Verbal variations: why "we'll sort the paperwork later" means never paid
Under most Australian subcontracts, a verbal site instruction isn't a variation direction and a signed day-work docket can be for record purposes only. To protect the claim, confirm the instruction by email before the work starts and give notice inside the contract's window.
Chapter 5: "Do it, we'll sort the paperwork later"
Every subbie knows the line. A site manager, a hand on your foreman's shoulder: "Just do it, mate. We'll sort the paperwork later." The foreman does the work because the site manager asked, and later turns out to mean never. The modern variation clause is built on one rule, no written direction, no variation, and it usually adds that a site instruction isn't a direction and a signed day-work docket is only a record. So three weeks later your claim fails twice: no written direction, and no notice inside five business days.
I sat on the builder's side of that and applied it. I also saw the other side. Arguing over surveying with a subcontractor who had eighty per cent of the project, I found one line on page thirteen that put survey set-out in their scope. Our operations manager covered it as a variation anyway. He was buying the goodwill of a trade he couldn't replace for $15,000. Your leverage on a variation is the paper trail plus being the subbie they need.
The fix is a four-line email sent before the work starts: the instruction, who gave it, that you consider it a variation, and that the builder should say now if it isn't confirmed. In the contract, ask for a docket signed by the site manager or above to count as the written direction, a filled-in schedule of rates, and omissions valued at cost so your margin stays yours.
- 1Most subcontracts say a site instruction isn't a variation direction and a signed docket is for record purposes only.
- 2In my experience, unclaimed and unpaid variations run at three to five per cent of contract value on a package with lots of site direction: $15,000 to $25,000 on a $500,000 job.
- 3A blank schedule of rates lets the valuation clause fall back to what the builder decides your work was worth.
- 4Omissions valued at a reasonable amount including overhead and profit let the builder take your margin on work it gives to someone else.
Write the four-line variation email and save it as a template on your foreman's phone and in the office inbox. Then give every foreman one rule: nothing that isn't on the drawings gets done until that email has gone.
Common questions
Is a verbal site instruction a variation?
Under many Australian subcontracts, no. The variation clause often requires a written direction and says site instructions don't count. That doesn't always mean you can't be paid, but it makes the claim much harder. Confirm any verbal instruction by email the same day, before starting the work, and check the notice window in your contract.
Does a signed day-work docket mean the variation will be paid?
Not necessarily. Many subcontracts say dockets are for record purposes only and entitlement is assessed separately under the variation clause. A docket helps prove what was done, but you generally still need a written direction and timely notice. Negotiating that a docket signed by the site manager or above is the direction closes that gap.
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A summary of chapter 5 of Screwed Down by Mat Kennedy. Index figures are as they stood when the book was written (Sept 2026); the live numbers are on the Index. Amazon ranking as seen in September 2026. General information, not legal advice.