Commercial change-order tool. Branded e-signable change-order PDFs from the field in minutes.
The contractor runs 6 to 12 active jobs at a time. Change orders happen on every project. The field supervisor scribbles the change on a paper CO form and hands it to the PM. The PM types it into a Word doc, calculates the cost impact in Excel against last year's labor and material rates, emails the customer for signature, waits days or weeks, then manually updates the project budget spreadsheet and adds the line to the next AR invoice. A meaningful share never makes it onto an invoice at all.
It starts when a PM logs a change in the field.
The moment that kicks off the workflow. Today this is the email someone reads, the call someone takes, the document someone walks across the office. The tool replaces the human router.
4 steps. The tool handles them.
- 01
We encode your labor and material rate book
Pilot weeks 1 to 2: we pull your firm's stored labor and material rates into the tool so cost-impact calculation runs against current rates, not last year's.
- 02
PM enters the change from the field
On a phone or tablet, PM picks the active job, enters the change description, pastes photo evidence, picks line items.
- 03
The tool prices it and generates a branded PDF
Cost impact calculated against your rate book instantly. Branded change-order PDF generated.
- 04
Customer e-signs from anywhere
PDF routed for e-signature through the customer's preferred channel. Field log to signed PDF goes from weeks to hours. The pilot stops here; automatic project-budget update and AR line write-back grow in next.
30-day proof.
The pilot delivers one thing: a branded, e-signable change-order PDF generated from the field in minutes, with cost-impact priced off your stored labor and material rates. The first 2 to 3 weeks, we encode your rate book into the tool. By day 30, the field-log-to-signed-PDF cycle goes from weeks to hours, and the field-captured change-order rate climbs because the entry happens on a device the PM already carries.
From there it grows. On the monthly, the next tool layers in automatic project-budget update on signature (so the contract value reflects approved scope in real time). The one after adds AR invoice-line write-back into your project accounting (Sage 100/300 Construction, Foundation, ComputerEase, Viewpoint). The one after extends AIA G702/G703 reflection for the next draw. Eventually the destination is the full PM-desk-to-AR cycle the Solutions Library describes.
Your monthly is flat once the pilot graduates onto Starter. Small refinements stay included. Adding project-budget update or AR write-back is a new tool, and we tell you about it openly before we build it. The recovered change-order billing from each new tool usually self-funds the next.
$800 pilot: branded e-signable change-order PDFs from the field, priced off your stored rates. 2 to 3 weeks to build, 30 days live. After the pilot, the engagement graduates onto Starter ($295/mo). The tool grows from there as project-budget update and AR write-back layer in.
Where this build fits, where it does not.
This fits small and mid-sized commercial general contractors and specialty trade contractors with active project portfolios. Typical fit: 10 to 50 person contractors running 6 to 12 active projects with frequent change-order traffic. Also fits MEP specialty trades (building-equipment, building-finishing, structure-exterior, utility-system). It works when PMs handle CO administration and you have a documented labor + material rate book to encode. It does not fit contractors whose work is fixed-scope with rare change orders, or whose customers reject e-signature for change-order approval.
Why custom, not off-the-shelf.
A 30-person commercial GC sees mobile change orders as the single highest-friction workflow on every project. Foreman in the field, PM on a call, bookkeeper in QuickBooks. ByteQuix builds that workflow alone. Photo capture, signature, markup, QuickBooks job-costing in one path. No PMS migration.
The off-the-shelf options for this workflow
- Enterprise construction PMS platforms$375-plus per user per month. Mobile change orders are one feature among hundreds. To get that workflow you commit to RFIs, submittals, dailies, and a team-wide rollout.
- Drawing-centric construction platformsChange orders attach to sheets, but the financial workflow (cost, markup, approval, billing back to the owner) is downstream and underdeveloped.
- Residential builder platformsBuilt for residential custom homes and remodelers. Commercial GC contract structures (AIA forms, retainage, lien waivers, prevailing wage) are absent or shoehorned in.
When the off-the-shelf option is the right call
An enterprise PMS platform makes sense when you have decided to put the whole company on one platform: RFIs, submittals, daily reports, change orders, the lot. ByteQuix fits the GC that wants the change-order fix specifically, without taking on the platform.
Built on top of what you already run.
The pilot reads your stored labor and material rate book, lets the PM enter changes from the field, prices them, and generates a branded e-signable PDF. No project-accounting integration in the pilot. As the tool grows on the monthly, automatic project-budget update, AR invoice-line write-back into Sage 100/300 Construction, Foundation, ComputerEase, or Viewpoint, and AIA G702/G703 reflection layer in one tool at a time.
Specific questions buyers ask about this build.
What does the $800 pilot actually deliver, exactly?
Branded, e-signable change-order PDFs generated from the field in minutes, with cost-impact priced off your stored rates. By day 30, field-log-to-signed-PDF cycle drops from weeks to hours and field-captured CO rate rises. Automatic project-budget update and AR write-back layer in over the monthly.
What if our customer wants paper signature?
The tool generates a printable change-order form that the customer can sign in person. The PDF still routes through the same approval flow; the only difference is the signature route. Most customers warm to e-signature within a few projects.
Will PMs actually adopt this?
PMs adopt the tool once they see the alternative is going back to the office, retyping the change into Word, calculating cost in Excel, emailing for signature, then chasing the customer for weeks. The tool collapses that whole loop. Adoption is usually one-week friction, then sticky.
Will the monthly nickel-and-dime me?
Your monthly is flat. Small refinements to a running tool are included. Adding project-budget update, AR write-back, or G702/G703 reflection is a new tool, and we tell you about it openly before we build it. Most clients stay at their starting tier, and that is fine with us.
See more construction (commercial) builds.
This build fits other operations in the same industry, with their own outcomes and metrics.
Construction (Commercial) industry hub →Spreadsheet Sprawl: Has Your Small Business Outgrown Excel?
Excel is great until it is not. Here are seven specific signs your SME has crossed the threshold and what each one means for your next move.
Read the field note →