Get the variation order signed before the work starts
A variation order is a written instruction to add, omit or change work under the contract, and it's only worth something once the person who can authorise it has signed it. Send the one you already write as a link; your client, architect or contract administrator opens it on their phone, approves and signs, and the dated record is kept with the job.
What is a variation order and who signs it?
A variation is a change to the work the contract describes: something added, something omitted, or something done differently. On JCT forms the instruction comes under clause 5 of the Standard Building Contract or clause 3.14 of Design and Build; on NEC4 there is no variation order as such, and a change to the Scope is dealt with as a compensation event notified and quoted under the contract’s timetable.
Who signs depends on the contract. Under JCT it's the architect or contract administrator; under NEC it's the project manager; on a domestic job with no administrator it's the property owner. The contractor doesn't authorise their own variation, however obvious the change is. If the person who signs isn't the person the contract empowers, the instruction may not bind anyone.
The practical point is that a variation is a document and a signature, not a conversation on site. The conversation is where most of them start, and where most of the arguments about them start too.
What should a variation order contain?
A variation order that stands up later is one that another person could read cold and understand what was agreed, when, and on what basis. The industry guidance is consistent on the minimum.
The basis of valuation matters as much as the description. An instruction that names a price, or names the contract rates it will be valued against, closes the argument about money before it opens. One that says the work will be valued later leaves that argument for the final account.
- A unique reference and the date it was issued
- Exactly what is added, omitted or changed, referring to the drawing revision or specification clause it affects
- Who issued it and under which clause of the contract
- The basis of valuation: an agreed sum, contract rates, or to be valued, and any effect on the completion date
- The signature of the person the contract empowers to instruct it
What happens when the variation isn't signed before the work starts?
Under JCT the work can start before the valuation is agreed, which is convenient on the day and expensive later. The change gets built, the invoice arrives, and the client says they never agreed to that price, or never agreed to the change at all. With nothing signed, the contractor is left proving an oral instruction from memory, against a client whose memory differs.
Under NEC the timing is tighter still: the contractor may have to quote within 21 days of notification and the employer has 21 days to respond, and a change started without an instruction is a change the contractor may not be paid for. Either way, the unsigned variation is the classic route to an unpaid extra, and the slow leak of unpaid extras is one of the commonest reasons small firms lose money on jobs they priced correctly.
The fix isn't a better form. Most firms already have a form. The fix is getting it in front of the right person and signed before the first material is ordered, without waiting for them to be at a desk.
How do I get a variation order signed with Portal Worx?
You upload the variation order you already produce, as a PDF, to the job in Portal Worx and send one person a link by email. They open it on their phone. There's no account to create, nothing to install and nothing to learn: the page shows them the document and asks for a decision.
They can leave a note on the page, ask a question, approve or decline. If you asked for it when you sent the request, they must enter a one-time code emailed to them before they can sign, which proves that whoever signed had control of that inbox at that moment. Then they draw their signature and submit.
If they don't answer, you chase from the same screen the request was sent from. If the order changes, you send a new version; it supersedes the old one, and the old approval stays on the record so the history is never rewritten.
What does the signed record hold?
The record comes back dated and signed, pinned to the exact file the signer saw, with that file’s SHA-256 fingerprint written on it. Any later copy of the variation order can be checked against the fingerprint to show it's the same document, byte for byte, that was approved.
The approval, the notes exchanged and the version history are kept with the job, next to the drawings and the rest of the correspondence, so when the question comes up at final account you open the job rather than a sent folder. UK law recognises a simple electronic signature as admissible evidence under the Electronic Communications Act 2000, and the weight a court gives it depends on the record around it. That record is what you're keeping.
Where doesn't this fit?
One person approves one request. If your contract needs two signatures on a variation, you send two requests; there's no multiple-approver flow and no delegation to a colleague. The file has to be a PDF, an image or plain text: a Word or Excel variation order is exported to PDF first.
Portal Worx doesn't write the variation order for you, price it, or value it against the contract rates. It doesn't check anyone’s identity: the emailed code proves control of an inbox, not who was holding the phone. And the page your client opens is on our domain, not yours.
Common questions
- Does a signed variation order need a wet signature?
- No. A simple electronic signature is admissible as evidence in the UK under the Electronic Communications Act 2000, and most standard forms don't require a wet signature on an instruction. What matters is that the record shows who signed, when, and which document they signed.
- Can the client add a condition or a comment before they sign?
- Yes. They can leave a note on the page or ask a question before deciding, and every note is kept on the record with the approval. If the condition changes the order, you send a new version and they sign that.
- What if the architect needs to sign, not the client?
- You send the link to whoever the contract empowers to instruct the variation. It's an email address, not an account, so it can be the architect, the contract administrator, the project manager or the owner.
- Is there a limit on how many variations I can send?
- No. Requests and links are unlimited on every plan, including the entry plan at £29 a month. Plans are cut on projects, storage and AI credits, not on how many things you get signed.
- What does the signer need?
- An email address and a phone. No account, no app, no password. If you asked for the code, they also need access to that inbox at the moment they sign.
Related
What else Portal Worx does
This page covers one part of it. Behind every request for sign-off is the job it belongs to: projects holding your documents and site photos, with a folder or a file shareable by link to someone with no account; versions with history and an approval pinned to each; reports built on site and exported as a PDF with your logo; threaded messaging; a year-long activity trail; and AI that catches you up on where a job stands without ever seeing more than you can.
See everything it does, or check the plans. Unlimited users and unlimited requests on all of them.
Stop building variations on a verbal yes.
Upload the variation order, send the link, and have it signed on their phone before you order the materials. 14 days free, no card, unlimited requests on every plan.