Change order logs that maintain themselves.

A change order log is the running record of every change to a construction contract after it is signed: what was requested, what was priced, who approved it, and when. For change orders in construction, the log is the control point between the field and billing — it is how an approved change makes its way into the schedule of values and onto a pay application.

At minimum, each entry needs a reference number, the scope of the change, who requested it, the submitted and approved pricing, the approval status with dates, and the contract’s notice requirements. The field most templates omit is the one that matters most: the schedule-of-values line the approved change will bill against. Without it, the log records the change but never connects it to billing.

On paper, the project manager or project engineer owns it, because change orders originate in the field. In practice at a mid-market contractor, the controller ends up owning it at billing time, because the log only matters when it ties to the pay application. Shared ownership is the usual failure mode: the field assumes the office logged it, and the office assumes the field priced it.

Once approved, a change order is added to the schedule of values — as a separate line or folded into an existing one, depending on the contract — and its work bills in the period it is performed, like any other line. The named failure mode is sequencing: a change approved in the field that never reaches the schedule of values does not get billed. The log and the pay application have to reconcile every cycle — and under the manual way, they do not.

A change order is a signed agreement between the owner and the contractor that changes the scope, price, or schedule of the contract before the work proceeds. A construction change directive is a unilateral instruction from the owner: the work proceeds before the price is settled, and the cost is negotiated later. Directives belong on the same log, with the contract’s notice and documentation rules attached from the day the directive lands — unresolved directives are the ones most likely to reach closeout unbilled.