---
id: KB-CN-022
url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/construction/the-one-who-must-certify-what-was-installed
idioma: en
categoria: sector-construccion
subcategoria: arquitectura
audiencia: usuario
nivel: avanzado
actualizado: 2026-08-13
tambienEn: [es]
relacionados: [KB-CN-020, KB-CN-017, KB-CN-008]
citadoPor: [KB-CN-028, KB-CN-032, KB-CN-034]
---

# The one who must certify what was installed

_Your signature closes the project and rests on documentation gathered by others, months earlier, without you in mind._

**Responde a:** missing project close-out documentation · gathering certificates from every trade · building handover documentation file · how to keep track of documentation during the works

At the end of the project someone has to gather, order and stand behind everything that went into it. That person did not buy the material, did not take delivery of it and did not install it: **they only have to answer for the fact that what went in is what was said would go in**. It is the position with the most responsibility and the least control in the whole chain, and its problem is not technical but one of timing: what should have been collected during the works arrives at the end.

## Why the ending is always the same

| What is needed | When it is easy to get | When it is actually asked for |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Material documentation | The day it arrives | At close-out |
| Trade certificates | As each one finishes | Once they have left |
| What was installed and where | While it is installed | Months later |
| **Changes from what was planned** | **The day they are decided** | **On seeing the result** |

> [!IMPORTANT]
> **Every week between something happening and its documentation being requested multiplies what it costs to obtain.** That is not an impression, it is the structure of the problem. The trade that finished in March and was paid in April has no incentive in June, and by September the contact may no longer exist. Gathering at the end is not a way of working, it is a commitment to gather at the worst possible moment.

## What turns close-out into a formality

1. **Documentation requested when the event happens** — On receiving the material, on finishing the work — not on closing the file.
2. **A list of what is missing from day one** — If it only appears at the end, it appears complete and all at once.
3. **Each trade seeing their own items** — A list of your own gets dealt with; an email with twenty attachments does not.
4. **And what is delivered being dated** — So you can say when it was known, not only what is known.

> [!WARNING]
> Signing off with known gaps is the most delicate decision in this position, and it always arrives at the worst moment: a committed handover, a client waiting and a trade that will not answer. **What makes any decision there defensible is not the outcome, it is the trail**: having asked, when, of whom, how many times, and what came back. A gap documented and chased in time is a gap; a gap discovered at the end with no trail looks too much like never having looked.

> [!NOTE]
> What documentation makes up a project's final handover, who must issue each part and what each party signs **is determined by the applicable rules and each project's engagement, and is settled by your professional body or adviser**. Here we cover the organisational part: how to make it arrive during the works instead of at the end, and how to know at any moment what is missing.

**Can documentation be required before certifying each trade?**

It is what works best in practice. How it is framed is a contractual matter.

**What do I do if something is missing and handover is due?**

Put on record what is missing, who was asked and when. The trail is the defence.

**Is a shared folder enough?**

Storing is half of it. The other half is knowing what is missing without opening it.

## Ejemplos

**At close-out, certificates are missing from trades that finished months ago.**

- Requests documentation as each trade finishes rather than at the end

→ It is chased while the trade is still engaged.

**The list of what is missing only appears when there is no room left.**

- Shows at any moment what is missing and from whom

→ The gap is visible while it can still be closed.

**An email with twenty requests goes out and nobody answers any of them.**

- Sends each trade the list of their own items

→ Each one answers for what is theirs.

**Handover is due with a known gap and no way to explain it.**

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

→ The decision is documented rather than remembered.

**Documentation arrives through several channels and nobody knows what exists.**

- Gathers everything for the project in one file

→ The project's status is visible without opening folder after folder.

**Chasing the trades takes up the entire final month.**

- Chases automatically until the document arrives

→ The last month goes on reviewing rather than chasing.