Construction glossary
T&M ticket vs change order
Also called field ticket vs CO, LEM vs change order.
A T&M ticket (or LEM, or field ticket) is the signed field record of what happened on site. A change order is the commercial wrap that adjusts the contract. Confusing the two is how offices wait for a CO before capturing hours - and lose the evidence.
Field record versus commercial wrap
Write the ticket when the work happens. Get the signature while the GC or inspector is still on site. Later, those tickets become backup for a change order, force-account summary, or invoice. The ticket is not the CO. The CO is not a substitute for the ticket.
When tickets feed a change order
Once an extra is defined well enough to price as a lump sum, many jobs convert a stack of T&M tickets into a change order. Clean tickets make a clean CO. Sloppy tickets make a meeting. Scope breaks on the ticket keep the extra separate from base-contract lines.
When you stay on T&M
Some work never converts: force account, undefined utilities, owner-directed extras that stay hourly. In those cases the approved T&M tickets are the billable record. Software should support both paths without forcing everything through a CO module first.
T&M ticket vs change order FAQ
Is a T&M ticket a change order?
No. The ticket is the field evidence. The change order is the contract adjustment that may use that evidence as backup.
Should I wait for a CO before writing tickets?
No. Capture and sign the work when it happens. Waiting for paperwork is how billable hours disappear.
Use your agreed rates on every daily ticket.
These public ranges are a benchmark. SubTrack stores the rates you agreed with the client on a project rate sheet. Crews apply those rates to labor, equipment, materials, and subcontractors on the daily ticket. The same figures carry into reporting and the billing documents you send.