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Change Order Review

Change Order Review is the engine that checks a proposed change order against the original contract. It gives every line a status of justified, disputed, excessive or missing backup with a contract-section reference, flags change-order tactics such as scope creep and inflated markup, and calculates a recommended CO value.

By Trueleveler Editorial

Updated

Engine Phase: During construction Runtime: 45-90 seconds Pro+

What does Change Order Review do?

Change Order Review takes the original contract or scope plus a proposed CO and evaluates each CO line item against the contract. Every line gets a status — JUSTIFIED / DISPUTED / EXCESSIVE / MISSING_BACKUP — with a contract-section reference explaining why. The engine also flags classic CO-gaming tactics: scope creep, inflated markup, vague line-items, duplicate charges.

Output includes a recommended CO value (the JUSTIFIED lines, plus the supported price of any EXCESSIVE line), the savings the review found (lines already in the original scope, and the part of an over-priced line above its supported price), and a separate Not decided amount for lines it was unsure about or that have no backup. The page adds up: requested − recommended − not decided = savings.

When should I use Change Order Review?

Use Change Order Review when a change order request lands and you need to decide how to respond, when you are negotiating a CO that feels bloated, or when you are auditing approved COs across a project for patterns.

What do I upload to Change Order Review?

Upload the original contract, PO or scope of work as the reference, plus the proposed change order document.

How do I run Change Order Review?

To run Change Order Review, open it, upload the contract and the change order, run the analysis, read the verdict card, review each line and check the manipulation flags.

  1. Open the engine

    Sidebar → Engines → Change Order Review.

  2. Upload contract + CO

    Both required.

  3. Run

    45–90 seconds.

  4. Read the verdict card

    CO title + amount + recommended amount + verdict (JUSTIFIED / PARTIALLY_JUSTIFIED / DISPUTED / EXCESSIVE).

  5. Review each line

    Filter by status. Click a line to see contract-section reference and note.

  6. Check manipulation flags

    If present, the engine has detected CO-gaming patterns. Read carefully before responding.

How do I read the Change Order Review results?

The result opens with a verdict card and the change order as a percentage of the contract, followed by a line-item table, any manipulation flags and an AI summary.

Verdict card

CO title, CO number, requested amount, recommended amount, not decided, savings, verdict. A sentence under the figures writes the sum out, and every line the review did not decide says so.

CO percentage of contract

This CO / original contract value — helpful context for whether a CO is large or small in proportion.

Line-item table

Every CO line item, status, in-original-scope flag (YES / no), contract reference, note.

Manipulation flags

Red-bordered section listing any detected CO-gaming tactics (duplicate billing, vague line items, excessive markup, already-in-scope).

AI summary

2–3 sentence executive summary.

Every control, explained

Run analysis

One run.

Try with sample data

CO #3 from Tancredi Electric Co., an $847K power-density upgrade with $548K recommended and three manipulation flags.

Filter by status

Narrow to DISPUTED, EXCESSIVE, MISSING_BACKUP, or JUSTIFIED.

Print / Export PDF

Report with recommended amount, contract references and line-item detail, to use when you respond. There is no Excel or CSV export on this result.

Chains

Chains into

Contract ReviewData
Re-check the Contract — Verify whether the change order work was covered in the original contract scope.
Pay App Audit
Verify in Next Pay App — Check that the approved CO amounts are correctly reflected in the next billing cycle.
PO vs Quote
Compare Related Invoices — Verify the invoices related to this change order match the approved amounts.
Bid vs Actual
Roll into Bid vs Actual — Approved COs roll into the bid-vs-actual cost variance analysis at the cost-code level.
Schedule Risk
Time-Extension Risk? — CO includes a time impact — feed it into schedule-risk for downstream sequencing.

Chained from

Contract ReviewData
Review Change Orders — When COs come in — check if the work was already in scope.
PO vs QuoteData
Dispute as Change Order? — Found discrepancies? Check if it qualifies as a disputed change order.
Pay App Audit
Review Related Change Orders — Check if any disputed line items relate to approved or pending change orders.
Quote vs Invoice
Dispute as Change Order? — Found discrepancies between quote and invoice? Check if it qualifies as a change order.
PO vs Invoice
Dispute as Change Order? — Found discrepancies between PO and invoice? Check if it qualifies as a change order.
RFI TrackerData
RFI Triggers Change Order? — RFI response reveals scope change \u2014 check if it qualifies as a valid change order.
Submittal Reviewer
Submittal Conflict → CO? — Review flagged a spec deviation or substitution — check if it qualifies as a change order.
Schedule RiskData
Time-Impact CO — Schedule slippage detected — review whether the delay justifies a time-and-cost change order.
Voice Synthesis (Meetings)
Walk Identified a CO — Voice note flagged out-of-scope work — review it as a change-order candidate.
Bid vs Actual
Investigate CO Drivers — Significant cost variance — review the change orders that drove the spread vs. original bid.
Pay App Review
Disputed Line → Change Order? — A flagged or disputed pay-app line item traces to out-of-scope work — review it as a change-order candidate.
Notice Builder
Price the Change — The condition you just noticed usually becomes a change order — review the pricing and entitlement.

Exports

Troubleshooting

Contract reference cited is wrong

Engine cites the closest matching section; contracts with unusual numbering systems can throw it off. Use chat to correct.

MISSING_BACKUP flag on lines that did have backup

Upload the backup documentation (T&M sheets, subcontractor quotes) as a third document.

Sample CO result seems too harsh

The Bridgeport sample is designed to show manipulation flags firing — the engine is intentionally showing its worst-case output, not a typical result.

Sources

Upstream
Contract Review
Set up the base contract for reference.
Sibling
Pay App Audit
For billings beyond one-off COs.
Chain
Negotiation Intelligence
A separate tool. Nothing from this result is carried into it.
Help
Pay App Review (Reconciler)
Help
Notice Builder

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