Variations for Kiwi tradies
Quoted for the toilet, and now the customer wants the basin mixer done too. Quotebird puts the variation on a numbered change order priced from your price book, GST included. They sign it before you start, and the final invoice picks it up.
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What does a variation look like in Quotebird?
It’s a change order: a document of its own for work added to an accepted quote or taken off it, and the name your customer reads on it. Our server numbers it from CO-0001 when you send it, and it states the work, the amount, what happens to the payments and whether the completion date moves.
The quote they accepted stays as signed. Each change order sits under it in the app with its status.
How do I write one up?
From the accepted quote: Change orders, then New change order. Add items from your price book, choosing Adds work or Takes work off for each, and set New completion date only if the finish moves. GST and the customer’s details come over from the quote.
Tap Sign and send. Quotebird signs for your business with your saved signature, and the customer signs from the link or on your phone.
A basin mixer added to a toilet job
Ben Walker is the Wellington plumber in this site’s screenshots, a demo business we set up for them. His accepted quote for Rachel Kim is a toilet replacement: fitting the new toilet, a pan connector and taking the old fittings away. Say Rachel asks for one more thing while he’s there:
“While you’re at it, could you swap the basin mixer? It’s been dripping for months.”
On the change order
- Tap installationSwap the bathroom basin mixer
- Flexible tap connector
What it says
- $156 added at Ben’s prices, GST included: $120 to fit the mixer and two connectors at $18.
- Ben’s quote had no deposit, so the payment due on completion goes from $365 to $521.
- The completion date stays as it was.
Rachel signs on the link that evening, and Ben fits the mixer the next morning. His final invoice lists the toilet job’s three lines and the two from the change order, each marked with its number, and Quotebird works out the GST.
How does the customer sign it?
The way they accepted the quote: on the link, or on your phone if you’re both on site; choose Customer signs on this phone when sending. They give their name and email, sign with a finger or let their typed name stand, and tap Accept and sign. Each of you gets the signed copy by email.
What happens to the payments?
Any deposit or stage payments stay put. The variation goes onto the payment due on completion, and the change order shows that payment before and after, beside the contract price. Back on the quote, the app shows the Contract price with changes.
Can a variation lower the price?
Yes, with lines marked Takes work off, which print as “Removed” with a minus. It can’t take off more than is left to pay on completion; to hand back money already paid, issue a credit note.
Can I write it without coverage?
Yes. The change order saves on your phone, so you can write it up in a ceiling space. Sending needs a connection, since our server gives the number. Only one change order waits for a signature at a time, and once the final invoice is sent, the job takes no more.
Questions
Why “change order” and not “variation”?
Quotebird uses the one name in every country. The document still does what a variation does: the work, the price difference, the payments and the completion date, signed by both sides.
Can I revise a variation after sending?
Until the customer signs it, yes, and it keeps its number. After that it stays as signed.
Does the final invoice show the variations?
Yes: the quote’s lines first, then each signed change order’s, oldest first. Change them to what you actually did before you send it.
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Questions? Write to us at support@quotebird.app.