Price and document a change order before doing extra work
A change order with cost breakdown, schedule impact, and justification that the owner or GC can approve quickly.
The prompt
Help me write and price a change order.
Contract type and my role: [e.g. "sub to a GC on AIA A401", "prime contract with homeowner"]
What changed and why: [OWNER REQUEST / DESIGN CHANGE / HIDDEN CONDITION / RFI RESPONSE - with dates]
Reference documents: [RFI #, ASI, DIRECTIVE, EMAIL, SHEET]
Added or deleted work: [QUANTITIES]
My rates: [LABOR RATES, EQUIPMENT RATES, MATERIAL QUOTES]
Markup allowed by contract: [e.g. "10% OH and 5% profit on self-performed, 5% on subs"]
Schedule impact: [DAYS AND WHICH ACTIVITIES]
Change order notice deadline in my contract: [e.g. "written notice within 7 days"]
Return:
1. A change order cover summary: description, reason, reference documents, total cost, and requested time extension.
2. A cost breakdown table: labor (hours x rate), material, equipment, subs, markup, total. Show credits for deleted work separately.
3. A schedule impact statement tied to specific activities, not a bare day count.
4. A short cover email asking for written approval before work proceeds.
5. A checklist of what to attach (photos, quotes, timesheets, RFI).
Rules:
- Apply only the markup my contract allows.
- Never invent quantities or prices; use [ADD] where missing.
- If the notice deadline may have passed, say so and suggest I talk to my contract administrator or attorney.
- Include a reservation-of-rights line for impacts not yet known, and note I should verify its wording with my attorney.
Highlighted [brackets] are blanks to replace with your own details.
Fill in the blanks and use this promptMore Projects & Operations prompts
What to fill in
- RFI #, ASI, DIRECTIVE, EMAIL, SHEET
- QUANTITIES
- LABOR RATES, EQUIPMENT RATES, MATERIAL QUOTES
- e.g. "10% OH and 5% profit on self-performed, 5% on subs"
- DAYS AND WHICH ACTIVITIES
- e.g. "written notice within 7 days"
- ADD
How this prompt is built
This prompt follows the Few-Shot structure (Few-shot prompting). A few-shot prompt includes one or more worked examples of the input and the output you want, so the model can copy the pattern instead of guessing it.
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