is tracked on its own.

Choose this when you want the original contract value preserved and every variation recorded and billed separately.

This choice cannot be undone

Important: This is an organisation-wide setting. Once you save it and create your first change order, it cannot be changed.

Discuss it with your team before you save it. There is no way back.

Part 3 — Creating a change order

Before you start

A change order can only be created from an accepted estimate. There is no way to start one from scratch.

Step 1 — Open the accepted estimate

Find the accepted estimate and choose Create Change Order from its menu.

You are taken to that estimate's preview page.

Step 2 — Pick what is changing

On the preview page, a checkbox appears beside every section, line item and material.

Tick only what is actually changing.

Example: your estimate has four line items, but only two of them need a price change. Tick those two and leave the other two alone.

Step 3 — Create it

Click Create Change Order. You land on the Create New Change Order page.

If you are editing an existing change order rather than making a new one, the page is headed Update Change Order instead.

Part 4 — Working on the change order page

The header

• Serial Number — generated automatically
• Title — shows which estimate this change order came from, so you can always trace it back
• Business Info and Client Info

Planned and Updated

Every line item you brought across shows two rows:

Both rows show quantity, unit, rate per unit, profit, rate excluding tax, tax and rate including tax — so the difference between what was agreed and what you are now proposing is obvious at a glance.

Green and red

The change order colours the difference so you can see the direction of travel immediately:

• Green — the amount has gone up. More money coming in.
• Red — the amount has gone down. Less money than originally agreed.

Example: a line item was agreed at 2,000 and you are changing it to 4,000. That extra 2,000 shows in green.

Adding to the change order

You are not limited to what you brought across from the estimate:

• Add Manually — add a new line item
• Add Section — add a new section

The summary

At the bottom you will see:

• Estimate Total
• Change Order Total
• Budget Impact

Part 5 — What happens to the money

This is where your preference setting matters. The same change produces different results depending on which option you chose.

If you chose "Update Linked Estimate"

Everything flows back into the estimate.

Situation A — the amount goes up

Your estimate was 10,000. Your change order takes it to 12,000.

An additional payment term for 2,000 is created on the estimate.

Situation B — the amount goes down and your client has already paid too much

Your estimate was 10,000. Your client has already paid 8,000 across their payment terms. Your change order brings the total down to 7,000.

Your client has overpaid by 1,000. A credit note for 1,000 is created automatically.

Situation C — the amount goes down and nothing has been paid yet

Your estimate was 10,000 with payment terms set up. Your change order brings it to 7,000.

The 3,000 reduction is applied automatically. Payment terms, line items and totals all adjust themselves to the new figure.

If you chose "Keep Change Order Independent"

The estimate is never touched. The change is handled entirely within the change order.

Situation A — the amount goes up

Your estimate was 10,000. Your change order takes it to 12,000.

The additional payment term for 2,000 is created on the change order itself, not on the estimate. Your estimate still reads 10,000.

Situation B — the amount goes down

Your estimate was 10,000. Your change order brings it to 7,000.

No credit note is created for you automatically. Instead, a Create Credit Note option appears in the change order's menu. Use it when you are ready.

About credit notes

Whether it is created automatically or by you, the credit note is capped at the reduced amount.

If 3,000 came off, the credit note total stays at 3,000. You can add as many line items inside it as you like to explain the breakdown, but the total will not move above that figure.

Part 6 — Approval and sending

Change orders follow the same approval rules as estimates.

• Approvers see Save as Draft, Compose Email, Send via WhatsApp and Send via SMS
• Creators see Save as Draft and Request for Approval

See Estimate Workflow Approval for the full detail.

Part 7 — Managing change orders

The three tabs

Change orders are organised the same way estimates are:

• Sent — change orders you have sent to your client
• Draft — change orders saved to finish later
• Analytics — time spent, edits and downloads for each change order

Editing a change order

• A change order in Sent status can be edited freely.
• An accepted change order cannot be edited.

Change orders do not have revisions

This is the main difference from estimates. Estimates track revision 1, revision 2 and so on. Change orders do not.

Edit a sent change order and it simply updates, with the revised price shown on the card. There is no version history to step back through.

Changing something on an accepted change order

If a change order has already been accepted and something needs to change again, a brand new change order is created. The accepted one stays exactly as it is. Nothing is merged into it.

You can raise as many change orders against one estimate as the job needs.

Viewing all change orders for an estimate

Open the estimate menu and choose View Change Orders. Every change order raised against that estimate is listed.

Each card shows:

• Created on
• Previous price
• Revised price
• The difference
• Its own serial number
• The serial number of the estimate it came from
• A copy link

You can preview an accepted change order directly from its card.