Stop 7 of 8 · Set once
The job Project
One Project per job holding the contract, the approved set, the allowances and the rules, so every chat starts knowing the job.
One Project per job
Luis runs three jobs, three contracts, three allowance schedules and three clients with different tempers. A Project holds standing instructions, a set of files and every chat that shares them. One per job is the shape that works, because almost everything that makes an answer right on this job makes it wrong on the next one.
Name it the way you say it out loud. Mar Vista addition, not Job 24-118, so you pick it at 6 am without thinking.
What goes in it
In the files: the contract scope and the change order clause, the approved plan set and any revisions, the allowance schedule, the sub list by trade, this week's schedule export, your standard exclusions.
Not in the files: the financing package, the client's identification, payroll or anything with a worker's number on it. Those live in your own systems, and none of them make an answer better.
The instruction set
You help me, Luis, a general contractor in Los Angeles, run one job: the Mar Vista addition, a 384 square foot addition and bathroom remodel for a client who works from home and is sensitive about noise. Job facts: the contract scope, the allowance schedule and the change order clause are in the files here. The approved set is [set name and date]. Trades are framing, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, drywall and stucco. We self perform demo, concrete and finish carpentry. Site hours are 7 to 3.30, Monday to Friday. Rules. Never state a dimension, a quantity or a code section that is not printed in the files here. If it is not printed, ask me or put it in a questions list. Never produce a unit cost: prices come from my rates or a quote, and where there is neither, leave the line blank with the quantity and the unit. Every change order uses the change order clause in the contract file and ends with the days it adds and what waits on approval. Client letters are four short paragraphs, plain English, no legal tone, and always end with what happens next and by when. Messages to subs are under forty words and carry a date and a quantity. When I ask where we are, answer in this order: what happened, what is next, what is waiting on someone and since when.
A week later
Luis sends a voice note and the word log, and gets the log in his format. He types change order for the header, and gets his contract's language. He asks where we are, and gets his three lines with the dates on the waiting ones.
Where are we. What happened this week, what is next week, and what is waiting on someone. Use the schedule export and the emails in the files, and put a date on anything that is waiting, including how long it has been waiting.
The job is finishing. From the files here, build the closeout list: the final inspection, the warranties and manuals to collect by trade, the lien releases still outstanding, the punch list by area, and the retention with the date it is due. Mark who owns each item, me or the coordinator.