Phase Checklists

How to use phase checklists to ensure nothing is missed during each construction phase.

Revision staged for the published article at `/help/the-playbook/phase-checklists`
(category **The Playbook**, slug `phase-checklists`, title and URL unchanged).
Reason: the live body says to "add photos as documentation where required" — photos are optional
everywhere in **QC Checklists** and no check demands one. It also says that once a phase's checklist
items are complete "you're ready to request an inspection and submit a draw request", which implies a
link that does not exist: checklist completion does not schedule an inspection, does not create a
draw request and does not release a payment. **Build Playbook** phases and QC checklists are also
separate — QC checklists are organised by trade, not by Playbook phase.
Apply at release; do not change the slug, title or URL.

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What these checklists are

**QC Checklists** are your own quality checks for a trade's work, based on common industry practice
and typical inspection points. They record what *you* verified. They are not code compliance, not an
inspection result, and not a condition of payment.

They live on their own page and are organised by **trade** — they are not the same thing as the eight
phases on **Build Playbook**, and completing one does not tick a Playbook step.

How to use them

1. Open **QC Checklists** from the navigation menu.
2. Select the trade you are about to start or have just finished.
3. Work through the items and mark each one as complete.
4. Add photos if you want them. **Photos are optional** on every check — nothing is blocked for
want of one.

Pre-Work versus Post-Work

  • **Pre-Work** — verify before a trade starts: materials delivered, site ready, permit posted, layout
  • agreed.
  • **Post-Work** — verify after the work is finished and before you pay: workmanship, cleanup, what
  • you asked for actually being what was built.

What happens next

Nothing happens automatically. Completing a checklist:

  • does **not** book an inspection — call your building department yourself;
  • does **not** create or submit a **Draw Request**;
  • does **not** approve or send a payment;
  • does **not** complete a **Schedule** task or a **Build Playbook** step.

What it does do is give you a dated record of your own checks, and a specific list to raise with the
sub before you pay them.

> Photos are optional, but they are the cheapest dispute insurance there is. Take them at every trade
> handover and put site photos in **Files** under the **Photos** category.

Related

  • QC Checklists guide — `/help/qc-checklists/qc-checklists-page-guide`
  • Permits and inspections: what OwnerDraw actually tracks — `/help/permits/permits-inspections-guide`