Best way to handle change orders?

[patricks]

As we all know buildings are rarely constructed 100% exactly the way they are drawn. During the construction process changes have to be made in the field to accomodate unforseen conditions, changes that the owner may wish to make, etc.

So let's say I have produced a full CD set for a school in Revit and it is under construction. Now along the way the client needs some changes like casework moved around, or maybe the ceiling needs to be revised, etc.

So when that happens, what is the best way of keeping track of POTENTIAL changes, things that may or may not happen while we wait on a price back from the contractor?

Right now, what I do is go back to the project file, make the changes, and then create new views that show those changes that will fit on an 8.5x11 version of our titleblock and can be faxed to the contractor. But what if those changes are not approved by the owner, or just end up not happening for whatever reason. Then what should I do?

I'm just trying to get an idea of how everyone keeps their Revit project files up to date and current with what is happening in the field, and what may or may not happen in the near future as construction progresses. Thoughts?

[BWG]

It would be nice if design options could work for this, but it is not meant for post production. Unfortunately, we just save out a new file make the changes and if they are accepted, the new file is the latest, otherwise, it would be erased. All old revisions are kept.

[patricks]

Hmm yes I was afraid of that... unfortunately for us that would make for lots more used space on the server, as we have several projects with change orders that have been pending and dragging out for many many months now.

[Lashers]

I have been struggling with this as well! If I issue a set for Planning Permission and have to make changes I just save the file as FILE-A and put the old version in an archive folder - the annoying thing is that it could be just one or two changes resulting from a revision to an issued sheet!

Would be nice to freeze the design every time you issue so that if neccessary you can revert back to a given adjustment. It would have to be a super intellegent UNDO though! Because you would not want to just revert back to a given position and lose all your other changes you wish to keep - it would have to ask which change you wish to revert to . . . hmmmm . . .

Confused, but My 2pence anyway

[aggockel50321]

I do it with design options and combine it with phasing if there's going to be a lot of demolition of existing or already built stuff, & then keep the primary option as the present CD, and the other option(s) as the proposed change, and set up view(s) locked to each option via view/visablity.

Once a direction is decided, change the accepted option to primary, and close it out by accepting the primary option. I also print out pdf's of these for archive purposes.

[gibson.tim91884]

I've been pondering this for a while too. I believe that the revisions tool is where this should be handled. Here's my hypothetical workflow:

I catch wind of a pending change order, so I start a new ("pending"?) revision. Any changes I make under that revision are tracked so that it's possible to roll back if the change order is cancelled. If the change order is approved, then I accept the revision and move on. If the CO is cancelled, then I cancel the revision and go back to the way things were before.

[BWG]

I do it with design options and combine it with phasing if there's going to be a lot of demolition of existing or already built stuff, & then keep the primary option as the present CD, and the other option(s) as the proposed change, and set up view(s) locked to each option via view/visablity.

Once a direction is decided, change the accepted option to primary, and close it out by accepting the primary option. I also print out pdf's of these for archive purposes.

So what happens when a wing of a building gets a lot of revisions and walls start moving around? What do you do with the CD set of walls? Do you have to draw over them and them demo them in the new option set?

[tvorkoper]

I think using the revision tool would be the way to go as well.

But i was wondering what the best way is to archive revisions that actually do make it into construction. We set up small title blocks, drag the revision to the title block and print to pdf to issue to the field. We save the pdf's in order to have a history of changes- in case another change happens to that revision. Is there any way to make a history of changes within revit?

[kdeegan762559]

Hey
I know this is a VERY old thread, but this is something I am trying to standardize in my office. I want to clean up dealing with Change Orders (CO). I am hoping that the members of this thread have since developed a best practice method for handling these since the OP.
( here is hoping :) )

[addysmith97772274]

Change orders are a component of the change management process that describes what kind of changes are made to a design. You should have full authority for the change order.
Change order states help track the progression of the change order through the change management process. The state of the change order can determine which users can affect the change order, based on the user's role. Change orders use a routing list to control which users are notified when a Change Order enters a certain state.