> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.dirtview.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Change Orders: cost impact and schedule impact

> Why schedule impact can sit at TBD, and how a change order relates to the T&M tickets and RFIs behind it.

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<Note>
  **The short version.** A change order is a proposed change to the contract — money, time, or both. It's the end of a trail that usually starts with an RFI and a stack of T\&M tickets.
</Note>

## Two impacts, tracked separately

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Cost impact" icon="dollar-sign">
    What the change costs. Built up from labor, material and equipment — the same things on your T\&M tickets.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Schedule impact" icon="calendar-days">
    How many days it adds. Often genuinely unknown when you write the change order.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Why schedule impact sits at TBD

Because it honestly often is. You know the extra work costs \$14,000 on the day you price it; whether it costs you eight days depends on weather, on the crew you can get, and on three other trades.

<Warning>
  **TBD is a placeholder, not a waiver.** Leaving schedule impact at TBD keeps the claim open — but only if you come back and fill it in. Get a habit: review every TBD change order weekly and put a number on it as soon as you have one.
</Warning>

## The paper trail behind it

A defensible change order points at the documents that created it:

<Steps>
  <Step title="The RFI that revealed the change">
    The answer that changed the work. → [Answering an RFI](/approvals/answer-an-rfi)
  </Step>

  <Step title="The T&M tickets for the work already done">
    Signed on site, the day it happened. → [T\&M tickets](/tm-tickets/create-a-ticket)
  </Step>

  <Step title="The drawing revision, if there is one">
    Which sheet superseded which, and on what date. → [Revisions](/drawings/revisions)
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Tip>
  The change order is where you get paid. The RFI, the ticket and the revision are what make it stick. Do those three well and the change order writes itself.
</Tip>

## Next

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="T&M tickets" icon="ticket" href="/tm-tickets/create-a-ticket">
    The six-step ticket.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Cost Code vs. PCO" icon="barcode" href="/tm-tickets/cost-code-vs-pco">
    Which number does accounting need?
  </Card>
</CardGroup>