A variation from your principal usually reaches several trades. When you instruct each trade, their subcontract gets a variation of its own. Linking those subcontract variations to the head contract variation they came from shows you, in one place, whether you are being paid enough for the variation to cover what you are paying out for it.
Linking a variation never changes its value. Each variation is still worth the sum of its own items.
Link a subcontract variation
You can link from either end. Both contracts need to be on the same project, and the head contract has to be marked as the project's head contract.
- From the head contract. Open the head contract's variations. Under the variation, choose Link a subcontract variation and pick the subcontract variation it was passed down as. Repeat for each trade.
- From a subcontract. Open the subcontract's variations. Under the variation, choose Link to a head contract variation and pick the one it came from.
An addition can only be linked to an addition, and an omission to an omission. A subcontract variation comes from one head contract variation, so to move it, unlink it first. The two contracts also need to be in the same currency.
What the head contract shows
Under each linked variation on the head contract you see the subcontract variations it was passed down as, with:
| Row | Value | Claimed to date |
|---|---|---|
| Each subcontract variation | What that variation is worth | What the subcontractor has claimed for it, as certified |
| Passed down | The subcontract variations added up | The same, added up |
| This variation | What your head contract variation is worth | What you have claimed from the principal for it |
| Margin | This variation, less what was passed down | The same, for claimed to date |
A margin shown in red means you are paying out more on that variation than you are being paid for it, either in its value or in what has been claimed so far.
A rejected variation counts as nil in these figures, whichever side it is on.
Across the project
The project page's Variations tab lists every variation on the head contract with the same figures, one row each, and the subcontract variations passed down from it beneath. A line above the table tells you how many of them are passed down and how many do not cover what was passed down from them. To link or unlink, open the contract's variations from the tab.
When a link ends
Unlink removes a link. A link also ends on its own if either contract is taken off the project, if the head contract stops being the project's head contract, or if the project is deleted. Nothing about either variation changes when it does.