How to close out a punch list faster

The last 5% of a job is where the time goes and where the final payment waits. These seven habits keep it short.

1. Start the list before the final walk

The biggest punch lists come from waiting. Start a running list the day the first trade finishes, and walk each area as soon as it is complete. Fixing a cabinet door the week it goes in costs ten minutes. Fixing it after the countertop, backsplash and painter have come and gone can cost a return trip.

2. One problem per item, always with a photo

"Bathroom issues" cannot be assigned or closed. "Bath 2, re-caulk tub at the left corner" can. A photo with the problem circled removes the phone call where someone asks which corner you meant.

3. One owner per item

If an item belongs to two trades, split it. Shared items are nobody's items. The same goes for "TBD": if you cannot name who fixes it, decide before you leave the room.

4. Put a date on everything

Items without dates drift to the end. A date does not have to be tomorrow, it just has to exist, and it has to be one the trade agreed to.

5. Send each trade only their items

A 60-line list sent to everyone gets skimmed and ignored. Six lines with photos sent to the tile setter gets done. If your crews speak different languages, send it in theirs; misunderstood items are the ones that come back.

6. Ask for proof: an after photo

Make "done" mean "done with a photo". It lets you approve from the truck or the next job, and you only drive back for the items where the photo does not look right.

7. Approve the same day

Every day a finished item sits unapproved is a day the list looks longer than it is. Check the after photos daily, approve what is right, and send back what is not with a note. When the list hits zero, send the owner a report and ask for the final payment that day.

Paper or app

All seven habits work on paper, and our free template has columns for owner, due date, photo number, done and approved. An app just makes habits 2, 5, 6 and 7 automatic.