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Property leadership topic

Capital projects and building safety

Control the sequence from professional findings and funding through changes and final acceptance.

A connected decision sequence

Use the guides in the order that matches your current decision. Keep the evidence, approval, and next action connected as work moves between the board, management, vendors, and specialists.

  1. Confirm professional findings and dependenciesWhich technical finding defines the scope?
  2. Approve scope, funding and procurementWho approves changes and cumulative exposure?
  3. Control changes and accept usable completionWhat tests and records enable operational acceptance?

Guides in this topic

Build the decision record

For the issue in front of you, name the responsible sponsor, collect the current source records, list material gaps, and identify the acceptance test. Retain a version of the evidence used at the decision date so later changes remain explainable.

These resources provide operational frameworks. Property-specific technical conclusions, deadlines, funding authority, and coverage decisions need the applicable records and appropriate professional review.

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Need help connecting the evidence and the decision?

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Carry findings through usable completion

Connect professional scope, funding, procurement, occupied-property constraints and acceptance. Show the next decision and each change’s effect on the total commitment. The relevant professional determines technical findings within the agreed scope.

Interpretation checks

  • An initial estimate can omit design, temporary service or closeout. Retain estimate stage and exclusions.
  • Completion, payment, operating acceptance and warranty follow-up are distinct milestones.

Questions for this decision area

Can project scoring override a technical requirement?

No. Required actions and professional findings are constraints. Use a comparison to explain the discretionary sequence.

How should changes be reported?

Show the original commitment, approved changes, pending changes and expected total separately, with timing and acceptance effects.

Follow a connected review · Check terminology

Evidence at each handoff

What permits the next step?

A task being finished does not establish that its output is ready for the next team. Use these checkpoints to keep the evidence, responsibility and release condition connected.

  1. Confirm technical basis

    Record to obtain
    Professional findings, scope stage and constraints
    Suggested coordination role
    Project coordinator
    Check before release
    Qualified findings preserved and discretionary choices separated

  2. Authorize release

    Record to obtain
    Funding, access, procurement and predecessor outputs
    Suggested coordination role
    Authorized sponsor
    Check before release
    Critical prerequisites and resource constraints established

  3. Control changes

    Record to obtain
    Baseline, credits, approved and pending changes
    Suggested coordination role
    Change reviewer
    Check before release
    Cumulative commitment and schedule impact reconciled

  4. Accept usable handover

    Record to obtain
    Tests, manuals, training, warranty and deficiency records
    Suggested coordination role
    Receiving operator
    Check before release
    Intended operation demonstrated; continuing exceptions assigned

Proposed operating workflow, not a universal legal sequence. Confirm authority, professional requirements and permitted parallel work for your property.

Work through a decision in this area

Use this when a project approval or proposed change needs a clear technical basis, funding and handover test.

Hypothetical example: A contractor proposes an additional scope during a repair. The brief separates the proposed change from approved work, links the specialist explanation and shows cumulative approved and pending exposure before a decision.

What would demonstrate closure?

Retain the required professional acceptance records, open-item disposition, operating documents and warranty handover. An invoice or visual completion alone is not the agreed acceptance test.

Review the decision brief structure
A number, its evidence and the decision

Show commitments and remaining work in the same forecast

A paid-to-date figure is not the expected final cost. Distinguish paid invoices, unpaid commitments and uncommitted remaining work so each amount appears once in the forecast.

  1. Baseline

    Record the authorized scope and budget.

  2. Commitment

    Include paid and unpaid committed cost once.

  3. Forecast

    Estimate uncommitted remaining work separately.

  4. Control

    Review headroom and changes before commitment.

A worked example with visible assumptions

A fictional project has a $300,000 authorized budget, $220,000 in commitments including invoices already paid, and $65,000 of uncommitted remaining forecast cost. Expected final cost is $285,000 and headroom is $15,000. Do not add paid invoices again. Headroom excludes any risk allowance not entered in the remaining forecast.

Original hypothetical arithmetic example. The amounts describe a fictional scenario, not observed property performance or a recommended target.

Continue with Capital Project Change Order Register

Explore the calculation

Enter non-negative values using the same scope and period. This calculation stays in your browser tab.

Use the example values or enter your own, then calculate.

A change needs a baseline

Identify what changed against the executed scope, including price, time, dependencies and acceptance effects.

Avoid double counting

If a commitment includes a paid invoice, adding both inflates the forecast. Track payment status within the commitment.

Closeout starts before the last invoice

Commissioning, permits, punch-list work and warranty records belong in the plan while the delivery team can still resolve them.