Much Ado About Nothing?

When record-keeping on site especially, it is useful to get into the habit of compiling certain recorded tasks at regular intervals, at regular times and in a regular format.

These records should also be submitted to the other Party to the Contract so that they have the same record of the same data provided at the same time in the same manner.

The earlier this can be started the better it becomes as the Project develops.

These snippets of information become Contemporaneous Records and can be very useful at the end of a Project or even long after completion when trying to finalize Project close-out.

Note that the other Party may well object to receiving such records but this should not stop them being submitted under transmittals or even via letter if such circumstance arises.

Nevertheless, irrespective of how the documents end up being "stored", unless there is an electronic system within which such records are stored and logged/catalogued with a unique reference indicating exactly when they were submitted, most records will be hardcopy and should always be signed off by someone (legible as to who they are and what their designation is).

Thereafter, the office will usually contain numerous cabinets in which there these numerous hard-copy files containing such records are kept and should be readily available for ease of access in times of need.

Oddly, the hope is that compiling such records is done with the desire of never having to use them.

This may seem counter-intuitive but in an ideal world where both Parties have a mutual understanding of responsibilities and obligations, there will be little to no need for reviewing such records as issues will have been dealt with at the appropriate time.

Of course, this rarely (if ever) happens and issues become contentious at some time in the future.

This is where the Contemporaneous Records come in handy such that the adage "It is better to have and not need than need but not have" makes perfect sense.

Going back to the title of this article, the use of the word "Nothing" can equally be applied to the word "Nil" and it is more useful than you may think to even submit records when their net content is Nil as this still demonstrates that a true record was being maintained and there is no ambiguity as to what was or wasnt on site or brought to site at the date and time in question.