What Is an ASI in Construction?

A minor change is a refinement the contract already contemplated: a dimension clarified, a finish location adjusted within the specified product, a detail that does not add assemblies. The contractor performs it inside the existing sum and schedule. G710 says this on its face. Ignoring that sentence is how ASIs become back-door change orders.

The contractor who believes the instruction is not minor should say so before doing the work, in writing. Performing the work and pricing it later leaves both sides arguing from memory. The architect who suspects a cost impact should not issue the ASI at all.

An RFI asks a question. The response clarifies the documents. If the clarification is a minor adjustment with no cost or time effect, the architect may follow it with an ASI so the field has a direction, not only an answer. If the answer adds scope, the next document is a proposal request and then a change order, or a construction change directive if the owner needs the work to proceed before price agreement.

A CCD, AIA G714, orders a change when the owner and contractor have not agreed on the adjustment. It assumes there will be an adjustment. An ASI assumes there will not. Using the wrong form does not change the facts of the work, and it does confuse the log the cost report is built from.

Number it, date it, and describe the change with sheet and detail references. Attach a sketch if the words can be drawn two ways. State that the contract sum and contract time are unchanged. Copy the owner and the consultants whose sheets are affected. An ASI that revises a structural detail without the engineer’s knowledge is the architect directing work outside their license.

Consultants issue their own supplemental instructions on some jobs, under the prime architect’s cover. The contract still looks to the architect for administration. A loose PDF from a mechanical engineer labeled "direction" should be pulled into the project’s instruction log or it will never reach the coordination record.

A stack of ASIs that each look small can add labor, especially late, out of sequence, or in finished areas. Contractors claim cumulative impact even when each ASI said "no cost." Owners who want a clean record reserve the ASI for changes the superintendent agrees are minor, and they put everything else on a change document from the start.

The other abuse runs the opposite way: every sketch becomes a change-order request, including true clarifications. The documents have to be read. A note that restates a specification is not new scope. The form should follow the substance, not the sender’s preference.