---
id: KB-CN-033
url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/construction/maintaining-what-somebody-else-built
idioma: en
categoria: sector-construccion
subcategoria: mantenimiento
audiencia: usuario
nivel: intermedio
actualizado: 2026-08-13
tambienEn: [es]
relacionados: [KB-CN-032, KB-CS-042]
citadoPor: [KB-CN-035]
---

# Maintaining what somebody else built

_You are handed the keys to a building and an incomplete folder. Whatever is not in it you will discover by opening things._

**Responde a:** taking over maintenance of an existing building · no documentation for the installations · what to request when starting a maintenance contract · asset inventory for a building

You start a contract on a building you did not construct, with installations you did not choose and documentation handed over by somebody who was not there either when it was built. **What you receive on day one is all you are going to receive**: from then on, everything missing is discovered at the most expensive possible moment, which is when something has broken.

## What is inherited and what is not

| What exists | What is usually received | What is needed |
| --- | --- | --- |
| The building | The keys | Knowing what is inside |
| The installations | A folder | Makes, models and locations |
| The history | Almost never | What has been done before |
| **Live warranties** | **Rarely** | **What NOT to touch yet** |

> [!IMPORTANT]
> **The single fact that saves most money and is almost never handed over is what is still under warranty.** A unit you repair that was covered is money lost twice: what the repair cost and what not repairing it would have cost. Asking at the start costs one conversation; discovering it after the first breakdown costs the whole breakdown and is not recoverable.

## What to establish in the first weeks

1. **Your own inventory, even a basic one** — What exists, where it is and what make. Without it nothing can be planned.
2. **Which inspections fall due and when** — Calendar-driven ones give no warning and arrive all together.
3. **What documentation is missing, listed and requested** — At the start there is a contact; in six months there may not be.
4. **And where what you generate will be kept** — Your history starts today and it is the contract's asset.

> [!WARNING]
> There is a predictable ending worth bearing in mind from the start: **one day this contract ends and somebody will ask for the history**. If everything you have done over five years lives in paper job sheets and in the heads of two technicians, that handover will be exactly as bad as the one you suffered — and it also leaves you with no case for renewal, because you cannot show what you did. A well-kept history is what defends you in both directions.

> [!NOTE]
> Which inspections are mandatory for each installation, at what intervals, who may carry them out and what records must be kept **is determined by the rules applying to each item of plant, and settled by your adviser or the competent body**. Here we cover the organisational part: how to establish the inventory and the calendar when a building is inherited blind.

**What do I ask for on day one?**

Inventory, live warranties and history. In that order, in writing.

**What if no documentation exists?**

You build it. It is a start-up cost, recovered on the first breakdown avoided.

**Is keeping my own history worth it?**

It is what defends you in a claim and in a renewal.

## Ejemplos

**A unit still under warranty is repaired at your cost.**

- Records which warranties are live and until when

→ The avoidable cost is avoided.

**Nobody knows what installations exist or where they are.**

- Allows building and consulting the inventory

→ Maintenance is planned on data.

**Calendar inspections all fall due at once.**

- Warns about each due date in advance

→ The calendar spreads out instead of bunching.

**The history lives on paper job sheets and in two technicians.**

- Stores each intervention in the building's file

→ Knowledge stops being personal.

**Documentation is missing and there is nobody left to ask.**

- Records what was requested at contract start

→ The request happens while there is still a contact.

**The contract ends and five years of work must be handed over.**

- Keeps the complete, exportable history

→ The handover takes hours and evidences the work done.