A change order request that is still pending carries a number that has not been agreed to yet — the proposed amount. Underneath it sits the work that number was built from: the T&M tickets linked to the request, each with its own total. When they disagree, the request goes forward carrying one number while its own backup adds up to another.
That is why the disagreement is easy to miss: a pending request is still being assembled, still being repriced, still collecting tickets — and each of those steps can move one figure without moving the other.
Why a pending amount drifts from its tickets
The proposed amount is usually written early — priced from the tickets on hand at the time and typed onto the change order log. The tickets keep arriving afterward: a crew works a second day and a new ticket is added under the same request; a ticket is repriced when a rate is corrected, and the request is not retyped.
Each side of the pair is maintained by its own road — the log when the request is written, the tickets when the field work is recorded — and neither list announces that the other has changed. Read alone, the log shows a pending request with a plausible amount; read alone, the ticket list shows priced work. The disagreement only exists between them, and it surfaces only when the tickets under a request are added up and set against the number on the request.
Check it by hand
The manual version is an addition and a comparison. Filter the change order log to requests whose status is Pending. For each one, add the totals of every ticket whose link entry names that request, and compare the sum with the proposed amount. Any pending request where the two figures differ by more than rounding is the defect — the request and its backup describe different amounts of the same work. Across months of repricing, it is the kind of comparison that gets postponed — and while it is postponed, requests go forward for approval carrying numbers nobody has added up against their tickets.
What the EX-05 check actually does
EX-05 is the check for this problem in the Construction Control workbook. It reads only change-order requests marked Pending. For each one, it uses SUMIF to add the totals of every pasted ticket whose link entry names that request. The request is flagged when the difference between the proposed amount and the linked-ticket total is greater than $0.005 — more than half a cent, so rounding does not flag — and the linked-ticket total is itself greater than $0.005. A flagged request appears on the workbook's Exception Report.
Here is the test worked on three invented requests. COR-302's tickets are:
- T-1110: 10.0 labor hours at $82/hr is $820.00, plus $255.00 in materials and $75.00 in equipment — a ticket total of $1,150.00.
- T-1111: 7.5 labor hours at $82/hr is $615.00, plus $310.00 in materials and $50.00 in equipment — a ticket total of $975.00.
| COR | Status | Proposed amount | Linked ticket total | Difference | Flag |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| COR-301 | Pending | $1,840 | $1,840 | $0 | — |
| COR-302 | Pending | $2,475 | $2,125 | $350 | Flagged |
| COR-303 | Pending | $1,260 | $1,385 | $125 | Flagged |
COR-301 is the agreement case, and nothing flags. COR-302's tickets add to $2,125 against a proposed $2,475 — the request runs $350 ahead of its backup, from either side — a ticket priced into the request but never pasted, or a rate changed after the tickets were written. COR-303 is the direction worth pausing on: its tickets total $125 more than the request proposes. The comparison uses the absolute difference, so it flags in both directions — a request priced below its own backup is the same kind of defect as one priced above it.
The limits, stated plainly
EX-05 tests pending requests, and it compares amounts. It does not judge which figure is right.
An approved request is outside this check. EX-05 has no billing condition: a billed pending request flags whenever its proposed amount differs from its linked-ticket total.
A pending request with a proposed amount and no ticket dollars beneath it is not flagged here: the test requires the linked-ticket total to be greater than $0.005, so the empty-backup case falls outside it. That is EX-04's question — whether anything stands behind the amount at all. EX-05 starts where EX-04 stops: tickets exist, they total something, and the question is whether that something matches.
And the check reads the pasted records only — a ticket in an email thread or a field binder is outside the comparison until it is pasted in. A flag means the disagreement exists in the data; it does not say which side of the pair is wrong, and it cannot reprice either one. Read that way, the flag is a worklist: the pending requests whose two figures need to be brought into agreement before approval.
How EX-05 fits the seven
EX-05 is one of seven checks in the workbook. EX-01 counts duplicate ticket IDs by exact match. EX-02 flags tickets with Date, Scope, Labor hours, or Loaded $/hr blank — exactly those four fields. EX-03 flags a ticket with no change-order reference in its link column. EX-04 flags a change-order request whose linked tickets total $0 — a test of the ticket total, not of ticket existence. EX-06 flags an approved change-order request with no billing line on the pay application's Schedule of Values — absence only; it does not compare amounts. EX-07 flags an approved change-order request whose billed-to-date differs from its approved amount.
EX-05's question is asked at the earliest stage, while the number can still be corrected on the request itself: does the proposed amount match the tickets priced underneath it?
Where to go from here
If you want the record-keeping structure first, the free guide to building a change order log template is here:
The free pay-application checklist — the seven checks as a list you can work through by hand — is a separate listing, here:
The workbook behind these checks
The free Pay App Checklist runs the same seven checks by hand: payhip.com/b/ROCQb
The Construction Control workbook is $39: payhip.com/b/rXZ62
Digital download. All sales are final; no refunds.
Verified in LibreOffice; native Excel untested.
Disclosure: this article was drafted with AI assistance. It is from Construction Control, maker of the workbook.
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