How To Create Change Order In Quickbooks

Entering Change Orders in QuickBooks: Premier Contractor Edition

Change orders are one of the biggest headaches of being a contractor. Changes occur for a variety of reasons—customers change their minds, or maybe materials aren't available. And the last thing contractors want to deal with is more paperwork.

However, it is critical to your success that you track all change orders in writing. If you don't, there can be miscommunication between you and your customer. The customer may think that you said the extra work would be an additional $500, when you actually said $5,000 dollars. More often than not, the contractor ends up eating the difference. Plus, the disagreement damages the good relationship that you built with your customer. And it�s very valuable to be able to track and analyze change orders when you�re looking at the profitability of your jobs.

QuickBooks: Premier Contractor Edition makes tracking change orders much easier. Just edit the original estimate, and QuickBooks will automatically detect the change and ask you if you want it to automatically add a change order to the bottom of the estimate. You can then print the estimate with change order and have your customer sign it, so you have a written, legally binding amendment to your original contract.

To track change orders on an estimate:

Change your estimate as usual.
Save your changes.
QuickBooks displays the Add Change Order window, in which you can do one of the following:
- Click Add to add the displayed text to the bottom of the estimate. If you don't like the way the change order appears, you can edit the text in the Add Change Order window before clicking Add, or you can edit the change order on the estimate form later.
- Click Do Not Add if you want the estimate to be updated with your changes without explicitly listing the change order at the bottom of the form.
- Click Cancel to return to the estimate form and reconsider your changes.

Tip #1: If you want to keep a copy of your original estimate before creating a change order, do the following:

Display the original estimate.
Right-click near the top of the Create Estimates window and choose Duplicate Estimate.
Save the duplicate estimate by clicking the Save & New button at the bottom of the screen. (Note that if you edit the duplicate estimate before you save it, a change order won't be created. Change orders are generated only on existing estimates that have previously been saved.)
Display the duplicate estimate you just created by clicking the Previous button at the top of the window.
Make the changes for your change order and follow the change order directions described above. QuickBooks will have a copy of the original estimate as well as the change order.

Tip #2: If you would like the printed change order to have a different title, such as "Estimate with Change Order," follow the directions above for customizing the estimate form. Change the form title and save it as a new template.