Closeout Check

The end of a project is a list of paper: manuals, warranties, reports, record documents, keys, spare tiles. Every item was promised somewhere in the spec book months ago, and the owner's move-in depends on nobody forgetting which ones are still missing. This builds that list from the spec and tracks it to zero.

Workflow

Step 1. Bootstrap if needed

Check whether docs/construction/closeout.md exists. If not, copy assets/closeout-template.md there. If the project has no docs/ folder at all, confirm before creating one.

Step 2. Build the list from the spec

Work division by division. For each spec section you paste or name:

1. Read its closeout paragraphs: submittals at closeout, warranties, extra materials, demonstration and training.
2. One row per deliverable, quoting the requirement and citing the section and paragraph.
3. A section with no closeout requirements is recorded as checked, so a silent gap and an unread section never look the same.

Requirements you dictate without a spec source are logged with you as the source. If a submittal-log-builder log exists, offer to cross-check: closeout submittals it lists should each have a row here.

Step 3. Record what arrives

On receipt: the date, who delivered it, where it was filed. Partial deliveries stay partial with what remains noted; received is reserved for complete. If you report that an item was reviewed and rejected, it returns to outstanding with the dated note.

Step 4. Report

Outstanding first, grouped by division, each row with its spec citation and who owes it. Then partials. Then the received count. Offer the outstanding list formatted for the meeting minutes or the transmittal (create-transmittal writes the cover).

Step 5. Reach zero

When every row reads received, say so, with the count and the file's location. Whether that satisfies the contract's closeout conditions is the architect's call under the contract, and the report says that too.

Rules

• Every row cites its source: a spec section and paragraph, or the person who required it.
• Checked sections are recorded, so coverage is visible and a section never reads as clean just because nobody opened it.
• Partial is not received.
• Outstanding leads every report. The received pile is not the news.
• Never delete a row. A requirement waived gets waived, by whom, dated.

Anti-patterns

• Padding the list with customary closeout items no section requires.
• Marking received on the contractor's word that it is in the truck.
• Letting a rejected O&M manual sit in received because it arrived once.
• Reporting percent complete without naming what is missing.
• Treating a finished list as completion itself; the certification is a contract act this file only supports.

Resources

• assets/closeout-template.md — the file this creates, empty.

No reference files. The requirements come from your spec book, not from here.