Specification Change Impact Questions Checklist

Write down what the item currently is and what it is proposed to become, in one plain sentence each, before asking anybody about consequences.

Two people discussing consequences while picturing different substitutions will agree with each other and then be surprised later.

Note who first raised the change and the reason given, since a change you asked for and a change forced by a site discovery are handled quite differently.

The origin of a change usually determines who carries its consequences, and it becomes very hard to establish once the work has moved on.

Record which drawing and which part of the specification currently describe the item, so everybody is discussing the same starting point.

A change discussed against an out-of-date description produces an agreement that does not match what is actually specified.

Ask whether the proposal is a substitute serving the same purpose or a change of intention, because those are two entirely different conversations.

A like-for-like swap raises questions about performance; a change of intention raises questions about whether the design still works.

Note whether the change affects one location or every occurrence of that item, and ask which is intended before agreeing to anything.

A change agreed while looking at one room is regularly applied everywhere or nowhere, because nobody said which was meant.

Ask what the item is fixed to and whether the replacement needs anything different behind or beneath it.

What an item needs behind it should come from the manufacturer's instructions and the qualified installer, not from the appearance of the item.

Ask whether the change affects the size of an opening, the depth of a recess or the position a supply has to reach, and who else would need to know that.

Openings and supply positions are usually set well before the item arrives, so a late change to either reaches much further than it first appears to.

Note which finishes meet the changed item and ask what happens at each of those junctions once the substitution is made.

Substitutes rarely match the original outline exactly, and the difference shows at the junctions rather than on the item itself.

Ask whether the change affects weight or loading, and who is responsible for establishing whether that matters where the item is going.

Any question about what a structure can carry must be put to a qualified professional and never settled by comparison with the previous item.

Ask whether anything about how the item is operated, serviced or maintained changes, and whether that affects the space needed around it.

Access for servicing is designed in early and noticed only when somebody first has to reach behind or beneath the finished item.

Note whether the change affects how the item could be cleaned or replaced later, since that is rarely discussed at the moment of choosing.

Items that can only be removed by disturbing surrounding finishes are chosen routinely by people who were never told that.

Ask what has already been ordered on the basis of the current specification, and what would happen to those items if the change goes ahead.

Ordering usually happens quietly and much earlier than owners expect, which is why late changes meet unexpected resistance.

Note what has already been built assuming the original item, and ask whether any of that work would have to be altered.

Whether existing work can be altered to suit a substitution is a judgement for the qualified professionals who designed and carried it out.

Ask whether other trades have already worked to the original information, and who is responsible for telling them that it has changed.

The trade most affected by a change is frequently not present when it is agreed, and hears about it only when their work no longer fits.

Ask whether anything already covered up would have to be opened again for the change to be made.

Opening up completed work should be planned by the appointed professionals, who can also say what has to happen before it is closed again.

Note whether other parties are relying on the original item to plan their own work, and ask who is informing them of the proposal.

Changes agreed between an owner and one party propagate slowly, and the delay is what turns a small change into a coordination problem.

List every document that describes the item as it currently stands, and ask which of them will be reissued to show the change.

An item usually appears in more places than anybody remembers, and the forgotten place is where somebody later builds the old version.

Ask whether the change will be recorded on the drawings or only in a message, and which of the two is intended to describe the works from now on.

Which document describes the works after a change is a matter for the appointed professionals and your own legal adviser, not for informal agreement.

Note whether schedules, room data sheets or door and window lists repeat the item elsewhere, since a change made on a drawing often leaves a schedule still saying the old thing.

Schedules are updated less often than drawings and are exactly what a supplier orders from, which is how the superseded item still arrives.

Ask what happens to the superseded document and how anybody still working from it would be told.

A superseded drawing on a wall or in a van keeps being correct in somebody's hands long after it stopped being correct anywhere else.

Record the reference of the instruction or note that authorises the change, so the change has an identity that can be referred to later.

