Mastering Job Variations in Simpro
- Lucas Van Berkel
- Nov 11
- 5 min read
I'm willing to bet job variations are the source of more trouble than anything else in project management. Handling them properly can be the difference between a crowning achievement and a complete disaster. Thankfully, there are a couple of key rules to bear in mind that will help you minimise customer disputes, scope creep and margin erosion.
In this post I'll show you how to implement those rules in Simpro and help keep your project on track.
What is a Job Variation?
A job variation, also known as a change order, is when the scope of a job changes through deliberate actions, such as a client changing their mind, or through circumstances out of your control, such as product supply shortages.
The first thing to know is that when a variation arises, you are immediately outside of your contract, and it becomes irrelevant. You are Wile E. Coyote floating in space over the edge of the cliff, and you have yet to look down.
In essence, you have started a new contract, a new job. So all the rules of establishing a contract apply. If you don't have written agreement on the following things, they can be disputed:
Price
Scope of Works
Quantities
Drawings
Colours / Product Choices
Payment Terms
Inclusions, Exclusions, delays, etc
So the first step is to be as specific as possible about what your initial contract is. This can be achieved with:
Detailed quote descriptions
References to drawings or plans
Including terms and conditions in your quotes
Itemising your quotes
Requiring written acceptance or a deposit before proceeding
Specifying inclusions and exclusions (things you specifically do & don't do)
Having written contracts in place for do & charge or cost plus work
A verbal contract is never enough. Assume nothing, get everything in writing. Bite the bullet and have that difficult conversation now, because it's a lot easier than trying to claw your project back to profitability by hitting the customer with surprises at the end.
In short:
Job Variations in SimPRO
Simpro has several features to accommodate job variations with ease and clarity, maintaining accurate records of variations approved and declined, and incorporating them into the job history.
Variation Cost Centres
The simplest way to add a variation to a job is simply to open the job, click on the cost centre list and add a variation cost centre.
Many people don't realise that cost centres can have negative values as well as positive ones. If the customer wants to remove an item from a job or substitute a part, simply add a variation cost centre and add parts and labour to it, even with negative quantities. This will update the overall job value, and will be clearly labelled as a variation when it comes time to invoice.
This is a much cleaner solution than fiddling around with credit notes or unlocking job cost centres. You will have a clear delineation between the original scope of works (primary cost centres) and the variation(s).
Variation cost centres are also very handy for do & charge or cost-plus works. As long as the customer has accepted your schedule of rates, adding an unlocked cost centre to a job works great, even if the original work was quoted.
Once you have added a variation cost centre to the job, be sure to send the customer a job form template with the updated scope and costs. You can't communicate too much when it comes to variations.
If they decline the variation, rather than delete it from the job, just select the cost centre and use the footer menu to mark it as declined. Declined variations will not appear on the invoice, but if they change their mind you haven't lost the data.
And while sending the customer an update on the job scope is better than nothing, the risk with this option is that the customer has still not formally accepted your variations. They can always claim they didn't see the email. In that case, it is best to create a linked quote variation.
Linked Variations
Where you need to provide a fixed price or even an estimate for variation works, it is best to use linked variations. This ensures your variations follow your standard Estimate > Quote > Accept > Proceed process. To create a linked variation, open the job, go to the cost centre list, and click on the Linked Variations tab. From there you can create a new linked variation job or quote.
A linked variation quote or job is its own separate quote or job, but as the name suggests, it is linked to the original job. You can find it in your lists of quotes and jobs, and you can also see it by opening up the original job and navigating back to the Linked Variations tab.
Once the customer accepts your linked variation quote, you have two options: convert it to a job and run it separately, or merge it as a variation into the existing job. There's no right or wrong, it just depends on which makes more sense for you and the customer at the time.
To merge into an existing job as a variation, simply right click on the job, then select Merge Quote.
A popup will appear. Enter the job number, then tick the box which says Merge Sections as Variations.
You will now see the merged quote cost centres in the original job.
In case you're wondering, quotes merged into jobs don't disappear. They can be found in the Closed/Archived stage, and they count as converted quotes in both BI reporting and in the standard sales reports. You can also find a history of the merger in the quote and job logs.
Summary
In short, you can avoid scope creep, maintain your margins and minimise disputes by being as clear as possible in your quotes and nabbing variations early. When customers say they appreciate good communication in a contractor, this is usually what they mean. That and accurate scheduling, but that's for another day.
Feel free to download a printable version of the chart at the top of this post - I've included a copy below.
Till next time, may all your variations be lucrative upsells....
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