To fill out an AIA change order form, you use AIA Document G701 inside the AIA Contract Documents online platform (ACD5), enter the project identifiers and the agreed change to scope, contract sum, and schedule, then route it for signature by the owner, contractor, and architect. Once all three sign a completed G701, the change becomes a binding modification to the contract sum and timeline.1AIA Contract Documents. G701 RI: Construction Change Order Form – Rhode Island
What the G701 Is
The G701 is the standard change order form in the AIA’s G-Series, which covers the documents used to administer a project day to day.2AIA Contract Documents. G-Series: Contract Administration and Project Management Forms Its job is narrow: formally document a change that the owner, contractor, and architect have already agreed to, and record how that change affects the money and the schedule. It sits alongside the G702 Application and Certificate for Payment, the G704 Certificate of Substantial Completion, and the G716 Request for Information in the same series.
A G701 is the right tool when the parties have reached agreement on a scope change and need to lock it in. If the change is still being negotiated, or if the owner is directing work to proceed before cost and time are settled, that is a different situation and a different form. The G701 presumes agreement.
Information to Gather Before You Open the Form
The ACD5 editor walks you through fields, but you will stall if the underlying facts have not been settled with the other parties first. Have the following in hand:
- The full legal names and addresses of the owner, contractor, and architect, matching exactly how they appear on the underlying agreement. Mismatched party identities create enforcement problems later.
- The project name, location, and the date and identifying number of the original owner-contractor agreement the change order modifies (typically the A101 or, for smaller work, the A105).
- A clear written description of the change in scope. Attach drawings, specifications, or sketches by reference where they exist.
- The dollar impact: the net increase, decrease, or no change to the contract sum, and the new total after the change.
- The schedule impact: added or deducted days and the revised date of substantial completion.
- The change order number in sequence. Change orders are numbered consecutively over the life of the project.
Settle these details before opening the form. The G701 is a record of agreement, not the place to negotiate.
Opening the Form in ACD5
All AIA contract templates, including the G701, are obtained through the AIA Contract Documents online platform at aiacontracts.com.3AIA Contract Documents. AIA Contract Documents You can buy the G701 as a single-use document for one project or access it through the unlimited annual subscription if your firm handles a steady volume of work.
The platform is browser-based. You do not download a blank Word file. After purchasing or opening the document under your subscription, you edit it inside the AIA’s online editor, which preserves the integrity of the standard language and tracks every change you make to it.4AIA Contract Documents. Beginner’s Guide to Using ACD5
Completing the Fields
The guided editor flags mandatory fields so nothing critical gets skipped. Work through them in order:
- Project identification. Enter the project name and location, the owner’s name and address, the contractor’s name and address, and the architect’s name and address. Match these to the underlying contract.
- Contract reference. Enter the date of the original owner-contractor agreement and its project number. This ties the change order to the specific contract it modifies.
- Change order number and date. Assign the next sequential number and enter the date of issuance.
- Description of the change. Describe the modification to the work. Be concrete. Reference drawings, specification sections, or RFI responses by number where applicable, and attach them.
- Contract sum adjustment. Enter the original contract sum, the net change by previously authorized change orders, the contract sum prior to this change order, the amount of this change (increase, decrease, or zero), and the new contract sum including this change.
- Contract time adjustment. Enter the number of days added or deducted and the revised date of substantial completion.
Before finalizing, use the platform’s variance check. It generates a draft PDF so you can preview the completed document and catch errors while the draft watermark is still in place.5AIA Contract Documents. How to Use ACD5 to Edit Your One-Time Use Document
Editing Standard Language
You can edit the standard AIA language on a G701: delete clauses, add provisions, or change terms. The platform tracks every modification and offers two ways to show what changed. You can display strikeouts and underlines within the document text, or generate a separate Additions and Deletions Report.6AIA Contract Documents. FAQs: Modifying and Amending AIA Contract Documents Either option makes the modifications transparent during review, so the other parties can see exactly what standard language was altered and what custom terms were added.
Certain elements, such as the document title, are locked and cannot be edited. That keeps the form identifiable as an AIA document.
For a change order, most parties leave the standard language alone and confine their input to the project-specific fields. The whole point of using the AIA form is to rely on language the industry recognizes. If you find yourself heavily rewriting a G701, the question to ask is whether what you really need is an amendment to the underlying agreement rather than a change order.
Finalizing, Signing, and Distributing
Once the content is correct, click the finalize button. The system generates a clean PDF without the draft watermark and stores a copy on the platform for future reference.
The finalized change order is then routed to the owner, contractor, and architect for signature. All three must sign. Digital signature platforms are acceptable; the federal E-Sign Act provides that a contract cannot be denied legal effect solely because an electronic signature was used in its formation.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S.C. Chapter 96 – Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce After every party has signed, distribute a fully executed copy to each stakeholder and keep it with the project records.
At that point the change order has done its work. The adjustments to the contract sum and the completion date are now part of the contract, carried into the next pay application and the next schedule update.
A Note on Small Projects
If your project is being run under the A105 Standard Short Form of Agreement Between Owner and Contractor, be careful before mixing in forms from other families. The AIA explicitly warns against combining Small Projects family documents with forms from other families without a careful side-by-side comparison, because the built-in general conditions of the A105 may conflict with other AIA forms.8AIA Contract Documents. Instructions: A105 2017: Standard Short Form of Agreement Between Owner and Contractor Check the compatibility before you issue a G701 against an A105-based contract.
Common Pitfalls
Three mistakes come up repeatedly on change orders. The first is skipping the schedule impact. Parties focus on the dollars and leave the time field at zero when the work actually extends the critical path. If a change adds days, say so on the G701, because a signed change order that is silent on time can later be read as agreement that no extension was needed.
The second is vague scope descriptions. “Additional electrical work per field conditions” is not enough. Reference the specific drawings, specification sections, or RFI numbers that define the change, and attach them.
The third is proceeding with the work before the G701 is signed. The change order’s binding effect comes from the signatures. Work directed in the field without an executed change order can leave the contractor without a clear right to payment or a time extension, and it can leave the owner without a clear scope of what was authorized. Settle the paperwork first.