{"id":895341,"date":"2019-01-02T16:27:05","date_gmt":"2019-01-02T23:27:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=895341"},"modified":"2019-01-02T16:27:07","modified_gmt":"2019-01-02T23:27:07","slug":"effective-documentation-techniques-for-construction-project-participants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/effective-documentation-techniques-for-construction-project-participants\/","title":{"rendered":"Effective Documentation Techniques for Construction Project Participants"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Michael Kaney | <a href=\"http:\/\/constructionblog.shutts.com\/2018\/12\/effective-documentation-techniques-for-construction-project-participants\/\">Shutts<\/a> | December 28, 2018<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>WHY DO WE NEED TO DOCUMENT PROJECTS IN THE FIRST PLACE?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Project documentation can help avoid claims or litigation altogether.&nbsp; Good and timely communication can mitigate or eliminate surprises between parties.&nbsp; A clear understanding of what transpired during a project can prevent claims from turning into costly litigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Project documentation helps answer the important question of: \u201cwho knew what, when?\u201d&nbsp; If an issue is well documented then there is very often no reason to disagree and any questions that arise will generally have an answer that is supported by a paper trail of documentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The outcome of construction litigation is determined by the FACTS of what occurred at or on the project.&nbsp; The facts can be shown through accurate and up-to-date documentation.&nbsp; Thus, effective project documentation can lower litigation costs or prevent litigation altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>SOME SUGGESTED METHODS OF PROJECT DOCUMENTATION<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Daily Reports<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Daily reports can be essential for supporting and defending pre-litigation and litigation construction claims.&nbsp; These reports should be created contemporaneously with the work that is completed each day, meaning, these reports should actually be&nbsp;<strong>daily<\/strong>&nbsp;reports.&nbsp; It is much easier to recall what happened on a particular day the day it occurred as oppose to trying to piece the puzzle together a few days later.&nbsp; Daily reports should become a routine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Daily reports can consist of some of the following items:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Workforce<ul><li>Who worked on the project that day?<\/li><li>Who are they employed by? Are they covered by insurance?<\/li><li>What are their daily duties\/tasks?<\/li><li>Were those tasks completed? If not, why?<\/li><li>How many hours were workers present on the job site?<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>Equipment<ul><li>What equipment was used on the job site that day?<\/li><li>Who owns the equipment? Is the equipment owned by the contractor(s) or was it rented?<\/li><li>What was the purpose of the equipment?<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>Events\/Jobs<ul><li>What events were scheduled for the day? Were they completed?<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Weather<ul><li>What was the weather on the given day?<\/li><li>Were there any delays due to weather? How long were the delays and will that affect the overall completion time of the project?<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>Time and Date<\/li><li>Visitor and\/or Delivery Log<ul><li>Who visited the job site? What was their purpose of visiting?&nbsp; How long did they stay?<\/li><li>Were there any deliveries to the job site? If so, what were they and what purpose did the materials serve?<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Meeting Minutes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meeting minutes should be a complete reflection of every topic or issue discussed during the meeting.&nbsp; The overall purpose of the meeting should also be reflected.&nbsp; This ensures that anyone reading the minutes thereafter that was not in attendance has a comprehensive understanding of what transpired during the meeting.&nbsp; The minutes should be inclusive insofar as they capture all comments from both sides on any particular issues or topics that were discussed.&nbsp; Accuracy and completeness are the goals of documenting meeting minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>E-Mails \/ Text Messages<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How are you currently set up?&nbsp; One server?&nbsp; Multiple servers?&nbsp; Employees use personal email?&nbsp; E-discovery issues!!&nbsp; Text?&nbsp; Company phone or personal?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All emails are subject to discovery and turnover to the other side in the unfortunate event of a lawsuit.&nbsp; E-mails and text messages should only be sent with the understanding that they may become public in litigation at some point.&nbsp; I know that is scary.&nbsp; What is your email retention program?&nbsp; Do you print and file your emails?&nbsp; It may be useful to print and store hardcopy emails just like you should store these electronically in whatever email retention program you have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Emails are useful as a form of contemporaneous communication.&nbsp; Emails are just as important as hard copy correspondence and thus must be given the same due diligence as any form of hard copy communication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Schedules<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Schedules allow contractors to provide the owner of a project with a timeline for when specific work will be completed.&nbsp; Schedules serve as guideposts for all parties involved in a project.&nbsp; A schedule should set out attainable deadlines that give each party the ability to understand what is occurring at any given point on a project.&nbsp; Schedules are a record of what has happened and what will happen on a project and should be used as a contemporaneous communication between the owner and contractors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Miscellaneous<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Daily reports in the version of a checklist can help save time.<\/li><li>Electronic checklists on a phone or tablet can also save time and ensure that information is stored legibly as opposed to handwriting a daily report.<\/li><li>Take pictures! Pictures capture the facts, evidence, and events at a project.&nbsp; Be sure to note the time and date the picture was taken.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This list is not exhaustive or all encompassing.&nbsp; Rather, it is a good starting point for construction project participants to ensure they are documenting their projects in a way that can hopefully prevent costly litigation in the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michael Kaney | Shutts | December 28, 2018 WHY DO WE NEED TO DOCUMENT PROJECTS IN THE FIRST PLACE? Project documentation can help avoid claims or litigation altogether.&nbsp; Good and timely communication can mitigate or eliminate surprises between parties.&nbsp; A clear understanding of what transpired during a project can prevent claims from turning into costly&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/effective-documentation-techniques-for-construction-project-participants\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Effective Documentation Techniques for Construction Project Participants<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[14],"tags":[10700,12,10699],"class_list":["post-895341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-2","tag-advise-and-consult","tag-construction","tag-project-documentation","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Effective Documentation Techniques for Construction Project Participants - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Project documentation can help avoid claims or litigation altogether. 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