ᐅ Construction complete – now time to get the mess under control!

Created on: 21 Feb 2017 16:23
H
hausbaunerd
Hello everyone,

I have a few quick questions about paperwork and such: When you think back to the purchase contract, land register entry, structural engineering report, site plan, cadastral map, floor plan, energy certificate (?), utility connections, cable installation plans, heating system, numerous expert reports, photos, invoices, own work, quotes, warranties, and so on... All of this was once recorded, agreed upon, documented, and now it’s scattered around in various places (at least in my case). Most of it is in paper form.

I’m interested in how you approach this:
- What has been the biggest challenge for you?
- How have you handled it?
- How do you keep track of everything?

Does anyone else get similar worries with thoughts like “When exactly does my heating system’s warranty expire? Who will remind me to have it checked before then?” … I can’t be the only one xD

I hope to learn something useful from your answers. I’m really not a neat-freak, but at this point, I think: organization is essential. Thanks for your experiences and tips 🙂
H
hausbaunerd
21 Feb 2017 21:41
kaho674 schrieb:
So, we organized everything nicely into folders. One of them is just for appliances (including the kitchen). The seller has already come by twice to service and adjust the settings on our heating system. For the rest, we’re just waiting for things to break down. 😱

There’s also one for
- contractor services,
- authorities / offices / notary,
- financing,
- ongoing costs,
- plans / drawings / building permit / planning permission,
- appliances,
- building inquiry.

I think there are three more folders I can’t remember right now. It already fills up a small cabinet. 😕

Thanks first of all for the detailed reply. That’s what I suspected. I would have preferred a somewhat… hmm… digital approach. No disrespect 😉
Knallkörper schrieb:
Honestly, I stored everything on Google Drive..

Just created folders and put it all in there. That could be an option. How cooperative were the individual contractors about providing documents digitally? 🙂
Or to cut it short: What was the easiest way and who completely refused to work digitally?

And I definitely won’t forget the really useful box anytime soon – thanks!
77.willo21 Feb 2017 21:58
I scanned everything and uploaded it to Google Drive. This way, I can quickly check or send something from anywhere. Thanks to OCR, I can perform a full-text search.
N
Nordlys
21 Feb 2017 22:01
Let me share my experience from an administrative perspective. Paper, not digital. There are retention periods for invoices. There is a need to have plans, structural calculations, permits, etc., available even fifty years from now. Will there still be CDs? USB sticks? Cloud drives? Do you want to rely on Google for 50 years? Paper is patient. Durable. We still have records in our archive from the 16th century. You need to handle them carefully, but the writing is still legible.
77.willo21 Feb 2017 22:21
Our company scans all invoices and destroys the paper versions. If Google ever stops existing, I will simply back them up elsewhere.
N
Nordlys
21 Feb 2017 22:29
Do as you wish.., I see it differently....ask the manager how they handle notarized contracts, building plans, etc. With official documents, such as court rulings, building permits / planning permissions, etc.
77.willo21 Feb 2017 22:41
I trust our legal department and the board members responsible for this...