In the construction business, the process of collecting important project information that’s required on payment documents such as preliminary notices and lien waivers is an industry-wide challenge. It gets frustrating sometimes when you sit down to fill out a notice or a waiver only to realize that you’re missing some essential piece of project information. We’ve put together a free tool that makes collecting and organizing this information much easier — an editable project information sheet. Read on as we discuss the benefits for the entire industry to exchange job sheets on every job!
What Is a Job Sheet?
A Job Sheet is a document that contains essential project information. It’s a document that allows you to collect and organize information that you will need to fill out other documentation required to preserve your lien rights and get paid.
What’s Included in a Job Sheet?
We recommend you include these items on a Job Sheet:
- Project Information
- Name and Address
- Project Type
- Your Role on the Project
- Important Project Dates
- Who Hired You
- Property Owner or Developer information
- Participants on the project
- Project Lender (If Any – required in California)
- Bonding Information
- Bonding Company (If Any)
- Bond Number
- Participants on the project
- Project Dates
This is just a recommendation from our preliminary notice and lien experts at Levelset on what information we recommend including on a Job Sheet. The goal is to get all the data you need at the start of the project so that you’re not scrambling to track the information down later on.
Some Info Is More Important than Other Info
Some of this information is more important than others (though this really depends on the circumstances). For example, the state your project is located in and the project type are both very important factors. That’s because so many lien and notice requirements stem from the project location because each state’s requirements are different. One state can calculate a deadline based on the project completion date while another state could calculate deadline from the date of last furnishing of labor or materials. In any case, it is important to know the requirements in your state so you know how to calculate your deadline!
Why Exchange Job Information on Every Project?
Proactively sharing job information benefits everyone on a project.
The Lower Tier – Subcontractors and Suppliers
Exchanging job information allows a smoother payment process because you will have all the relevant information needed in order to get paid. It gives you the ability to fill out a preliminary notice (which is required in some states) that allows you to secure your right to file a claim in the event of non-payment. It is important to collect this data because if you don’t have this information than it can prevent you from filing documents such as a preliminary notice and even worse, prevent you from filing a claim in the event of non-payment.
The Upper Tier – Property Owners and General Contractors
It is beneficial to exchange job information because it will increase transparency on the project. As a party at the top of the chain, it is hard to know everything going on the project and there is a general fear of mechanics’ liens on the property. Exchanging Job Sheets will increase the amount of information that you know about the project. Being more informed about the project payments and status will allow more transparency and lessen the fear of liens.
Conclusion
Here at Levelset, we are big believers in proactively working together to prevent problems from happening, rather than scrambling trying to put a fire out after the problem already happened. We call this adopting a “collaboration-first” mindset, and it can do wonders when it comes to getting paid faster and more efficiently in construction. If you want to talk to us about how we can help you get paid faster, please get in touch with us.