Solution
Change Order Management Software
Most change-order trouble starts the same way: someone agrees to a change in the field, work begins, and the paperwork follows later — or doesn’t. Weeks on, the contractor says it was authorized, the owner says they never approved that cost, and the budget has been quietly drifting the whole time because a change that wasn’t logged never reached the numbers the job is tracked against.
What a real change order process needs
The change proposed and priced, a real approval from someone with the authority to give it, and the job’s budget updated to match — automatically, not as a separate step someone can forget. If any of those three is manual, the gap between “agreed” and “recorded” is where disputes live. See Change Order for the plain-language version.
How PoPs Suite handles change orders
Change orders run through PoPs APM (Assistant Project Manager) inside PoPs Project Tracker, alongside RFIs and submittals, so the question, the proposal, and the contract change are tracked together instead of in three separate email threads. A potential change order can be priced with a real markup stack for labor, material, equipment, and subs, and a change that needs pricing routes back to whichever tool priced the original bid — PoPs Estimating or Construction Bid Manager — then returns for approval.
Once approved, the cost pushes into the job’s budget and forecast automatically — no manual update — and the billed contract value on the next AIA pay application stays current. For jobs with a Client Portal active, the client can review and approve a change order directly, and the GC can still pull it back if something needs to change. Change-order dollar exposure also rolls up company-wide into PoPs Owner Dashboard.
Related reading
- AIA G702/G703 Billing Software — How an approved change reaches the next pay app.
- Cost to Complete Software — How approved changes move the forecast.
- RFI vs. Submittal — The other two documents that run alongside change orders.
Who this is for
- Project Managers — Pricing, tracking, and getting changes approved.
- General Contractors — Protecting margin when scope changes mid-job.
FAQ
What happens to the budget when a change order is approved?
The approved cost pushes into the job’s budget and forecast automatically — there’s no separate manual update.
How does a change order get priced?
It routes back to whichever tool priced the original bid — PoPs Estimating or Construction Bid Manager — gets priced there, and returns to PoPs Project Tracker for approval.
Can my client approve a change order online?
For jobs with the Client Portal active, yes — and the GC can still pull it back if something needs to change.
Does it track potential change orders too?
Yes — PoPs APM includes a PCO (potential change order) log with a markup stack for labor, material, equipment, and sub lines.