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Variation Order Template (Construction) — JCT Log and NEC4 CE Register

Free variation order template in Excel with a JCT variation log and an NEC4 compensation event register. How variations are instructed, priced and carried into a payment application.

Overview

Almost no construction project is built exactly as tendered, and the change is where the margin goes. A variation log is how you keep the change visible: what was instructed, by whom, on what date, at what price, and which valuation it was paid in. This page explains the difference between a JCT variation and an NEC4 compensation event — they are not the same mechanism — and gives you a free Excel template with a sheet for each.

1 free template — download below

Key Takeaways

  • A JCT variation is valued after the fact; an NEC4 compensation event is quoted in advance and not reopened.
  • No instruction usually means no route to payment, whatever the work cost.
  • Confirm verbal instructions in writing the same day.
  • Record the time effect alongside the money effect.
  • Log which valuation each agreed variation was carried into — agreed money that was never applied for is the most avoidable loss on any job.

Change that reaches the application without a re-key

Site Samurai logs each variation against the project with its instruction reference, its quoted and agreed values and its programme effect, then carries the agreed sum into the next payment application automatically. Nothing sits agreed-but-unclaimed in a spreadsheet, and at final account every line above the original order has its instruction attached to it.

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Variation or compensation event?

The two mechanisms answer the same commercial question in opposite directions. A JCT variation is normally valued after the work, against the contract rates. An NEC4 compensation event is assessed prospectively, from a quotation for the forecast effect on Defined Cost, and the assessment is not reopened because the forecast turned out to be wrong. Running an NEC4 job on a JCT mindset — pricing after the event and hoping — is one of the more expensive habits in UK construction.

JCT variationNEC4 compensation event
TriggerAn instruction changing the WorksOne of the events listed at clause 60.1
PricingValued against contract rates, usually after the workQuoted in advance for the forecast effect on Defined Cost
TimeExtension of time dealt with separatelyChange to the Completion Date assessed in the same quotation
ReopeningValuation can be revisited as measurement firms upThe assessment stands even if the forecast proves wrong
Time limitsContractual, but generally looserStrict notification and reply periods under clauses 61 and 62

Get the instruction before you get the price

The most expensive variations are the ones carried out on a verbal instruction that nobody confirmed. Work outside the contract scope with no instruction usually has no contractual route to payment at all, whatever it cost you to build. Log the instruction the day it is given, and confirm a verbal one in writing the same day.

  1. Record the date, the person who gave the instruction and how it was given.
  2. Confirm anything verbal in writing before starting the work.
  3. Log a client request that has not yet been instructed separately, so it is visible as unpriced risk.
  4. Price it before you build it wherever the contract lets you.
  5. Record the time effect as well as the money effect.
  6. Note which valuation the agreed sum was carried into.

Download Templates

Variation Order Template (Excel)

A JCT variation log with quoted, agreed and difference columns and an instruction-type field, plus an NEC4 compensation event register with notification and reply dates, and a guidance tab covering both mechanisms.

ExcelCommercial

Every change instructed, priced and paid on one record

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What must be on the record

A variation log earns its keep at final account, when someone asks why the account is £84,000 higher than the order. Every line needs to answer that on its own.

  • Variation or compensation event number, and the date instructed or notified.
  • The instruction reference, and who issued it.
  • A description of the change, in enough detail to identify the work.
  • The quoted or valued sum, and the agreed sum, side by side.
  • The effect on the programme in days.
  • The valuation the agreed sum was included in.
  • Status, so unpriced and disputed items are visible without reading the whole log.

Worked example

On a JCT Design and Build job, variation 14 is instructed on 08/09/2026 to divert a service around an unmapped duct. The contractor prices it at £6,800 and the client agrees £6,200 on 19/09/2026, with a three-day effect on the programme. It is carried into the application valued at 25/09/2026 and paid in the cycle with a due date of 02/10/2026. On the same job, a client asks on 12/09/2026 for an upgraded finish to two rooms but issues no instruction. That sits in the log as "client request — not yet instructed" at an estimated £4,400. It is not applied for, because there is nothing to apply against, and it is visible every time anyone opens the log.

Common mistakes

Variations are lost in the paperwork far more often than they are lost in negotiation.

  • Building on a verbal instruction and confirming it later, or never.
  • Agreeing a price and then not applying for it, so agreed money is never claimed.
  • Rolling unagreed variations into the measured total, so a dispute about one holds up payment for all of them.
  • Missing NEC4 notification periods, which can affect entitlement.
  • Recording the money effect but not the time effect, then having no basis for an extension of time.
  • Keeping the log in one person’s spreadsheet, so it disappears when they move projects.

How variations reach the money

An agreed variation is not paid because it is agreed. It is paid because it appears as a line in an application, is not knocked out by a payment notice, and is not reduced by a pay less notice before the final date for payment. Variations have no separate payment route of their own — they travel through the ordinary cycle like everything else, which is why the log has a column for the valuation they were carried into.

  • Instruction → priced → agreed → carried into an application → notified sum → paid.
  • Unagreed variations belong on their own line so they do not stall the rest of the payment.
  • At final account, the log is the evidence for every line above the original contract sum.

Sources

Every timing on this page was checked against the source named below before it was published. This is general information, not legal advice — your contract particulars and Contract Data govern.

  • Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, Part II, ss.109–111 (as amended by the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009) — legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/53/part/II
  • JCT, "JCT explains: interim payments" (SBC/Q 2016 clauses 4.9 and 4.11) — corporate.jctltd.co.uk/jct-explains-interim-payments/
  • NEC4 ECC clauses 50.1, 51.1 and 51.2 and secondary Option Y(UK)2, as summarised by HKA, "How to get your NEC4 ECC pay less notice right under Y(UK)2" — hka.com

Last reviewed: 2 September 2026

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Every change instructed, priced and paid on one record

Site Samurai keeps variations against the project with their instructions and prices, and carries the agreed value into the next application.

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Variation Order Template FAQ

It is an instruction that changes the scope, quality, quantity or sequence of the works from what the contract originally required. Under JCT contracts it is instructed by the contract administrator or employer, and the resulting change is valued against the contract rates where they apply, and otherwise at fair rates.
No. An NEC4 compensation event is one of the events listed at clause 60.1 and is assessed prospectively from a quotation for its forecast effect on Defined Cost and on the Completion Date. Unlike a JCT variation, the assessment is not revisited simply because the forecast turned out to be wrong, and there are strict notification and reply periods around it.
It depends entirely on your contract, and you should not rely on it. Most standard forms require instructions in writing and provide a route for confirming a verbal instruction — usually the contractor writing to confirm and the instruction taking effect if it is not contradicted within a stated period. Confirm in writing before you build, not after.
Under JCT forms, against the contract rates and prices where the work is of a similar character and executed under similar conditions, at adjusted rates where conditions differ, and at fair rates where nothing comparable exists. Work that cannot be measured is valued as daywork, on signed sheets. Under NEC4 the assessment is of the effect on Defined Cost plus Fee, not of contract rates.
In the payment cycle you apply for it in. An agreed variation has no separate payment route — it appears as a line in your application, becomes part of the notified sum unless a compliant payment notice says otherwise, and is payable by the final date for payment. Agreeing a variation and then forgetting to apply for it is a common and entirely avoidable loss.

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