Handling Variations: A Better Approach with Rave

Builders often take a "she'll be right" approach and proceed with variations without written client approval. Unfortunately, this can lead to bearing the costs when clients dispute the changes.

Variations should be a positive for any business as this allows extra profit to be made from the project. If you are using Rave’s functionality to quote, approve, invoice and cost track variations, you are better off than many of your competitors.

QUOTING FOR A VARIATION

Rave allows you to create a variation and request quotes from each supplier/contractor needed for that VO.

APPROVING & DECLINING A VARIATION

Approving Variations is crucial. Many clients make the mistake of adding up all the VO’s at the end of the job and then invoicing, which is not recommended. 

To ensure you meet your legal obligations and protect yourself, you should quote the VO and generate a quote for the client to approve or decline. Rave makes it easy to generate a Variation proposal, allowing you to add images and set terms and conditions. This proposal is emailed directly to the client for approval. Once the client approves or declines, the action is time stamped in Rave, showing who accepted or declined the VO proposal and any accompanying messages.

INVOICING A VARIATION

Whether you're using a staged payment schedule or invoicing by 'charge-up'/cost plus, it's essential to invoice for approved Variations in a timely manner. Most of Rave’s clients will create a settlement statement and variation invoice as soon as the VO has been accepted or along with the next scheduled payment. 

Pro Tip: Many clients charge higher margins for VO’s due to the extra admin time not accounted for in the job, but this must be stipulated in your contract. 

You can track and invoice variations through the progress payment sub-tab or create a client invoice for charge-up via the 'Bills In' sub-tab.

COST TRACKING VARIATIONS

Tracking project variations can be done in several ways. Use the Back Costing report, where many Rave clients create a separate Variation category to track VO’s individually. You can also use the Charge Up report and Cost Centre report for detailed tracking. Additionally, the Progress Payment sub-tab displays variations in their own table for easy cost management, showing paid, unpaid and pending invoices.

RAVE CATERS TO EVERYONE FROM GROUP HOME BUILDERS TO SOLO OPERATORS - WITH SALES, PROJECT, AND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS.

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO BOOK A DEMO YOU CAN CALL 07 210 2228 OR EMAIL SALES@RAVEBUILD.CO.NZ

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