Volta Change Orders: the mid-job change, approved on the customer's phone

How change orders work in most field-service platforms today

Of the field-service tools compared on how the tools compare, most have no change-order object on their own pages: Housecall Pro's page on selling during a job never uses the words (Estimates on Jobs), a search of Workiz's help center returns no article on one, FieldPulse's features page lists none, and JobNimbus has estimates only. ServiceTitan names one, and it is an estimate on the project (Create a change order). So a mid-job change goes one of two ways.

Path one: add the line to the job and write a note

Add the extra line to the job that is already running and write an internal note that the customer agreed. It needs no feature and it is fast. The customer signs nothing, so when the invoice comes in above the quote there is no record that they approved the number.

Path two: a second estimate, approved from a link

Price the change as a new estimate. The customer approves it from an emailed or texted link, in a client portal or in person on the tech's device, and on these tools signs it there: Housecall Pro takes a finger-drawn signature in person (Estimates: approvals and signatures); Workiz requires a signature on every estimate approved through its portal (Estimates FAQ); FieldPulse lets the customer draw or type a signature from the emailed document's link (Requesting a signature). Then the approved lines have to reach the running job. Housecall Pro's page calls that step Copy to Job; Workiz marks the approved estimate Approved and, once it is converted to a job, Won. Until someone does that, the change is a second record, not a line on the job, and the customer approved the extra, not the new total.

The signature lives on the estimate

A signature collected on an estimate is only as durable as the estimate. JobNimbus locks a signed estimate and has you duplicate it to change it (sending estimates for signing). What each tool's page says about approval and signature is on the comparison page, cell by cell, from the vendor's own page.

Spanish

On the vendor pages read for the comparison, Spanish, where it is mentioned at all, is for the crew's mobile app. No page states a Spanish surface for the homeowner. The Spanish-speaking customers page covers what an approval in Spanish has to include.

How it works with Volta Change Orders

On the tech's phone

The tech opens the app on the job and presses New change. The job list comes from your field-service platform, so the job has to exist there first. The first time, the app asks Speak it or Type it, and remembers; a switch under the button changes it any time. The tech says the change, then the price, in one breath: the fan moved to the north wall, then the number. The app shows one line and one price, with the new job total beside it. Wrong? Tap Fix it. A photo of the part or the spot can be added. Then Send to customer, and Send the link: the phone's own share sheet opens and the text goes out from the tech's messages app, to the customer's number.

On the customer's phone

The link opens in their browser. They see the job name, the change in one line, the price of this change, the new job total, and the photo if there is one. They sign with a finger or type their name, then tap Approve. Or they tap Not now and pick a reason: Too expensive, Not needed, Call me first, Other. There is no app to install and nothing to log in to. Español at the top switches the page to Spanish; English switches back.

On the job in your platform

Nothing is written until the customer approves. Then the app adds one line to the job, named "Change order" with its number and the change in the tech's words, and writes a note with the approval record: who approved, when, from where, and the signature. The tech's list reads "Approved, on the job". If the link sits unopened, the list offers Resend, and the tech sends it again from their phone. Every change keeps its number, its time and its name in a list the shop can open any time.

Disconnecting

Two ways, same result: press Disconnect inside the app, or disconnect from the app's page in your platform's app marketplace. The keys your platform gave us are deleted at once. Every job and change we hold for you is deleted within 30 days by a logged purge, sooner on request by email. The approval records are kept as proof for as long as the law requires. Your data in your platform is never touched. The help center has the setup guide, the questions shops ask, and the fixes, in English and Spanish.

What it writes to your platform, and what it never writes

The consent screen in your field-service platform shows three permissions: read clients, read jobs, write jobs. Nothing else is asked for. The privacy page carries the full list under "If you connect a field-service platform"; this is the short one.

• Reads: your account name and the id of the admin who connected the app; your jobs (title, number, total); and, for the client on a job, the name and the phone number or email your team uses to send the link.
• Never reads: quotes, invoices, payments, schedules, time sheets, other users, or any other data in your platform.
• Writes: only a change the customer approved, as one line on the job and a note that says who approved it and when. Nothing is written before approval.
• Never writes: an edit to anything already on the job, including its own lines. Nothing is removed. Nothing unapproved is written.
• Invoices: untouched. Your platform carries the job's lines onto the invoice when you invoice the job, the same as any other line.
• Photos and signatures: kept on our side. The photo sits in private storage and is shown to the customer through a link that expires; the signature stays with the approval record.
• Keys: the access keys your platform issues are kept in an encrypted secret store, readable only by the app's own server, and deleted the moment you disconnect.

What it costs

Free until your first approved change order. The price after that is stated on the app's listing in your platform's app marketplace, not here, so a number on this page can never be out of date.

Who it is for

Shops with an admin login on their field-service platform, to connect the app. It is built for service and repair work on homes, where a change is one line and one price: HVAC, plumbing, electrical and the trades like them. The tech's phone needs a browser; there is no app to install, for the tech or for the customer.

It is not a contract tool. It does not replace a written contract, and it does not do quotes, submittals, drawings or progress billing. Your platform still does the invoice. For how it compares with the change-order features of other tools, see how the tools compare; for the paper version of the same record, the free template.

Product names belong to their owners. Volta Orbit is not affiliated with any field-service platform.

Setup, in five steps

Once the app is listed, setup runs from Connect in your platform's app marketplace to the first approved change.

1. Connect. In your field-service platform's app marketplace, open Volta Change Orders and press Connect.
2. Allow the three permissions. The platform shows what the app may do: read clients, read jobs, write jobs. Allow them. It brings you back to the app, connected.
3. Start a change. Press New change, tap the job it belongs to, and choose Speak it or Type it. The app asks once and remembers.
4. Say or type the change and the price. The app shows one line and one price, with the new job total beside it. Add a photo if it helps. Press Send to customer, then Send the link from your own messages app.
5. The customer approves. They open the link, sign with a finger or type their name, and tap Approve. The line and the note appear on the job in your platform.

Questions

More on change orders