---
id: KB-CN-006
url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/construction/handover-documentation-and-warranties
idioma: en
categoria: sector-construccion
subcategoria: promocion
audiencia: usuario
nivel: avanzado
actualizado: 2026-08-13
tambienEn: [es]
relacionados: [KB-CN-004, KB-CS-016]
citadoPor: [KB-CN-008, KB-CN-009, KB-CN-010, KB-CN-012, KB-CN-013, KB-CN-017]
---

# Handover documentation and warranties

_What has to be handed over at the end, and why it is gathered during rather than after._

**Responde a:** site handover documentation · what the building manual contains · installation warranties at completion · as-built drawings and final certificates

Completion is the moment when everything generated over two years is demanded at once: installation certificates, material warranties, as-built drawings, test records, manuals. And whoever gathers it at the end discovers half of it belonged to a company that got paid and left.

## Why it always jams the same way

| Document | Who holds it | When it vanishes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Installation certificates | The installer | When their part finishes, months earlier |
| Material warranties | The supplier or buyer | When that person moves project |
| As-built drawings | The engineers or site manager | When they move site |
| Test records | Whoever ran them, sometimes only on paper | When the site office is dismantled |

> [!IMPORTANT]
> All four share something: **they exist while the work is fresh and evaporate when that trade leaves site.** Asking for them at the end means asking the worst person at the worst moment.

## The rule that fixes it

Each trade hands over its documentation **when its part finishes, not when the project finishes**. And their final payment application closes with it delivered. It is the only lever that truly works, and it requires chasing nobody.

1. **Define the list per trade at contracting** — In the contract or order itself, not in a last-minute email.
2. **Open their folder from day one** — So that handing over means uploading, not preparing a package.
3. **Tie financial closure to delivery** — It is what turns a request into a priority.
4. **And review as each trade finishes, not at the end** — A wrong certificate is fixed in a week while they are still there; in a year, it is not.

> [!WARNING]
> Beware accepting "I'll email it to you". What arrives by email to one person disappears with their inbox: if they move site or company, the completion documentation stayed in a mailbox nobody opens.

## What the client takes away

**En corto**

- An ordered set, not a folder with two thousand loose files.
- With live warranties identified and dated.
- And in a form they can consult without depending on you.

That last point serves you too: a handover the client can navigate alone generates far fewer calls over the following two years.

> [!NOTE]
> Warranties are documents with expiry dates like any other. Handed over with their dates, whoever receives the building can see what is still covered without opening every PDF.

**What if a trade no longer exists?**

Hence collecting as their part ends. After that you can only reconstruct what is available.

**Does it apply to small refurbishments?**

Yes, and it is easier: fewer trades and less turnover.

**Who keeps it afterwards?**

The client, and you should keep a copy for your liability period.

## Ejemplos

**A developer gathers handover documentation three months after completion.**

- Switches to collecting per trade as each part closes
- Ties the final payment application to document delivery

→ The next development hands over the complete set on the day of completion.

**Close-out gathers months-old material at the end.**

- Requests as each trade finishes

→ Close-out becomes a formality.

**A trade has been paid and does not respond.**

- Chases before certifying their work

→ You chase while there is still leverage.

**The list of what is missing appears at the end.**

- Shows what is missing from day one

→ The gap is visible while it can be closed.

**Handover happens with a gap and no record of chasing.**

- Keeps what was requested, from whom and how many times

→ The trail is the defence.

**Under warranty, close-out documentation is requested.**

- Keeps the file beyond handover

→ You answer with the record from then.