Variations: pricing a change and getting it approved

Variations is an add-on, included in Pro and Enterprise, that an owner switches on in Settings, then Integrations & Add-ons. A variation is a priced change to a quote your customer has already accepted: extra work, less work or different work. It is a document on the job, like a quote or an invoice, and it never changes the job’s status.

Once Variations is on, a job with an accepted quote has a Variations section, right after Billing & Invoices. Anyone who can see quotes sees it.

Raise a variation

Owners and anyone whose role can edit quotes can raise a variation. It always stays on the job of the quote it changes.

1. 1.Open the job and click New variation in its Variations section, or open the accepted quote and click New variation there.
2. 2.The quote builder opens for a variation and shows the quote it changes. Fill in the details below.
3. 3.Add the lines the same way as on a quote. To take something off, give its line a minus price, for example -450.
4. 4.Save it. It stays a Draft until you send it.

Its number

A variation takes the number of the quote it changes, with V and a count: QUO-1042 has QUO-1042-V1, then QUO-1042-V2. The number always fits in 13 characters, the most MYOB takes, so a long quote number loses its dashes first.

What a variation states, and why

Each detail is there so you and your customer agree on the change before the work starts. Together they are what Queensland asks a variation to a domestic building contract to state.

1. 1.What is changing and why: the change in plain words, and the reason for it.
2. 2.Asked for by: the customer, or your business.
3. 3.Date requested: the day the change was asked for. It starts as today.
4. 4.The price change: the variation’s own lines, plus or minus.
5. 5.Time impact: the days it adds to the job, or a minus number for days it takes off, 0 for none. It is shown on the variation, and the bookings only move if you choose to move them.
6. 6.When it is paid: with the next invoice or claim, or when its work starts. On a Queensland domestic building contract you cannot ask for payment for a variation before its work has started.

Send it

Click Send variation. Your customer gets an email with a link to read the variation and approve it online. The email’s subject and opening words name the variation by its number, its button reads View and approve the variation, and you can change the wording before it goes.

If approval before sending is switched on for your business, a variation a team member saves waits for an owner, the same as a quote.

How your customer approves it

On the variation’s page, or in their client portal, your customer reads what is changing and why, who asked for it and when, the effect on the time, when it is paid and the price change. To approve it they type their full name, tick the box approving the variation, its price, its effect on the completion date and when it is paid, and draw their signature. They can also ask for changes or decline it.

A variation can be approved this way once it has been sent. The signature is kept privately with the variation, its PDF shows who approved it and when, with their signature, and the job’s timeline records it.

When your customer asks for a change

On a quote your customer has accepted, they can ask for a change: Need a change? on the quote’s page, or Request a change in their portal. That adds a Requested variation to the job, with their words as the reason, and owners and anyone who can see quotes are told. Open it, click Price this change, add the lines, then send it back for approval.

Approve it for your customer

When your customer agrees in person, by phone or by email, open the variation and click Approve for the customer. Enter who agreed, choose how (by phone, in person, by email or another way) and add a note, which is needed for another way. VexOp records who approved it, for whom and how, and the job’s timeline says so.

Owners and anyone whose role can edit quotes can approve a Draft or Sent variation for the customer. A variation waiting for an owner’s approval before sending needs that approval first.

Decline, void or change it

Decline marks a waiting variation as declined, with the reason. It never counts in the job’s contract.

Void is for an approved variation that no longer applies. Only an owner can void one, and a reason is needed. It stops counting in the contract, and the record stays.

An approved, declined or voided variation is the record and cannot be edited, so raise a new variation instead. A Requested or Draft variation can be deleted by anyone whose role can delete quotes.

The contract and the job’s value

The Variations section shows the job’s contract: the original value, the approved variations, plus or minus, and the revised value, all ex GST. Each variation’s row shows its price change including GST, where its approval stands and its status.

Nothing about the job’s value changes until a variation is approved. Once one is, the job’s value follows the revised contract, so the Work in Progress report and part invoices use it. Voiding an approved variation takes it back out.

Moving the remaining bookings

A variation’s time impact is never applied on its own. When an approved variation adds or takes off days and the job has bookings still to come, the Variations section asks whether to move the remaining bookings. Choose bookings lists them, all ticked: untick any that should stay, then click Move. Leave them keeps every booking where it is. Only people who can edit the schedule see this.

Invoices

Once a variation is approved, the job’s value is the revised contract. A one-line invoice for the job reads as quoted, with approved variations, at the revised amount, and part invoices work from the revised value.

An invoice raised As on quote or Full detail includes every approved variation after the quote’s lines, each under a heading with its number and what changes, so every level bills the revised value. A deposit already raised still comes off a final invoice once.

When it is paid is stated on the variation for your customer. VexOp does not raise an invoice for a variation by itself.

The Variations report

Reports, then Variations, is the register: every variation per job and across jobs, with what is waiting, approved and declined, ex GST. Show All, Waiting, Approved or Declined, and click Export CSV for a spreadsheet. It needs access to Reports. Ask VexOp can also list a job’s variations and its contract.

Automations and alerts

Five automation triggers follow variations. Variation sent and Variation not approved run on the job: use Variation not approved for a reminder to the customer after a delay you choose, and it stops once the variation is approved, declined, voided or deleted. Customer asked for a change, Variation approved and Variation declined are for your team only and never message a customer. None of them runs until you set it up in Settings, then Automations.

Owners and anyone who can see quotes are told in the bell when a variation is requested, approved or declined.

In VexOp Field

On a job with an accepted quote, a Variations row under Billing opens the job’s contract and its variations, for anyone who can see quotes. Owners and anyone whose role can edit quotes can raise one on site with New variation. Leave every amount blank and it is saved as Requested, for the office to price.

On a variation: Customer approved (in person, by phone, by email or another way, with a note), Send to customer to approve online, Decline and, for owners, Void.

Clocking on to a job with variations not approved yet shows how many above the clock, such as 2 variations not approved yet (+$1,250.00); people without access to quotes see only how many. It never stops anyone clocking on.

If Variations is switched off

Every variation is kept, but the Variations section, the report and the variation automations are hidden. A customer who opens a variation’s link reads that it is no longer open, the portal does not list variations, and asking for a change is not offered. Switch Variations back on and it all comes back. See the article on switching add-ons on and off.