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Architect: from OPR to reception

You carry ten years of decennial liability on this project. What you need from a tool is not a task list — it's a record that holds up when someone asks, two years after handover, what was observed, when, by whom, and what was done about it.

This walkthrough runs the whole path: setting the project up, walking it, lifting the contractors, and signing off.

The shape of it​

1. Structure the project​

Everything you log later attaches to this structure, so it's worth getting right before the first site walk.

  1. Create a project and set it up.
  2. Build the zone hierarchy — buildings, floors, apartments, rooms. On a residential project with many identical units, import them rather than creating them by hand.
  3. Upload the drawings — the plans you'll pin against.
  4. Set the phases the project runs through.
tip

Build the zone tree to the level you will actually observe at. If you'll log defects room by room, create rooms. If you'll log them apartment by apartment, stop at apartments — a tree deeper than your observations is just navigation overhead, and it eats your zone limit.

2. Set up the roster​

An observation with no company attached is an observation nobody has to answer for.

  1. Add the companies working on the project.
  2. Configure the trades so every observation lands on the right work package.
  3. Add your project members as Managers or Collaborators, and invite each subcontractor as a Guest attached to their company.
note

Guests are free and never consume a seat. There is no reason to leave a subcontractor off the project — a contractor who can see and respond to their own defects is a contractor who closes them without a phone call. See Roles & permissions.

3. Walk the project​

This is the OPR. You're capturing observations, and the discipline that matters is that each one is located precisely enough to act on.

For each observation:

  1. Create an issue.
  2. Attach it to the zone where you found it.
  3. Pin it on the drawing at the exact spot.
  4. Set the company, the trade and a due date.
  5. Add photos — the photo is the evidence.

If you're walking with a tablet or phone and the building has no signal, work offline. Everything syncs when you're back.

tip

Run repeatable inspections as checklists rather than freehand issues. A checklist template applied per apartment gives you the same coverage every time, and failed items become issues automatically.

4. Lift the contractors​

The lifting phase is where a defect list either works or turns into a spreadsheet war.

  1. Assign and track each issue. Use bulk actions when a whole trade is affected.
  2. Let contractors respond directly — a Guest can change an issue's status and attach a photo of the corrected work.
  3. Set project notification rules so companies are told about their own issues without you sending anything.
  4. Add escalation rules for issues that go overdue, so chasing is automatic rather than remembered.
  5. Watch the issues you personally need to follow.

Generate a split report per company so each contractor gets their own list rather than the whole project.

5. Verify and close​

An issue a contractor marks as done is not a closed issue. It's a claim.

  1. Re-walk with the open list filtered to what's been marked complete.
  2. Update the status — validate it, or reopen it with a comment saying why.
  3. Track the trend on advanced analytics. Close to reception you want the cumulative backlog falling, not flat.
caution

Watch the net flow figure. If you're still creating more than you're resolving two months out from reception, that's a scheduling problem surfacing as a quality one — raise it at the site meeting rather than absorbing it.

6. Sign off​

  1. Move each unit through its lifecycle states as it becomes ready.
  2. Generate the reception report. Use a report template so the document carries your organization's logo and colors.
  3. Email it to the parties who need it.
  4. File the signed PV in documents, where it's versioned and access-controlled.

What you're left with​

Every observation carries its zone, its pin on the drawing, its photo, its company, its dates, and its full activity history. Nothing was retyped and nothing is reconstructed from memory.

That's the difference between a defect list and a record.

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