What is
a Variation Order?
A variation order is the contract’s mechanism for changing the works after signature — adding, omitting or altering scope, quality or sequence. On UAE lump-sum contracts the stakes are high: Article 887 of the Civil Code bars a price increase for design-driven changes unless the employer agrees, so a contractor who builds first and prices later is financing the change out of its own margin.
Where variations come from
Almost every substantial UAE project varies: employer design development, authority requirements, site conditions, value engineering. The contract — typically FIDIC clause 13 or a bespoke equivalent — sets out who may instruct a variation, in what form, and how it is valued: contract rates where applicable, adjusted rates where analogous, and cost-plus-reasonable-profit where neither fits.
The UAE overlay: Article 887
The Civil Code’s muqawala provisions add a rule the printed form does not: on a lump-sum contract based on an agreed design, the contractor cannot demand a price increase for executing that design — and where the design changes, the price only moves by agreement. The practical discipline is to secure the instruction, and ideally the price, in writing before the work is done. Contractors who proceed on oral instructions carry the burden of proving both the instruction and its value later, usually in front of a tribunal-appointed expert.
Can a contractor refuse a variation?
Generally no, within the contractual limits: most forms oblige the contractor to execute properly instructed variations within the scope of the works, and refusal risks termination for default. The protections are procedural — a valid instruction from an authorised person, valuation under the contract, and an extension of time where the change affects the critical path.
Must a variation be in writing?
Most UAE contracts say yes, and tribunals take the requirement seriously — but not absolutely. Where an employer instructs orally, watches the varied work proceed and takes its benefit, arguments from good faith and unjust enrichment can still carry an unpriced variation claim. It is a rescue argument, not a strategy: the record beats the doctrine.
How are variations valued when no rates apply?
Where contract rates do not apply and no analogous rate can be adjusted, valuation falls to actual cost plus a reasonable margin — which makes contemporaneous records of labour, plant and materials for the varied work the whole claim. Global claims that mix varied and original work rarely survive expert scrutiny.
Arguing over an unpriced variation?
Senior counsel only. We price, present and arbitrate variation claims across the UAE.
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