The first site visit after work starts on an architect's project

2 days ago
3 min read

Introduction

Drawings are a proposition. A building site is a negotiation between that proposition, the ground conditions, the contractor's preferred way of working, and whatever the previous owner did in 1974 without telling anybody.

The first visit after work begins is where those meet, and it sets the tone for every visit after it. Turn up prepared and involved, and the contractor treats the drawings as authoritative. Turn up late, vague or apologetic, and decisions start being made on site without you — which is how a client ends up with a building that does not match what they approved. The first visit prevents that.

1. The first site visit after work starts establishes your role

The contractor is deciding how much attention to pay you. They form that view quickly.

Go early rather than waiting to be summoned

Attend in the first week, before anything significant is buried. A visit prompted by a problem is a weaker position than a visit that was always scheduled. Set the dates in advance.

Confirm who talks to whom

Instructions through one route, questions answered in a fixed time. Site queries answered by the client directly are how variations appear without anybody pricing them. Say so kindly and early.

2. Check the things that cannot be changed later

Some decisions are effectively permanent within days. Check those first.

Setting out, levels and position

Confirm the building is where the drawings say it is. Boundaries, levels and setting out are cheap to check now and ruinous to correct in a month. Take your own measurements.

Ground conditions and anything unexpected

Made ground, drainage, an old foundation, a service in the wrong place. These arrive early and they change programmes and costs. Record them with photographs.

3. Establish how information will flow

Most disputes are information failures. Very few are genuine disagreements.

Confirm the contractor has the current drawings

Not the planning set, not last month's revision. Superseded drawings on site are a genuinely common and expensive problem. Check the revision numbers physically.

Agree how queries and revisions get recorded

Written instructions, dated revisions, a query log. A verbal agreement on a wet morning is not a record. Confirm everything by email.

4. Watch for the early quality markers

The first stages predict the rest. Standards set now tend to hold.

Look at workmanship on the unseen things

Damp proofing, insulation continuity, fixings, cavity trays. How a contractor treats what will be covered up tells you what to expect at second fix.

Raise small things immediately

A minor deviation accepted quietly becomes a precedent. It is far easier to be exacting from the first visit than to become exacting later.

5. Report back to the client properly

The client is paying for oversight and cannot see it. Reporting is how it becomes visible.

Write a short visit report

What you saw, what was agreed, what is outstanding, what needs a decision. Two pages maximum, sent within a day or two.

Flag decisions the client must make

Selections, finishes, anything with a lead time. Clients delay decisions they do not know are urgent, and then the delay becomes a claim.

Conclusion

The first visit sets your authority for the whole project: attend in the first week rather than waiting to be summoned, and confirm the communication routes, because site queries answered directly by the client are how unpriced variations appear.

Check what cannot be changed later — setting out, levels, boundaries, and any unexpected ground conditions. Confirm the contractor is working from current drawings rather than a superseded set, and agree how queries and revisions get recorded. Watch workmanship on the things about to be covered up, raise small deviations immediately before they become precedent, then send a short written report and flag every decision the client needs to make.