How to price an electrical change order in Ontario
Short answer
An electrical change order is priced like a small estimate: count the added and deleted work, apply labour units, price the labour at a full burdened rate, price the material, add the job costs the change causes, and then add overhead and markup at the percentages your contract allows. The electrical contractor's estimator or project manager usually prepares it. An outside electrical estimator can price it for you and back up every quantity and labour hour, so the general contractor or owner can check where the number comes from.
Who can price an electrical change order in Ontario?
The price comes from the electrical contractor whose scope is changing, and goes to the general contractor or construction manager, who passes it to the owner and consultant. The person who builds the number is usually:
- The contractor's own estimator, who knows the original bid and the labour units used in it.
- The project manager on the job, often together with the site foreman for existing conditions.
- An outside electrical estimator, when the contractor has no estimator free or the change is large. Admiral Electrical prices change orders on request after a project is awarded, using the same method as a tender estimate.
Pricing a change is estimating work. Doing the work itself in Ontario is a separate matter and must be done by a licensed electrical contractor.
Change order or change directive?
Many projects in Canada use the CCDC 2 stipulated price contract, which separates the two:
- Change order (GC 6.2). The consultant describes the change, the contractor proposes the price and the time, and once both sides agree a change order is signed. This is where a well-backed price matters most.
- Change directive (GC 6.3). The owner orders the work to go ahead before the price is agreed. The contract price is then adjusted on the contractor's actual cost of the change plus the fee set in the contract, so time sheets, invoices and quantities must be kept from the first day.
Check your own contract and the supplementary conditions: they can change the markups, the time limits for submitting a price and what counts as a cost.
What goes into the price
| Part | What to include |
|---|---|
| Quantities | Every item added, and every item deleted as a credit, by system: devices, fixtures, boxes, conduit and cable lengths, panels and breakers, fire alarm and low voltage devices. Include removals and re-feeds in renovations. |
| Labour hours | Labour units for each item, from the same labour database used in the bid, adjusted for height, access and working in occupied areas. |
| Labour rate | A fully burdened hourly rate, not the base wage. Foreman time is priced separately. |
| Material | Current prices. Get supplier quotes for anything major, such as panels, lighting packages and fire alarm equipment. |
| Job costs | Costs the change causes that overhead does not cover: equipment and lifts, freight, permits and inspection, drafting and as-builts, commissioning, disposal, bonding. |
| Overhead and markup | The percentages in your contract, applied the way the contract says. |
| Time | Any extension to the schedule the change needs, stated with the price. |
The labour rate and markups
The labour rate in a change order is the full cost of an hour of work, not the base wage. It is built from:
- Wages: the base rate, vacation and statutory holiday pay, and benefits and pension where a collective agreement applies.
- Payroll costs required by law: employment insurance, the Canada Pension Plan, workers' compensation and provincial payroll taxes.
- Non-productive time: rest periods, safety talks and training, clean-up.
- Costs of keeping a crew on site: small tools, insurance, protective equipment, site facilities, parking where the agreement requires it.
- Supervision: foreperson and general foreman time at their own, higher rate.
On top of the direct cost, the contract sets the overhead and markup, usually as a percentage, with a separate and often lower percentage for work done by subcontractors. Also price separately:
- Labour hours adjusted for job conditions such as height, access, congestion and working in occupied areas, not only taken from the base labour units.
- Job expenses that overhead does not cover, such as equipment, freight, permits, drafting and as-builts, commissioning, bonding, disposal, inspection and travel.
- Impact costs, where a change slows down the rest of the work, shown apart from the change itself.
Rates and percentages differ by province, region, union agreement and contract. Some local electrical contractors associations publish a recommended change order rate and markups for their members each year. Use your own burdened labour cost, your association's current guide if it applies to you, and the markups written in your contract.
How to back up the number
A change order that shows its working is easier to approve and harder to cut. Send with the price:
- The drawing, sketch, RFI answer or site instruction that caused the change.
- Marked-up drawings showing what was added and what was deleted.
- A list of quantities with the labour unit for each item.
- The labour rate used and where it comes from.
- Supplier quotes for the major material.
- Credits for deleted work, shown on the same sheet as the additions.
- Any time extension, and any impact on other work, stated separately.
How Admiral Electrical prices change orders
On request, after a project is awarded, we price change orders the same way we price tenders: the change is counted from the drawings, labour comes from the Accubid Pro labour database (NECA labour units), and every quantity and labour hour is backed up so the general contractor or owner can see where the number comes from. Send the revised drawings or site instruction and the original contract scope. See the FAQ or request a quote.