Notes tagged
builders
11 notes on builders. All notes.
The site and the head office are looking at different numbers
The site records what physically happened and the office records what was ordered and paid. They diverge for structural reasons, not because anyone is lying.
Reported progress and real progress
The percentage in a weekly report is a judgement made by the person who will be blamed if it is low. Quantities and binary milestones survive that pressure.
A snag list that actually closes
Most snag lists never close because a snag has no identity, no owner and no closure test. What a list needs if it is to shrink instead of being reissued.
What belongs in a handover file
The handover file is assembled at the end, which is why it is always incomplete. What belongs in it, why each item is needed later, and the habit that fixes it.
The paper trail a query demands
Years later somebody asks you to substantiate a decision. What survives is a dated record, a named author, an unedited document and proof it was sent.
One project, many contractors, and the gaps between them
A project split across trades loses most of its time in the handovers between them, not inside any one of them. Where the boundary fails, and what fixes it.
One builder, many companies, one set of records
A developer runs several legal entities for sound reasons. The cost is operational, and it lands on staff time, shared material and money between accounts.
Cost heads that survive a project
A cost structure is designed for the budget and filled by the invoices. Why heads at the wrong grain fail, and what makes a coding structure last three years.
Two payment ladders that never line up
Buyers pay on certified stages, contractors on measured quantity, and the space between the two schedules is what a developer's working capital actually is.
How to choose construction software without regretting it
Most of these purchases fail in the evaluation, not in the product. Follow three real transactions end to end, then watch for the parallel register.
Month-end at a builder's accounts desk
The last four days of a month at a developer's accounts department, what must be true before the books close, and why it is always a scramble.