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An urgent request still needs a commercial decision
A U.S. customer asks the local team to add a modification during installation. The request may be reasonable, but someone must decide whether it changes the agreed work, resources, price or delivery date. Give the site team a route for that decision.
As one construction-specific example, the American Institute of Architects (AIA)’s public G701 instructions describe recording an agreed change in work, contract sum and time. ELN’s checklist below is original commercial preparation, not that licensed form or a rule that every equipment/service contract uses AIA procedures.
Keep five things together
Use a short record tied to the current order version. Even a proposed zero-price change can consume time or alter the completion evidence.
| Item | What to make explicit |
|---|---|
| Requested work | What is added, removed or replaced; drawings/specifications if relevant |
| Cost and proposed price | Labour, parts, outside help and the commercial charge being proposed |
| Schedule | Extra time, access needed and effects on other work |
| Authority | Who may request, price and approve under the actual agreement |
| Evidence and billing | Approved version, completion record and the resulting invoice/milestone treatment |
Separate cost from the price you ask for
Fictional example: additional work needs three engineer-days at an assumed internal US$1,200 per day plus US$1,000 in parts. The listed cost is US$4,600 before other excluded costs. Management proposes a US$5,600 change price and two additional working days.
The US$1,000 difference is not automatically profit, and a proposed charge is not an accepted receivable. Confirm scope, exclusions, timing and approval before treating the change as agreed. These are invented figures, not labour rates or margins to copy.
Give the local team a defined escalation route
Agree what the team should do when commercial approval is missing, including urgent safety or asset-protection situations that require their own procedures. Do not instruct staff simply to abandon work where the actual contract or circumstances require another response.
The owner should see the additional commitment and its effect on the wider project before a small favour becomes a larger delivery or cash problem. Preserve the request, decision and approved record together.
Scope
- Proposed commercial workflow, not contract drafting, a legal right to refuse work, a technical repair instruction or a claim that AIA terms govern a non-AIA project.
Next step
Use Relationship factsheet to name who can approve changed scope, price and timing. Keep a separate versioned change record before updating the project’s commercial assumptions.
Sources & review notes
AIA Contract Documents
Passage, dates and research notes
first-party-form-guidance · Synopsis; description, cost, time and execution instructions
Public instructions read. The licensed form is not reproduced; construction example is not a rule for every service or goods deal.
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