Change Order vs. Permit Revision: How They Differ

A change order is a contract document between a property owner and a contractor that adjusts scope, cost, or schedule for work already under contract. A permit revision (called a Post-Approval Amendment in New York City) is a separate, government-facing filing that updates the plans and status a building department has on record for that job. A project can need one, the other, or both for the same physical change.

A change order lives inside the construction contract. It documents what changed in the work, how much more or less it costs, and how the schedule shifts, and it is signed by the owner and contractor. No city agency has to see it unless a dispute reaches that point.

A permit revision or amendment lives inside the government's permit record. If the changed work affects declared cost, work type, scope, or anything else the original permit application described, the building department's on-file plans need to be updated to match, independent of whatever the contract paperwork says. In New York City this is the Post-Approval Amendment (PAA) filing, made through DOB NOW: Build or eFiling on the original job.

In practice, a scope change on an active job often produces both documents at close to the same time: a change order to settle the contract terms, and a PAA (or equivalent revision filing in another jurisdiction) so the permit reflects the new scope, cost, or work type. Skipping the government filing while proceeding on a signed change order is a common way a project's declared cost or work type drifts out of sync with its public permit record.

Reference sources