Refurbishment scope changes can improve an asset, reveal hidden conditions or quietly erode the approved business case. Useful project controls make each change visible before work proceeds, show its effect on cost and time, and route it to the person with authority to accept the trade-off. For more context, read Feathers Hospitality’s approach, explore the hotel management platform, or contact the team about your property.
Control refurbishment changes with a baseline, impact assessment, delegated approval and a current change log.
At a glance
- Set the scope baseline and reference documents.
- Assess impact before approving a change.
- Update the register and verify completed work.
Set a usable scope baseline
Describe included rooms, systems, finishes, exclusions, interfaces, performance requirements and acceptance evidence. Attach the current drawings, specifications and pricing schedule with version dates. A vague baseline makes it difficult to distinguish a genuine change from clarification, correction or work that was already required.
Create a single change request route
Require a request before altered work starts, except for an agreed emergency process. Record origin, reason, affected area, requested decision date and whether the change is mandatory, a client preference or a response to a discovered condition. Number requests so site conversations can be connected to the formal record.
Assess impact across the whole project
Ask the contractor and design lead to state cost, time, quality, safety, guest operations, permits, interfaces and downstream maintenance implications. Check knock-on effects on adjoining rooms, plant, procurement and opening sequence. An apparently small finish change may affect samples, lead time and several trades.
A change request form need not be lengthy, but it should capture the existing baseline, proposed difference, reason, cost range, time impact, risk and decision needed by date. Ask the designer to identify affected drawings and trades, then have the cost owner validate pricing before the approver decides.
Separate investigation from approval
A site instruction to inspect or make safe is not necessarily approval to complete a broader variation. Define who can authorize surveys, emergency protection, design development and paid scope changes. Put limits in the contract and brief the site team so verbal requests are not treated as unlimited authority.
Compare options and protect contingency
For each request, compare accept, reject, defer or substitute. Show whether contingency is being used, the remaining allowance and what other risks it must cover. Do not present contingency as free budget; ownership and approval of its use should be explicit in project governance.
Track cumulative change, not only single requests
Maintain a log with status, cost, time, approver, instruction reference and completion evidence. Summarize approved, pending and rejected values separately. Review the accumulated effect by room, system and reason: many individually small requests can alter scope, opening dates or operating cost materially.
Link changes to payment and closeout
Match approved changes to contract documents, valuations, invoices, drawings and handover records. Confirm what was installed, tested and accepted before closing the item. Preserve warranties, certificates, operating manuals and asset data so the hotel’s maintenance team is not left with an undocumented change.
At weekly site reviews, reconcile new verbal requests against the change register. Record who requested each item and whether it is under assessment or authorized. This routine helps stop an informal conversation from becoming completed work that later appears as an unexpected invoice.
Review governance after the works
Compare the final scope and cost with the approved case, explaining accepted changes and rejected alternatives. Identify repeat causes such as incomplete surveys, late decisions or inconsistent briefs. Use the findings to improve technical due diligence and change thresholds on the next project; UK and RICS guidance should be adapted to the property’s contract and Portuguese requirements.
Frequently asked questions
Can a contractor proceed while approval is pending?
Only within the authority and emergency provisions agreed in the contract. Document any make-safe instruction and obtain formal approval for additional scope.
Should every design clarification be treated as a variation?
No. Compare it with the baseline and contract definitions. Record clarifications that affect cost, time or performance through the agreed change process.