What is a variation?

1. If somebody asks you to do something your contract and drawings do not already cover, that is a variation.
2. Examples are a change to the design, extra work, a different product, work in a different order, or waiting because somebody else was not ready.
3. It is a variation whether or not anybody used the word.
4. If the builder says "just move that riser", that is a variation. It is the one that gets lost, because nothing comes in writing to file.
5. A variation is not the same as a paid variation.
6. Most subcontracts bar the claim unless you give written notice within a short window from the day you were directed. So the notice matters as much as the price.
7. In YourCA, a variation lives on the variations register in Financials.
8. Raise it there. YourCA works out the notice deadline from your own contract, and shows the clause it came from beside it.