Variation
A variation is any change to the scope of work you priced (additions, omissions, changed materials or methods), which the builder can usually direct at any time, with the price sorted under the contract's variation machinery.
The standard drafting: the builder directs, you must comply, and your entitlement to be paid depends on following the procedure: written direction, notice within a short window, pricing per the contract. Verbal directions are the classic failure: directions on site, never confirmed, never paid.
Why it matters to subbies
The habit that saves more money than any negotiation: a same-day email confirming every changed direction as a variation. It anchors the date inside the notice window and converts the conversation into a record.
Keep reading
General information for Australian subcontractors, not legal advice. Contract drafting and state legislation vary and change; your document and your state's Act govern. Written by Mat Kennedy at The Construction Contracts Co.