Punch List: Meaning, Template and How to Close One Out

A punch list is the list of items on a construction job that are unfinished, damaged or not to the standard the contract requires, drawn up when the work is nearly complete and worked through before the building is handed over. Each item says what is wrong, where it is, who will fix it and whether it has been checked. In the UK the same thing is usually called a snag list. The job is finished for practical purposes when the punch list is short; it is finished for good when every item on it has been fixed, checked and signed off.

What a punch list is, and when it happens

The punch list belongs to the end of a job. Most contracts distinguish between the point at which a building can be used for its purpose and the point at which every last detail is done, and the punch list covers the gap. The US General Services Administration puts it simply in its guidance on project completion↗ (opens in a new tab): at substantial completion there may still be punch list items remaining, but the customer can use the space for its intended purpose.

The terms and the exact steps vary by contract and by country, so check yours. The usual sequence is: the contractor walks the job and fixes what it finds; the owner’s representative, often the architect or contract administrator, walks it again and issues the formal list; the trades work through it; each item is checked; and the list is closed before final payment or the release of any money held back.

Who does what

• The main or general contractor owns the list day to day: runs its own walk-through first, assigns each item to a trade, and says when an item is ready to check.
• Subcontractors and trades fix their items and report back, ideally with a photo of the finished work.
• The architect, contract administrator or owner’s representative inspects, adds items, and checks each fixed item against the contract standard.
• The client or owner walks the job, raises what they see, and accepts the building when the list is closed or agreed.
• Whoever keeps the list, often a site manager, makes sure every item has one owner and that nothing is closed without being checked.

What each item needs

A punch list item has to be findable by someone who was not there when it was written, and closable by someone who can prove it is fixed. That means a handful of fields, and photos at both ends:

• A number that never changes, so “item 46” means the same thing on the phone and in the final account.
• Location: building, floor, room, and where in the room. “Kitchen, north wall, left of the window” beats “kitchen”.
• Trade: who the item belongs to, which decides who fixes it.
• Description: what is wrong, in one sentence, and what right looks like if that is not obvious.
• Photo when raised: one close-up of the defect and one wider shot that shows where it is.
• Raised by and date raised.
• Priority: whether it blocks occupancy or safety, or is cosmetic.
• Status: open, ready to check, or closed.
• Photo when fixed, and who checked it and when.

A punch list template you can copy

PUNCH LIST — [Project name, address]
Walk-through: [date]  By: [names]  Contract standard: [spec or drawing ref]

No. | Location (floor / room / where) | Trade | Description | Priority | Raised by / date | Owner | Status | Checked by / date
----|---------------------------------|-------|-------------|----------|------------------|-------|--------|------------------
001 | Ground / kitchen / north wall   | Decorator | Paint run below window sill | Cosmetic | Client / 12 Oct | J. Reed | Open | -
002 | First / bathroom / shower       | Plumber   | Shower tray does not drain fully | Blocks use | CA / 12 Oct | Wetworks | Ready to check | -
003 | Ground / hall / front door      | Joiner    | Door catches on frame when closing | Blocks use | CA / 12 Oct | Site joiner | Closed | CA / 15 Oct

Status: Open -> Ready to check -> Closed (checked by the person who raised it, or the CA)
Photos: [item no.]-before.jpg, [item no.]-after.jpg

Keep one defect per item. “Kitchen: paint runs, missing socket cover, cupboard door misaligned” is three items for up to three trades, and it can only be closed when all three are done.

Example punch list items

• “Bedroom 2, window: handle stiff, will not lock without force.” Joinery. Blocks use.
• “Landing: scuff on skirting board, 300mm from the bathroom door.” Decorating. Cosmetic.
• “Kitchen: extractor fan not ducted to outside; recirculates into the room.” Mechanical. Blocks sign-off.
• “Utility: no silicone seal where the worktop meets the wall.” Kitchen fitter. Cosmetic, but lets water in.
• “Ensuite: two cracked floor tiles next to the WC.” Tiling. Replace, not fill.
• “External: downpipe not connected to the drain at the rear corner.” Groundworks. Blocks sign-off.
• “Lounge: double socket on the east wall not working.” Electrical. Blocks use.

How to close a punch list out

1. Agree the standard before the walk. Name the specification and the drawings the items will be judged against, so an item is a fact, not an opinion.
2. Walk by area, not by trade. Go room by room with the list open, so nothing is missed between trades.
3. Write each item as you find it: one defect, one location, one photo. Do not rely on memory in the site office afterwards.
4. Issue the list the same day, with each item assigned to one trade and one person.
5. Trades fix and mark items ready to check, with a photo of the finished work. Ready to check is not closed.
6. Check each item on site, ideally by whoever raised it. Close it, or reopen it with a note saying why.
7. Chase the stragglers weekly. The last ten items take longer than the first fifty, because each needs a different trade to come back.
8. Do a final walk with the client, close or agree every remaining item, and file the list with the handover documents.

Handover involves more than the list. In Great Britain, for example, the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 require the health and safety file↗ (opens in a new tab) to be passed to the client at the end of the project. The closed punch list, with its photos, sits naturally alongside it as the record of what was put right.

Snag list: the UK term

In the UK, the items are snags and the list is a snag list; “snagging” is the work of finding and fixing them. The idea is the same, and so is the template. UK home buyers meet it most often on new builds, where the New Homes Quality Code↗ (opens in a new tab) lets a buyer have a pre-completion inspection carried out using a standard checklist, and requires the developer to respond to what it finds. In commercial work you will also hear practical completion and a defects period, during which the contractor comes back to fix what shows up after handover; the details depend on the contract.

Paper, spreadsheet or app

• Paper and a clipboard: fast on the walk, but photos end up on someone’s phone, unmatched to items, and the list has to be typed up anyway.
• A spreadsheet: easy to sort and share, but photos live elsewhere, and two people editing copies soon disagree about which item is closed.
• An app: each item carries its own photos and status, the trade sees only what is theirs, and there is a record of who closed what and when. The cost is getting everyone to use it, which is why the simplest one your trades will open beats the most complete one they will not.

A punch list on a fenbs board

On a fenbs board each punch list item is a task of kind bug, and each gets a ref such as BUG-046 that is never reused. A photo taken on the phone app attaches straight to the task, the note holds the location and what right looks like, and a category can name the trade. When the trade says it is fixed, the check goes in the task’s test status and test notes, for example “Tested: door closes without catching; checked by CA, 15 Oct”, and the person who checked it moves the task to Completed. Moving is its own permission, so a trade can move its work along without being able to rewrite the item, and History records every move under the name of whoever made it. What fenbs does not have: due dates, a floor plan to pin items to, or sign-off forms, so if you need those, use a tool built for construction. fenbs for construction site teams shows the setup for a small builder.