How Do You Build a Punch List?

A punch list is the list of work still to be completed or corrected once a project, or a part of it, is substantially complete: usable for its purpose, but not finished. Typical items are paint touch-ups, a missing cover plate, a door that does not latch, a stained ceiling tile, damaged base.

On contracts that use AIA documents, the punch list is part of the certificate of substantial completion. The AIA's summary of G704 says the contractor prepares the list of items to be completed or corrected, the architect verifies and amends it, and the parties agree the time allowed to finish them. On federal construction contracts, the inspection clause has the contractor keep an inspection system that ensures the work conforms, and correct or replace work the government rejects (FAR 52.246-12).

The list matters for money. Many contracts release most retainage at substantial completion and hold back an amount for the open punch items, and final payment waits until the list is closed. Check your contract for how it ties the two.

Do not wait for the whole building to be finished. Punch an area as soon as its finishes are in: a floor, a wing, a unit, a room type. Early walks catch problems while the trade is still on site and before other trades cover or damage them.

Public owners write the same timing into their manuals. Alaska DOT&PF's construction manual has project staff review the whole project when significant items of work are nearing substantial completion, prepare "a comprehensive list of items the contractor must complete", and give the contractor a copy to plan its resources; after the final inspection, the group revises that list with anything else not in acceptable condition.

Walk each room in a fixed order so nothing is skipped: the door and frame on the way in, then clockwise around the walls, then the ceiling, then the floor, then fixtures and equipment. Use the room numbers on the drawings, not "the room by the stairs".

Bring the finish schedule and the door hardware schedule. Check that every device works: switches, outlets, fixtures, faucets, door closers, window operators. A list of only cosmetic items, with nothing tested, is half a punch list.

Log one item per problem. "Paint touch-ups throughout" is not an item; "Room 104, north wall, scuffs at 4 ft, touch up" is.

The job is fictional: "Juniper Street Dental", a single-story tenant fit-out built by a fictional GC. The superintendent walks the operatories and the sterilization room on November 10, two weeks before the planned substantial completion date, and logs these items. All companies are fictional.

The counts add up: 3 + 1 + 1 + 3 = 8. Bramble Painting has two items (2 and 4), one closed and one in progress; Larchmont Millwork, Rook Plumbing and Fieldstone Flooring each have one still open. Every item has a photo taken on the walk.

Item 7 shows why a fix needs proof: the plumber marked it fixed, the superintendent ran the tap, the hot water was still slow, and the item went back to open with the reason.

Send each company the items that are theirs, not the whole list. A painter does not need forty plumbing items to find its four. Agree the due dates when you send them.

A fix is not a closed item. Close it only after you have looked at it, or seen a photo good enough to judge. If it is still wrong, send it back with the reason, and count how often that happens; a sub with repeated rejections needs a conversation, not more items.

Before the owner and architect walk, your open list for the area should be close to zero. Their items join the same list, with the same five fields, and are verified the same way. When a punch item turns out to be a design question, it becomes an RFI.

• Starting at substantial completion instead of weeks before.
• Vague locations that send a sub hunting.
• One item for many problems, so it never closes.
• Closing on the sub's word without checking.
• No due dates, so the list drifts into the warranty period.
• Testing nothing: cosmetic items logged, devices never operated.
• Keeping the list in several places (a notebook, an email, a spreadsheet), so no one knows which is current.

In Conflo's punch list, the GC logs items on the walk: what is wrong, where it is, the company that fixes it, a priority and a due date, with an optional photo. Each item is assigned to a company on the project and takes that company's trade. "Save and add another" keeps the form open with the same location filled in, for the next item in the room.

The sub sees only its own company's items, starts an item, and marks it fixed with a photo of the fix or a note. Only the GC closes an item, rejects it back to open with the reason, or reopens it; each rejection is counted on the item. The list puts overdue items first, then priority, then due date, and the same list carries into closeout alongside closeout documents.

A good punch list is built early, one area at a time, with items specific enough that a sub can find, fix and prove each one without a phone call. The owner's walk should confirm your list, not write it.

Start your first area walk as soon as that area's finishes are in, and close nothing you have not checked.

See how the punch list works in Conflo

1. Summary: G704–2017, Certificate of Substantial Completion — AIA Contract Documents (The American Institute of Architects). Read October 16, 2026.
2. FAR 52.246-12, Inspection of Construction — Acquisition.gov, U.S. General Services Administration. Read October 16, 2026.
3. Construction Manual (2021), Chapter 15: Final Field Construction Activities, 15.1 Final Inspection — Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities. Read October 16, 2026.