Why Project Handover Matters to Owners

As the construction industry adapts to a new age of digitization and data reporting, the savviest businesses are unearthing ways to pave over every financial sinkhole. Archaic processes rife with administrative hair-pulling and the familiar ‘how-it’s-always-been-done’ excuse for why they haven’t yet been optimized are exactly the type of seedlings that sprout the hyper-niche innovators offering their helping hand with the same refrain: “we have just the solution for that.” Owners that desire control and longevity should rejoice in these advancements – especially when these solutions can be connected into a streamlined ecosystem.

For owners using Procore, Buildr facilitates the change from project-mode to asset-mode. This vital transition point matters because the project’s events and results ultimately impact ongoing building operation. The facilities team needs a comprehensive view into the asset’s current state. The life of a building should stretch to 60, 70, even 100 years. A subpar handover eats away at your foundation, figuratively and literally.

There are three major ways that owners can improve their closeout process in order to be more in control of the projects they commission as well as extend the lives of their assets. They include:

• Receiving a standardized handover package across each project,
• Accessibility to high-quality data no matter which general contractor you work with, and
• Instilling warranty management workflows that have the owner’s success in mind.

At Long Last, Standardized Project Handover 

Consider that one-third of project data is lost by handover, costing owners $10.6 billion annually to recoup that very same data. For the owner that desires the peace of mind that comes with receiving all their project data upfront, it behooves them to pair with general contractors that prioritize an airtight closeout process independent from the whims of human error. It’s your project; you deserve your data.

For owners, Buildr provides a standardized turnover across all their projects, a high-quality “single source of truth” for all their asset and warranty data—no matter which contractors they partner with—and a platform for submitting warranty claims with photo attachments. These benefits, of course, initially stem from Buildr’s contactor-facing closeout workflow.

Buildr simplifies closeout by helping to streamline formerly ad hoc workflows into something faster, more organized, and even “almost fun.” What once took weeks or months now takes hours. General contractors rejoice, obviously, but so should owners for one simple reason: the quality of project handover is symbiotic with that project’s closeout. 

No Matter Your General Contractor—Consistent, Accessible, High-Quality Data

General contractors partnering with Buildr over-deliver to their clients on an accessible, lightweight project Table of Contents complete with fully-hyperlinked drawings, O&M manuals, asset information, and training videos. Buildr’s handover standardization ensures that data quality stays consistent across all projects. Owners can take solace in the knowledge that they will receive the same quality data no matter which general contractor they partner with.

Through the handover lens, paper takes the form of a towering stack of three-ring binders collecting dust in a closet, never to be seen by any human again. What does the owner that settles for this old-fashioned turnover package stand to lose? Control, for one. Any fact-check has the potential to lead to a fruitless search of numerous binders followed by a phone call or email to a contractor whose priorities have shifted to new projects. Compound this hypothetical owner overseeing multiple projects and one can imagine how the lack of control evaporates exponentially. 

Total cost of ownership is another piece, considering construction accounts for just 10% of a project’s cost. Owners that have any degree of separation from the knowledge within their turnover packages will have a financial burden stemming from several angles. Time is money, that one’s obvious. 

A more nuanced angle comes from maintenance schedules. The prudent general contractor includes all necessary maintenance tutorial literature into their turnover, complete with recommended intervals for their clients’ facilities teams to conduct routine preventive maintenance. Adherence to timely maintenance not only breathes longevity into assets and the facility as a whole, it also ensures that the legal requirements for being under-warranty are met. The amount of money that owners have lost due to their facilities teams being needlessly kept in the dark could fill an ocean. 

Protect Your Assets with Warranty Management 

Warranties themselves are another relic of closeout traditionally—and inexplicably—buried in binders. With Buildr, all project warranties are easily referenceable by owners, searchable now and forever. To some owner-clients, warranty accessibility alone makes Buildr an invaluable resource. The ability to track claims with tagged applicable warranties means historical data is readily apparent. The inherent promise is that owners won’t see a single dollar go out the door during the warranty phase unless there’s a net new challenge. 

As an added handover bonus, Buildr gives owners an optimized, user-friendly workflow for submitting warranty claims complete with image attachments, logged communication between relevant parties, and assigned priority levels for each individual issue. Like closeout, Buildr’s warranty management optimizes another formerly ad hoc workflow so that owners can keep track of claims in real time—issues can’t fall through the cracks anymore. 

Tracked warranty response times incentivize general contractors to respond to claims within 72 hours.

Procore and Buildr, a Truly Best-in-Class Integration

Buildr stands apart from other post-construction solutions because of its dialed-in focus on project handover, ensuring sound execution of this vital last touchpoint for general contractors and owners alike.

Its best-in-class integration with Procore works for owners regardless of who owns the Procore account. Buildr can act as a “single source of truth” for owners to merge files from multiple Procore accounts and projects into one place organized by asset. With projects completed, a centralized data hub paves the way for owners to mentally progress from project-mode to asset-mode. Their dedicated space for their project’s data is completely separate from the contractor’s space.

The Dawn of a New Era

It’s time we stopped settling for how we’ve always done project handover. Owners deserve data accessibility and transparency for the projects they’ve commissioned. Do you value control, consistency, and eliminating unnecessary costs? Pairing Procore with Buildr is a solution for some. Breach the topic of handover with your general contractor—because your satisfaction is symbiotic with theirs and an airtight closeout process couldn’t be more advantageous to both parties.