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PROJECT CLOSEOUT
Howard Birnberg
After the punchlists have been completed and the final actions taken, the project manager remains an important part of insuring client satisfaction. Regular follow-up with a telephone call or meeting will let the client know you are concerned about service and his or her satisfaction. Some firms request client completion of a report card form (see Figure 1).
Figure 1 - Report CardTime and expense spent giving attention to problems should be immediate and may not be billable, but may need to be charged to marketing. The client should be kept informed of your firm's activities and should receive all relevant mailers. Remember, he or she is still your client and deserves your continued contact and attention.
Some firms enter into a formal commissioning process. Others simply do follow-up to insure client satisfaction, learn from experience, and to obtain additional work.
PROJECT DATA RETENTION
Once a design project has been completed, a decision must be made as to the fate of the vast amount of data and material collected during the project's life. No firm can or should save everything. Many of the materials that accumulate are redundant, are working or draft versions or are progress reports. The "pack rat" firm that saves everything will soon be overwhelmed. A firm that discards nearly everything will soon find itself regretting the decision. Equally at risk is a firm that retains the wrong materials or one that fails to organize them in a useful form. Increasingly, firms are saving much of the needed data electronically. Not only does this save space, but many clients are now requiring their own copy of this electronically stored information.
Some materials must be retained. As-built drawings should be kept for as long as the building stands. Your firm may be the only source of these important documents. Future engineers, architects and building owners will be saved much time and expense if they have these drawings available. The project specifications are also vital to enable others to review the material and equipment used.
For historically significant buildings, additional information such as preliminary design drafts may be retained. This will allow future historians and preservationists to consult documents that indicate the designer's thought processes. However, the determination of historically significant is for the future to decide, not the ego of the designer. One clue though, is the original purpose of the building. Single purpose buildings, especially for a branch of government or for a single corporate user often have the greatest initial impact and the longest lifespan.
LEGAL CONCERNS
Usually, the single overriding factor in determining the retention of data is concern over the possibility of future lawsuits. Most states have statutes of limitations for the filing of legal actions in construction projects. In general, these statutes will dictate how long you should retain certain information. In most cases, ten years will be adequate. Check the statutes in the states where you work.
Typically, materials retained because of legal concerns include a final set of drawings at the completion of each project phase. The owner-designer contract and amendments (change orders, etc.) must be retained permanently. Correspondence that could be used to pinpoint responsibility or a standard of care must be saved. Many attorneys would advise keeping all correspondence until the statute of limitations expires. In addition, job notes, diaries and field inspection reports must be retained.
MANAGEMENT AND MARKETING USE
Aside from the legal and historic uses, the most important reason for reviewing and organizing project material lies in its subsequent management and marketing applications. Many engineers and architects are contacted by owners years after the original project completion. This can be the source of much additional billable work and requires ready access to past project data. Obviously, it is essential to save and organize critical information to allow for timely response to client needs.
PROJECT MANAGERS AND MARKETERS
In many design firms the project managers have the most complete and accurate files. Often, essential data never makes its way to the main files of the firm. Project managers may leave the company, taking irreplaceable records with them. Even when they remain with the same firm, the information they have is rarely available to other project managers or to the marketing staff. If the main files have gaps, then much time is wasted seeking material, records, reports, etc. that should be readily available.
Your marketing staff has a continual need for historic data on projects. Not only must the appropriate information be retained, but it must be organized to allow for quick retrieval. Without this organization, a great deal of potentially productive time can be wasted searching for information on completed projects.
For example, many proposals require submission of information on past similar projects. This often includes fees, consultants used, owner's names and addresses, contractors and subcontractors involved, staff and project manager's names, etc. Some of this may be easily recalled on significant recent projects. Often this is not the case.
In an effort to organize and insure comprehensive records, some firms have established completed project files. These provide a checklist of required information and centralize all essential historical material. They are not a replacement for the firm's main files. The completed project file serves as a supplement, containing key data of value to other project managers and marketers.
Howard Birnberg is the Executive Director of the Association for Project Managers
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