Changes without references are discussed as the thing we changed in the kitchen, which stops working as soon as there are two of them.

Ask which appointed professionals have not yet seen the proposed change, and whether their view is needed before anything proceeds.

Where a change touches work another professional designed, ask them directly rather than relying on a summary passed along by somebody else.

Note whether the change touches work carried out by a specialist installer, and ask who is responsible for consulting them.

Specialist trades often work to their own information, and a change agreed without them is agreed against a document they do not hold.

Ask whether anybody outside the project, such as a supply undertaking or somebody with an interest in an adjoining property, would need to be told.

Anything affecting a shared structure, a boundary or a supply may involve other parties; take the position to your own adviser and the relevant undertaking.

Ask whether the change affects work described in another party's scope document, and who is responsible for updating that document.

A change that alters somebody else's scope without altering their document is the origin of a great many later disagreements.

Note who will actually be on site when the change is carried out, and whether they are the people who took part in discussing it.

The person who understood the change and the person who carries it out are often different, and only a written record bridges them.

Ask whether the change touches anything that previously had to be confirmed with an authority, and confirm locally what applies rather than assuming the earlier position carries over.

The effect of a change on any consent or local requirement must be confirmed with the relevant authority, never assumed from the original position.

Note where the change alters something visible from outside the property, and ask what that means for anything already agreed about the appearance.

What is acceptable in external appearance is determined locally; confirm the position with the relevant authority before proceeding.

Ask whether the changed item was described in any document submitted to anybody outside the project, and who is responsible for telling them.

Documents leave a project and keep circulating, and nobody tracks where they went unless somebody wrote it down at the time.

Note whether the change touches a shared wall, a boundary or an access route, and take that question to your own adviser before agreeing.

Anything affecting a shared or boundary element is a legal matter for your own adviser and the other parties with an interest.

Ask what evidence you would hold afterwards showing that the changed item was considered acceptable in its position, and who issues it.

Evidence of acceptability is issued by the qualified people responsible for that work; do not record an acceptability judgement of your own.

Ask what comes with the new item by way of manufacturer's instructions, and who is expected to read them before it is fitted.

Instructions arriving in a box are read by whoever unpacks it, and frequently by nobody at all if that person is in a hurry.

Note whether the change affects anything that was to be handed over at the end, such as records or instructions for that item.

Handover documents are assembled from the specification, so an unrecorded substitution produces a set describing an item you do not have.

Ask whether the change affects a warranty offered on the item or on the surrounding work, and put the wording to your own adviser.

The effect of a substitution on any warranty is a matter for the issuer of that warranty and your own legal adviser.

Ask who registers anything that has to be registered for the new item, and what information they would need from you to do it.

Registration is usually somebody's small task that nobody has been given, and it is noticed only when something has gone wrong with the item.

Note whether the new item needs different care, cleaning or servicing from the original, and ask where that will be written down for you.

Ask the manufacturer of the new item what care it needs, and keep their written answer with your own records rather than relying on what you are told on site.

Write down the decision, who made it and what information was in front of them at the time, including which documents were being looked at.

A decision recorded without its basis cannot be revisited sensibly, because nobody can establish what people knew when they made it.

Record the consequences you were told about in the words that were used, and keep that note attached to the change itself.

Stated consequences are what you relied on, and they are the first thing to become vague once the change has been made.

Note anything you were told could not be answered until the work was opened up, and keep each of those as an open item rather than a resolved one.

Questions that depend on what is found during opening up must go back to the qualified professionals once the position is known.

Ask for confirmation that the change has been passed to everybody who needs it, and record who was told and by whom.

Distribution is the step most often assumed complete, and the assumption is only tested when the wrong thing turns up.

Record the changes you decided against as well as those you accepted, together with the reason you gave at the time.

The same proposal reappears later, often from somebody who was not there, and your own note is what prevents relitigating it from scratch.