AEC definitions

What Is a Construction Bulletin?

Last reviewed: September 2026

A construction bulletin is a package of revised drawings or instructions issued during construction. It tells the field what the new design is. It changes the contract price or time only when a change order, or another instrument the contract names, says so. An addendum is the cousin used during bidding, before the contract is signed.

When
After the contract is signed
Contains
Revised sheets, sketches, and a narrative
Price effect
Only through a change instrument
Bidding cousin
An addendum
Minor no-cost change
Often an ASI instead
Must be
Numbered and acknowledged in the revision log

Definition

Construction bulletin

Offices use bulletin, design bulletin, or construction bulletin for the same habit: a numbered PDF of clouds and narrative after award. The contractor prices the bulletin if it adds scope. The architect should not assume a bulletin is a no-cost clarification. If it is only a minor change with no price or time effect, an ASI may be the right form. If the owner needs the work to proceed before price agreement, a construction change directive is the form. The bulletin is the graphic. The change instrument is the money.

In depth

Cloud it and number it

Each revised sheet gets a revision entry that cites the bulletin. The narrative lists the sheets. A bulletin email with no sheet list will be built from whichever PDF someone opened.

Void sketches that the bulletin replaces so the field does not keep both.

Separate the information from the entitlement

The contractor reviews the bulletin against the contract scope. Clarifications that add nothing are answered as such. New scope becomes a proposal. The log should show bulletin number, proposal number, and change-order number as three links.

Building the whole bulletin before the proposal is how unpaid work starts. Ask which parts are authorized.

Pick the form that matches the effect

No cost and no time: ASI, if the contract uses one. Cost or time, and the owner can wait: proposal request, then change order. Cost or time, and the owner cannot wait: change directive. A bulletin can attach to any of these. It does not replace them.

Addenda stop at award. Issuing an 'addendum' during construction confuses the bid record.

File it in the set the trailer uses

The superintendent's current set includes the bulletin. The record drawings later include it too.

A bulletin that lived only in an inbox is invisible to both.

Examples

Construction bulletin on a real project

  • 01

    Bulletin 4 revises a toilet room. The sheet revision cites bulletin 4. The contractor prices two extra fixtures. A change order follows before construction of that revision.

  • 02

    Bulletin 5 only corrects a room name. The contractor confirms no cost. An ASI or a no-cost record is filed. No change order is required.

  • 03

    A field plot without bulletin 4 is pulled. The current set is the one with the cloud.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

A numbered issue of revised drawings or instructions during construction. It communicates the design change. Price and time change only if a change order or directive says so.

An addendum revises the bid documents before the contract is signed. A bulletin revises the work after award.

Not by itself. If the bulletin adds scope, the contractor prices it and the owner authorizes it with the contract's change form. Work done on the bulletin alone may be unpaid.

When the change is minor and does not affect contract sum or time. If there is a price or a day, use the change process.
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What Is a Construction Bulletin? | Nomic