Approvals by email, budgets by spreadsheet
Change orders arrive as PDFs, get approved in a reply, and are typed into a budget spreadsheet later, if at all. The owner’s current budget is never quite current.
For owners
Change order management for owners
For an owner, a change order is a decision about money and time. Fidrel keeps every change order in one log with its proposed and approved cost and its schedule impact, lets only project administrators approve it, and, once it is linked to a budget line, carries its amount into a budget change that updates the forecast when approved.
30 days free · No long-term contract.
What owners struggle with
No view of what is still pending
A dozen change orders sit with the design team or the contractor. Without one list, the owner cannot say how much exposure is waiting for a decision.
One log for every change order
Change orders and nonconformance reports (NCRs) share one log in each project. A change order records the estimated, proposed, approved, invoiced and deduct amounts in its currency, the schedule impact in days, and the people responsible, with files and photos attached. It can be started from an RFI or an issue and stays linked to it, and it keeps an activity history of every change.
Change orders & deviations
Administrators decide, and the database enforces it
Only a project administrator can approve or reject a change order or enter its approved cost: the database refuses anyone else, and the approved-cost field is read-only for them. The log also states its limits: recording a change order or approving its status does not replace the notices and decisions your contract requires.
How owners handle change orders in Fidrel
Step 1
Receive the change order
Each change order is numbered in sequence from CO-001, classified as added, deleted or changed scope, with its proposed cost, schedule impact in days and the RFI, drawing or issue it came from.
Step 2
Review and decide
It moves from Sent to Under review or More information needed, then Approved or Rejected. Only a project administrator can approve it or enter the approved cost.
Step 3
Carry it into the budget
Linked to a budget line item, its amount becomes a budget change, which updates the current budget once someone with budget and approval rights approves it.
From approval to the current budget
A change order linked to a budget line item creates a budget change that follows the change order’s amount until it is approved. Approved changes update the current budget and the remaining forecast. The cost overview splits approved changes into change orders, revisions and other changes, and counts budget changes awaiting approval; the portfolio shows them for every project.
What change orders in Fidrel do not do
There is no e-signature and no sign-off by anyone outside the project. The change order log cannot be exported or printed. There are no change events and no PCO or COR tiers, just one change order record with its own statuses. Pending change orders are not added to the estimate at completion, the schedule impact does not move the schedule, and in-app notifications go out only when someone is assigned.
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Only a project administrator, which is how an owner keeps approval in its own hands. The database rejects an approval from anyone else, and only administrators can enter the approved cost.
Link it to a budget item. Fidrel creates a budget change that follows the change order’s amount, and once it is approved by someone with budget and approval rights, the current budget and forecast are updated.
Yes. Filter the log by status; the cost overview and the portfolio count budget changes still awaiting approval.
Yes, as a member with edit and cost access: they can draft and send it. Approving it and entering the approved cost stay with the project administrators.
No. Fidrel records the change order and the decision, and the log says so: it does not replace the notices and decisions the contract requires.