Get finished areas signed off before the next trade moves in
A signed handover with dated photographs settles who was last in the room, which is what most damage and cleaning back-charges turn on. Without one, damage found a month later is charged to whoever the main contractor remembers.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
Why it matters
Once you finish an area, other trades follow: electricians chasing walls, decorators, floor layers, the client's fit-out. Damage found at snagging gets charged to the trade whose work is damaged, or to the last trade the site manager links with it. It is then up to you to show it was someone else. A signed handover and dated photographs fix the state of the area on the day you left it. They take 10 minutes, and they turn an argument about memory into a comparison of two dated records.
How to do it
- Walk each finished area with the main contractor's site manager, and record its condition on a one-page handover sheet.
- Take dated photographs from fixed positions, wide shot first, and file them with the sheet the same day.
- Ask the site manager to sign the sheet. If they will not, email them that day saying the area was handed over, with the photographs attached.
- Keep the sheets in one folder by area, so you can check any damage charge against the handover in minutes.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
A drylining subcontractor finishes corridor B on level 2 and hands it over with a signed sheet and 12 photographs. Its Pay Less Notice 6 weeks later carries £3,200 for repairing damaged boards in that corridor.
What happens
- The subcontractor sends the signed handover and the photographs, which show the boards intact on the day of handover.
- It points out that the electrical subcontractor chased the corridor walls in the fortnight after handover.
- The main contractor checks its own records, agrees, and moves the charge to the electrical subcontractor.
The outcome
The main contractor credits the £3,200 back in the next valuation. Without the sheet and the photographs, the charge would have rested on the site manager's memory of whose boards they were.
To have this set up for you, see our Contra-Charge Prevention service.