The punch list and the callbacks never end
The job is done and the crew keeps going back, because no one set when it ends.
The work to end it starts at 80% complete, when the PM and the superintendent meet on site to plan the close out and the punch list. The PM sends the close out documents and the warranty before the invoices and separate from them. The client approves the punch list and the warranty start date, and that date shouldn't be 4 months after the final close out. Then the PM sends the final invoice and bills the retention right away in a second invoice. After the retention is paid, the service team or the ops manager services warranty claims, and the project is done.
Three moves, in order
Step 06: Project management
Billing dates, change orders, and notices, written as standards that work without anyone following up on them.
Learn this part of the job
SPM The Construction CFO publishes this course. It's a separate company from this one, and the course is on its own school site.
Other problems step 06 solves
Other things that go wrong
What owners ask
How do you handle call backs?
The job is done and the crew keeps going back, because no one set when it ends. The work to end it starts at 80% complete, when the PM and the superintendent meet on site to plan the close out and the punch list. The PM sends the close out documents and the warranty before the invoices and separate from them. The client approves the punch list and the warranty start date, and that date shouldn't be 4 months after the final close out. Then the PM sends the final invoice and bills the retention right away in a second invoice. After the retention is paid, the service team or the ops manager services warranty claims, and the project is done.
Which part of the system fixes this?
The step is number 06, project management. Billing dates, change orders, and notices, written as standards that work without anyone following up on them. It's drawn from chapter 6 of CONTROL: C.F.O.S. Construction Financial Operating System.
Is this normal for my trade?
Across the 48 trades that publish a figure, net profit at $1M to $5M averages 7% after taxes. If you're well under that and this page describes your month, the two are usually the same story. The published average tells you where the pack is, and your own job costing tells you where you are, which is the number that pays payroll.
Where do I start?
Meet on site at 80% complete to plan the close out and the punch list.
Can I fix this without touching anything else?
You can try, and it doesn't hold. Step 06 depends on step 04, estimating system. Install it ahead of that and it produces numbers the field won't trust, which is worse than the problem you started with.
Wrote CONTROL, the 8 step system behind these figures. More about the author.