Construction Curiosities #44
When is a construction project considered complete? That’s an easy question, right? Right?
Yo yo yo! Happy Saturday! Matt here.
Welcome to the Construction Curiosities newsletter. Especially to all the beautiful New Subscribers.
To all the American Readers; did you file your taxes???
Kinda cool that I even have to give a preface like “to the American readers.” Substack doesn’t give me a country count for the Newsletter but for the CM Mentors podcast it shows there have been downloads in 29 different countries. whoa 🤯
This weekly Newsletter explores my Curiosities about the Construction Industry. It's meant to make you think, smile, and become a better, more well-informed Construction Professional.
Summary
This week we will look at:
One Musing: When is a construction project done?
One Video: Why is LinkedIn so weird?
One Quote: Be Yourself
One Meme: Youtube Learnin’
One Musing
When is a construction project considered complete?
That’s an easy question, right? When all the work is done and the paint is dry, right?
“Completion” in a Construction Project can mean a few different things. Let’s look at a couple of simplified definitions.
Note: These definitions are “typical.” If you’ve been reading my stuff for a bit you know how important it is to RTFC!!!! (Read The F’n Contract) Each contract can and will describe/ define terms like these for that specific project. So make sure you know what your contract says!
Substantial Completion
Substantial completion is when the Owner can use it for its intended purpose. But things like punch list, final closeout paperwork, etc may not be done yet. The contract will give you a specific amount of time to get these things done after substantial completion.
Reaching Substantial Completion is usually the most important date in a contract because this triggers (or stops) many things. Namely:
The clock on Liquidated Damages is stopped.
The owner is now in control of the property. They are now responsible for all utilities.
The warranty period starts.
Unless there is a straggling issue, all contracts are fully paid out. With the exception of final retainage.
See your contract for more!
Final Completion
Final completion is when all those other things are complete. You are 100% complete with ALL contract obligations. Nothing remains. You’re done with the punch list, the owner has received all closeout paperwork (O&M manuals, warranty paperwork, etc), attic stock and key turnovers, owner trainings, final lien releases, etc. See your contract for more specifics!
Final payments are made of any retention or other contract funds outstanding.
Warranty Period
The warranty period starts after Substantial Completion and lasts for the duration set out in the contract documents. Usually 12 months but could be longer for some equipment. Note that lots of contracts require an 11-month warranty walkthrough with the project team. This helps capture all warranty items for the Owner before the warranty period ends.
Building Owners, if your contract states you are due an 11-month warranty please do it, so you don’t get a Dwight:
Also if you are a building owner, please don’t do anything to void your equipment’s warranty during this period. And please do your Preventive Maintenance! I won’t name names but there are companies out there that thrive on telling the owner the equipment’s warranty has been voided for XYZ reasons.
So there you have it. A quick oversimplified Construction Yeti version of Project Completion.
Any questions?
Before you ask though…… Did you read your contract???
Pop Quiz Trivia Question
What came first, the hammer or the nail?
Answer is at the bottom of the Newsletter
One Video
This isn’t construction related per se but was too good not to share since I’ve built this newsletter mostly from my LinkedIn connections.
While I love LinkedIn and am thankful for the network I have built on there. This hilarious video nails the platform’s issues.
And explains while I’ll never go full viral on there….
One Quote
Speaking of LinkedIn and while I’ll never go “viral.” I try to live by this mantra in all that I do. It’s the reason this newsletter is full of gifs, memes, and bad jokes. It’s who I am.
One Meme
Most everything I learned post-college (which is a ton) I learned from Youtube, blogs, podcasts, and audiobooks.
Who has time (or the attention span) to read textbooks and white papers??? Another reason I created this newsletter in the way I did. I figured I can’t be alone in this thought.
This week we crossed over the 700 subscriber count! Thank you everyone for joining along and supporting me on this journey for the last 44 weeks.
If you are getting value out of the Construction Curiosities Newsletter and CM Mentors Podcast, it would mean a ton to us if you’d share with a friend or colleague that you think would also like to learn about the industry in a fun meme-filled way.
With your help, we can keep it growing!
Trivia Answer
According to Quora, it’s obviously the hammer.
Til next time! Have an explosive good weekend! And file your taxes!