Xtras – Variation Orders in Landscaping: Managing Extras, Costs & Disputes
No matter how carefully a works programme is scheduled in advance, there will always be
those elements that will change as projects progress, (see Variation Orders) many of which
are unforeseeable, whilst others will be made on the whim of the customer, having seen
something that appeals to them elsewhere, or suddenly deciding to find additional money to
add other features such as lighting or irrigation.
It is a sensible idea, costing very little, to add conduit pipes with draw strings under the
foundations of footpaths (for example) in case of additional services being required. All
that is needed is a 100mm plastic downpipe with a couple of colour coded string drawstrings
inserted to be able to add these ‘bolt-on’ extras without detriment to the contractor. Indeed,
including them may be seen as a sensible goodwill gesture.
Some projects however, will fall behind schedule, and start to cost the contractor money in
labour, machinery hire and other outlay, and the temptation to look for ‘extras’ as a way to
compensate for ‘losses’ may seem a potential source of additional income.
If a job has fallen behind schedule, perhaps because a set of circumstances created adverse
working conditions, meaning that less work was achieved than originally planned, the offer
to add more of the same (e.g. add another ten metres of paving or turfing) may be tempting.
Before agreeing to undertake the additional work, reflect on the reasons for the shortfall in
profits already lost. Does it make sense to add more loss-making work on top of the existing
shortfall? Why add more losses to the existing ones?
Reflect too, that an extra ten metres of paving cannot be carried out at the same rates as the
original work, as that was costed at a metre rate that reflected a larger project. Organising and
collecting additional product may cost twice as much as the original load. Laying one hundred
metres of paving may have been assessed at £150.00 per m2. Excavating and preparing the
ground for and extra ten metres may require an additional skip, machinery hire, collecting and
importing a few slabs using your own transport instead of a merchant’s crane off-load vehicle
may cost four times as much money as the initial tranche @ £150.00 per m2 once you have
worked out all of the costs involved.
Plus, the additional works may well have an impact of previously installed levels and falls
of the original works, creating problems with water dispersal when marrying new works into
the existing.
The opportunity to earn extra money by undertaking additional works to make up for earlier
losses may well end up costing you a lot more money at the end of the day. (Hence the need
to use Variation Orders.)
