Sign Nothing Yet: The Handover Defects That Become Tomorrow's Budget Line
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There is a particular kind of silence in the room when a facilities manager is handed the keys to a new building. The contractor is proud, the client is relieved, and the completion certificate is on the table. It is also the single worst moment to be in a hurry — because everything that will cost money for the next thirty years is already built in, and this is the last chance to get it written down.
We have sat on both sides of that table. These are the five liabilities we see most often, what causes them, and how to stop them becoming your problem.
1. Welds Without a Paper Trail
What went wrong: Structural and pressure welds were made on site by competent welders, but the inspection records — visual reports, NDT certificates, weld maps — were never compiled into a coherent package. Perhaps the subcontractor held them; perhaps they exist only as scattered PDFs.
How to spot it: Ask to see the weld map against the actual structure. Pick three welds at random and request their inspection records. If the answer takes more than a day, or involves a phone call to a subcontractor who has moved on, you have a problem.
What to write into the contract: Make the weld register a condition of practical completion, not a snagging item. Specify format: a drawing-based register cross-referenced to certificates, delivered in a system your own team can query.
2. Plant Nobody Can Reach
What went wrong: During construction, access was easy — there was scaffolding, a MEWP, a workforce with all the time in the world. Nobody considered that the AHU bearing, the tank valve or the high-level pipework would need inspecting annually for the next four decades by a technician on a budget.
How to spot it: Walk the maintenance regime, literally. Take the planned maintenance schedule and physically attempt each access. If a task requires a scaffold licence, a road closure or a cherry picker hire to check a grease point, it will quietly stop being done.
What to write into the contract: Require a maintainability review at design stage and a demonstration at handover — the contractor performs a representative sample of PPM tasks using only the permanent access provision. Any task needing temporary works becomes a defect, priced accordingly.
3. The As-Built Drawing That Isn't
What went wrong: The 'as-installed' drawings are simply the construction issue with a red stamp. Cables rerouted in the final month, a valve relocated, a drainage run altered to suit ground conditions — none of it captured.
How to spot it: Choose one system — ideally something boring, like the chilled water circuit — and trace it physically against the drawing. Discrepancies on a quiet system predict discrepancies everywhere.
What to write into the contract: Tie a retention percentage to verified as-built information, and require survey-verified records for below-ground and concealed services. Verbal assurance is not data.
4. Coatings and Protection Chosen for the Photograph
What went wrong: External steelwork, balustrades and cladding were finished to look impeccable on completion day, with coating systems selected on cost and appearance rather than the exposure environment. Within five years, a coastal or industrial site shows the difference.
How to spot it: Check the coating specification against the actual microenvironment — proximity to salt water, road spray, industrial emissions. Verify the applied dry film thickness records exist, not just the warranty certificate.
What to write into the contract: Require a durability statement per element, matching the coating system to its exposure category, plus DFT survey records as a handover deliverable.
5. Spares and Consumables That Vanished With the Site Compound
What went wrong: Specialist valves, proprietary fixings, control modules — specified, installed, and never stocked. By the time the first one fails, the manufacturer has revised the product and the replacement is a different beast entirely.
How to spot it: Ask for the recommended spares list and check it against a physical store. If the answer is 'the client should hold spares' but nobody has ordered them, that is your answer.
What to write into the contract: Make the spares schedule, with a priced supply option and a two-year availability commitment from manufacturers, part of the handover pack.
The Common Thread
None of these defects is exotic. Each one is the result of a decision made by someone who would never have to live with it — and each is cheap to prevent at handover and expensive to remedy afterwards. The discipline is simple: verify documents physically, walk the maintenance regime before you accept it, and treat the handover pack as a contractual deliverable with the same rigour as the concrete pour.
A good contractor will welcome the scrutiny. If yours resists it, that itself is worth knowing before you sign.
