Create a change order when the scope or price of a job changes after your client has agreed to the original estimate. You can start one from the Estimates tab of the project, then build it, send it, and get your client's approval online.
Available on the Flex, Pro, Scale, and Business plans. You need permission to edit Estimates. Works on desktop and in the mobile app.
Start a change order
Choose the entry point that fits where you are.
Estimates tab: on desktop, select Create change order. In the mobile app, select the + button, then Create change order.
Overview tab: in the Change orders card, select New change order. When the card is empty, the button is Add change order.
Create menu: select Create > Change order.
A sent estimate: in its Change order records card, select Add change order. The change order is linked to that estimate.
An estimate you have not sent yet: open the options menu and select Convert to change order. This is unavailable once the estimate has been sent or when it has more than one option.
A document: select Convert to > Change order. Handy (Handoff's AI assistant) opens and builds the change order from the document.
A change order started from the Estimates tab, the Overview tab, or the Create menu is not linked to an estimate. To link it later, select Link estimate at the top of the change order.
Build the change order
A change order works like an estimate. Add, edit, or remove line items in the table, or describe the work in the chat on the estimate screen and Handy adds the items.
To enter a credit that lowers the total, use a negative unit cost. A change order can have a negative total.
Send the change order and get approval
Open the change order and select Preview.
On desktop, select Send. In the mobile app, select Send change order.
In the Send change order dialog, choose how to send it: SMS, email, or a link you copy.
Select Send.
Your client opens the change order online without logging in. They select Accept, or Sign and accept when a signature is required. They can also select Decline or Give feedback.
If your client approves outside Handoff, open the options menu and select Mark as > Approved. Select Declined if they turn it down. Handoff records that you marked it on their behalf, with no client signature.
To change a change order after you send it, open the options menu and select Edit. It moves back to drafts until you send it again. An approved change order cannot be edited.
What happens to totals, the budget, and invoices
Totals: once you send a change order, it counts toward the original estimate's total and toward percentage invoices on that estimate. It stops counting if it is declined or canceled.
Budget: after approval, the change order appears in the Budget tab as its own group labeled with CO-. The Business plan does not include the Budget tab.
Invoices: to bill an approved change order on its own, select Convert to > Invoice, or select Add invoice. The invoice is for the change order's total. A credit cannot be invoiced this way.
Parent invoices: payment schedule and percentage invoices on the original estimate include the change order. Row-based invoices on the original estimate do not.
Bill each change order one way so it is not billed twice. Use its own invoice, or a percentage or payment schedule invoice on the original estimate.
Deleting an approved change order also removes the budget data created from it and its invoices. This can't be undone.