Resources · Queensland
How to write a variation claim that gets paid
A variation claim gets paid when it proves four things separately: that an instruction was given, that the instruction changed the contracted scope, what the change is worth built up from your contract rates, and what it did to the programme. Claims fail on the first of those far more often than on the price.
- Reviewed
- Jurisdiction
- Queensland, Australia
- Reading time
- 8 min
- For
- Subcontractors and builders claiming variations
This is about drafting, not entitlement. Whether you are entitled to a variation is decided by your contract; what follows is how to write the claim so that an entitlement you actually have does not get certified down to nothing.
Why variation claims get knocked back
Almost never because the rate was wrong. In practice the reasons cluster into four, and only one of them is about money:
- —No identifiable instruction. The work was directed verbally on site, or in a conversation nobody wrote down, and the claim opens with “as discussed”.
- —No scope delta. The claim describes what was done, not what changed. A superintendent reading it cannot see what the contract required versus what was built, so they treat it as contract work.
- —A lump sum with no build-up. One number with no hours, no quantities, no rates. It reads as an estimate, so it gets treated as an opening position and halved.
- —Time buried inside money. Delay and disruption folded into the dollar figure with no separate notice, so the time claim is lost with the cost claim.
The five parts, in order
| Part | What goes in it | What it defeats |
|---|---|---|
| 1. The instruction | Date, who gave it, how (site instruction number, RFI response, email, marked drawing revision, minuted decision). Quote it. Attach it. | “That was never instructed.” |
| 2. The scope delta | Two columns: what the contract documents required, and what you were instructed to do instead. Reference the drawing and revision, or the specification clause. | “That was always in your scope.” |
| 3. The valuation | Built up from your contracted rates: quantities × rates, labour hours × the schedule rate, materials at cost plus the contracted margin. Show the arithmetic. | “The price is excessive.” |
| 4. The time effect | Stated separately, with its own notice if the contract requires one. Either “no effect on the date for practical completion” or a specific number of days with the critical-path reason. | “You never claimed an extension.” |
| 5. The evidence pack | Numbered attachments, each referenced from the line it supports. Site diary extracts, dayworks sheets, photographs with dates, delivery dockets. | “Prove it.” |
Use your contract rates, and say that you have
If your contract has a schedule of rates, a variation valued at those rates is very hard to argue with, and one valued at anything else invites a valuation dispute you did not need to have. Where the contract has no applicable rate, say so explicitly and state the basis you have used instead — a reasonable rate, a quoted supplier price, dayworks — rather than leaving the reader to work out why the number does not match the schedule.
Timing, and the notice you probably owe
Most subcontracts require notice of a variation claim within a stated period of the instruction, and many make that notice a condition precedent — miss it and the entitlement is gone regardless of merit. Check the clause before you check the price. The notice is usually short and does not require the valuation; a claim you have not yet valued is still a claim you can notify.
Once valued, a variation is claimed through the ordinary payment claim process, which means it inherits the section 68 requirements and the section 75 window. It also means a variation buried unexplained inside a progress claim can drag the whole claim into a payment schedule.
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