Cases / Site & field
Site & field

Record a verbal instruction for the record

A verbal instruction costs you nothing you can prove. Log the call while it is fresh, confirm it back in writing, and if it moved the scope start the change record before you build it.

3 steps7 minGeneral contractorSpecialist subcontractorCost consultancy / QS practice

How it works, step by step

3 steps across the platform - what you do at each one, and why it matters.

1

Log the call

Phone log

Straight after the call, log it, who rang, when, and exactly what was said or instructed, in their words rather than your paraphrase. Do it while you still remember the detail.

Why: A fortnight on, nobody agrees what was said on the phone. A dated log written the same hour is the difference between a fact and your word against theirs.

InVerbal instructionCaller & timeOutDated call logInstruction on record
2

Confirm it in writing

Correspondence

Send a short confirmation-of-verbal-instruction note back to whoever gave it, setting out what you understood and that you are acting on it unless told otherwise. File it against the project.

Correspondence screen in OpenConstructionERP: confirm it in writing

Why: A verbal instruction only binds once it is put in writing and left unchallenged. The confirmation note turns a corridor conversation into an instruction you can rely on and, later, be paid for.

InDated call logUnderstood instructionOutConfirmation noteFiled correspondence
3

Start the change record if scope moved

Change orders

If the instruction added to or changed the scope, raise the change order now, before the work is done, so the extra is captured against an agreed reason and the clock starts on your entitlement.

Change orders screen in OpenConstructionERP: start the change record if scope moved

Why: Work done first and papered afterwards is the work that never gets paid. Starting the change record before you act is what keeps a verbal instruction from turning into free scope.

InConfirmation noteScope changeOutChange orderEntitlement logged
Modules

Modules in this playbook

3 / 184 platform modules

More in Site & field

Site & field

Run the site day

Close the day out properly: record the diary, book the labour and plant hours, upload the p…

4 steps9 minOpen
Site & field

Answer an RFI

Turn a question from the working face into a tracked request, drive it to the party who own…

3 steps9 minOpen