How Do You Issue a Subcontract Change Order?

On a typical commercial job there are two contracts in a chain: the prime contract between the owner and the GC, and each subcontract between the GC and a sub. A change order signed by the owner changes the prime contract. It does not change the subcontract; only a change to the subcontract, signed by the GC and the sub, does that. Until it is issued, the sub has nothing to bill against and you have no record of what you agreed.

AIA publishes a contractor–subcontractor change order form (G701S). Its summary says that executing it indicates agreement on all the terms of the change, including any change in the contract sum (or guaranteed maximum price) and the contract time. Whatever form you use, it should do the same: one signed page that settles price, time and scope for that change.

• After the owner signs a change that includes the sub's work: issue the matching subcontract change order at the cost you accepted in your review of the sub's request.
• When you direct a change yourself, for example to move scope from one sub to another, or to add work the owner will not pay for: the subcontract still has to change, even with no owner change order behind it.
• For a deduct, when work is deleted from the sub's scope: issue a negative change order so the subcontract sum, and the sub's billing, come down.
• When only time changes: issue a no-cost change order that adds the days, so the schedule and the subcontract agree.

If you direct the sub to proceed before the price is agreed, say so in writing and say how it will be priced. Your prime contract likely works the same way: the federal changes clause lets the Contracting Officer make changes within the general scope by a written order, and treats other written or oral orders that cause a change as change orders only if the contractor gives written notice (FAR 52.243-4, paragraphs (a) and (b)). Give your sub the same clarity you need from the owner.

The job and companies are fictional. A GC, "Corbel Construction", holds subcontract SC-014 with "Brightline Electric" for $412,600.00 on the "Halvorsen Office Fit-Out". Change order 1 added $8,450.00 for floor boxes. Change order 2 deducted $1,200.00 when the owner deleted two exterior sconces. The owner has now signed its change order 9, which includes the copy room circuits the GC accepted from Brightline at $6,214.08 and one working day.

The check: $8,450.00 − $1,200.00 + $6,214.08 = $13,464.08, and $412,600.00 + $13,464.08 = $426,064.08. The owner's change order 9 carries the GC's 5% on top ($6,524.78 in all); the subcontract change carries only Brightline's accepted cost.

• Update the commitment: the revised subcontract sum, the change order log and the balance left to bill.
• Move the cost in the budget, by cost code, so committed cost and the budget agree.
• Tell the sub how to bill it. Some owner specifications ask for each change order as a new line on the schedule of values; the University of Houston's payment procedures section, for example, says to include each change order as a new line item (Section 01 29 00).
• Reconcile your change order log with the sub's every month, so pending and executed changes never get mixed on a pay application.

How the sub bills the change, including deducts and partly finished changes, is in how to bill a change order on a pay app. Where it sits among the GC's other jobs is in the general contractor's guide and the project lifecycle.

In Conflo the GC can name the subcontractor on a change order it writes, and a change order a sub writes carries its company. When the owner approves it, the change order is executed and its page says the subcontract change order was issued to that sub, for the sub's cost. The cost also goes into the budget's approved changes by cost code.

On the sub's commitment, the change order is listed as approved (or pending while it is still in review), and the commitment shows the original value, approved change orders, the revised value, what has been billed and the balance. Limits today: every change order in Conflo goes to the owner for approval, so a change between the GC and a sub alone (a deduct or scope moved between subs with no owner change) is not issued in Conflo, and there is no separate signed subcontract change order document; if your subcontract needs one, sign it outside Conflo.

Issue a subcontract change order for every change to a sub's price, time or scope, at the sub's accepted cost, with the revised subcontract sum on its face and both signatures.

Then update the commitment and the budget the same day, so the sub's next pay application and your cost report agree.

See how commitments work in Conflo

1. Summary: G701S–2017, Change Order, Contractor-Subcontractor Version — AIA Contract Documents. Read October 22, 2026.
2. FAR 52.243-4, Changes — Acquisition.gov, U.S. General Services Administration. Read October 22, 2026.
3. Section 01 29 00, Payment Procedures (master construction specification) — University of Houston, Facilities Planning and Construction. Read October 22, 2026.