From sign-up to your first signed variation

Here's how Variation Capture works, from the first form to getting paid. We'll follow Mulga Air Conditioning, a sample business up in Townsville.

Step one. You get a private link to a short form. It saves as you go, so anyone in the office can chip in. Start with your company details, the way they appear on your subcontracts. Then who runs variations in your office, and your crew's mobile numbers. That's how we know it's them on WhatsApp.

Upload your rates however you've got them. A spreadsheet, a supplier price list, even a photo of the rate sheet. And tell us how you price. Your margin on materials, and what half a day means on your jobs.

Add each live job, with the builder's people and the signed subcontract. We read the scope and the variations clause out of it. Last, paste in a few old site messages, and say which ones turned out to be variations. We'll test your setup on them. Hit send, and that's your part done.

Step two. We build your setup, and test it on your own messages before anything goes live.

Here's your rate card. Every price in a draft comes from this, never a guess. You sign it off on a forty-five minute setup call. Each job gets a setup sheet. Who approves what amount, where notices go, and how long you've got to give them.

And here's the test run. Your old messages, drafted and checked against what your office actually decided. There's a one-page guide for the crew, and a letter for each builder, so everyone knows what's coming.

Step three. On site. The crew save one number, and message it like they'd text anyone.

Dylan's at the aged care job. The supervisor's just asked for an extra diffuser. He gets a reply straight away, and the draft's already being written. Chloe's at the townhouses. It's filed to the right job from what she wrote.

Hamish didn't say where, and Lachlan runs two of the jobs. So it asks him. One tap, sorted.

Step four. In the office. Nothing goes to a builder until you approve it.

Shona's inbox has three drafts, each on its own job. Each one's checked against that job's scope, and priced only from your rate card, with your margin on materials. Dylan's message and photo stay attached as the record.

She can change anything she likes. When it's right, she approves it. It works out who on the builder's side can sign off this amount, and one click sends them the notice.

Step five. The builder approves.

The notice goes to Jas, who can approve up to twenty-five hundred on this job, with the contract's notices contact copied in. No login, and no app. The change, the photo and the price, all on one page. And Dylan hears straight away. Approved, go ahead.

The split system itself isn't on Mulga's rate card, so it's flagged for Shona to price by hand. Never guessed. Melissa at the builder queries it. They'll supply the unit themselves. Chloe's told to hold off until it's sorted. Shona takes the unit off, and sends it back. Same link. Install only. Approved.

Step six. Getting paid.

Every variation sits in one register with its notice deadline, so nothing slips past the contract's time limit. At claim time, each job's approved variations go to the builder's claims address in one email. Addressed to the right company, with a spreadsheet for their claims portal. When the money lands, mark it paid.

Your crew message it. Your office approves it. Your builder signs it. Get paid for every site change.