What is in a Friday report

Every Friday afternoon Samuel sends you a report. It is short, it always has the same shape, and it is the main reason our clients sleep at night. You can read it on your phone in two minutes, and you can forward it to anyone helping you with the money.

The five parts

• Photos: the same spots every week, so you can see the change

• Progress: what got done against the programme, and what slipped

• Money: agreed price, signed changes and spent to date

• Next week: who is on site and what they are doing

• Decisions: anything we need from you, with a date

Why money is in every report

Because surprises at the end are the thing clients fear most. When the agreed price, the changes and the spend are on every report, the final account is just the last report. On Marlborough Road the spend went from £96,300 at week 14 to £154,800 at handover, against £151,200 agreed and one signed change of £3,600.

“When the money is on every report, the final account is just the last report.”

What a report looks like in week one

The first report is mostly set up: the site protected, the skip delivered, the scaffold booked and the programme for the next four weeks. The money section shows the agreed price, no changes and a small spend. It looks dull, and that is the point. When something does change later, you will see it on a report that has looked the same every week.

When something slips

Weather, a late delivery or a surprise in the ground: the report says what slipped, why, and what it does to the handover date. If it costs money, there is a change note waiting for your signature, and the figure appears in the next report only after you have signed it.

Who writes it

Samuel writes every report himself, from site, on Friday afternoon. He takes the photos from the same marked spots each week, updates the programme, and Jess checks the money section before it goes out. If you have a question, reply to the report: it goes to both of them, and one of them answers the same day. You can add anyone else who should see it, like a partner abroad or whoever is helping with the mortgage.

After handover

The reports stop at handover, but the file stays: certificates, warranties, paint colours and every report, in one place. We come back at month twelve to fix anything that has moved, and that visit gets a report too.

If you are comparing builders, ask each of them to show you a real report from a past job, with the client’s permission. It tells you more about how the next six months will feel than any brochure.