Condo works tracking table: the template to fill in

A project with no tracking table is a project nobody can report on. Here are the 10 columns that are enough, and what to record in them.

The facade work was meant to take four months; it has taken seven. Nobody knows exactly when the delay started, or who approved what. When it comes to discussing penalties, the board has nothing but recollections to set against the contractor own reports.

That is the classic situation when project tracking exists nowhere in writing. A tracking table does not make the works faster, but it makes the board able to say, at any moment, where each item stands and who is waiting on whom.

The 10 columns that are enough

A useful tracking table fits on one page. Twenty-column tables never get filled in. Here is the minimum structure that covers what a board actually needs.

1. Item name: "north facade rendering", not "works". A precise name stops two items of the same project being confused.
2. Contractor and contact: name, direct phone, email. The person who answers, not the switchboard.
3. Amount approved at the meeting: the figure from the resolution, with the resolution number and date.
4. Amount committed to date: what has been invoiced and paid. The gap against the approved amount is your main indicator.
5. Planned and actual start date: two separate columns, never one.
6. Planned and actual completion date: same. That pair is what documents the delay.
7. Status: to start, in progress, on hold, accepted, snags being cleared. Five states are enough.
8. Last exchange: date and nature of the last contact with the contractor. The most useful column in a dispute.
9. Snags: what was noted at acceptance and still needs fixing.
10. Attachments: quote, work order, acceptance report, photos.

The life cycle of a project, in five stages

1. Before the vote

The table starts before the meeting: several quotes compared on the same basis, with price and scope differences. Our article on how to compare quotes with confidence covers the points to align.

2. After the vote

Record the resolution number, the exact amount approved and any conditions. That is the line you will re-read in two years when someone asks what exactly was approved.

3. During the works

One line per meaningful exchange: site visit, chase-up, requested change. Date everything. A project going off the rails always generates abundant correspondence — better that it be ordered.

4. At acceptance

Record snags one by one, with a photo for each. A snag described without a photo is a snag that can be disputed.

5. After acceptance

Track the clearing of snags and note warranty dates. New equipment whose warranty expires unnoticed becomes expensive three years later.

Why timestamped photos change everything

In a works dispute the question is almost never whether the job was done badly, but whether you can prove what state it was in, and when.

A photo taken on a phone, emailed, then dug out of an inbox three years later does not carry the same weight as a photo attached to a dated issue, in a file the whole board can consult. That is the difference between a recollection and evidence.

What is not dated does not exist — true for a building project as much as for an issue.

From spreadsheet to shared tool

A spreadsheet works, until it does not: three versions are circulating, the latest one is on the laptop of someone who resigned, and the photos are somewhere else. Tracking tables almost always die of isolation, not of bad structure.

CoproHarmony turns these columns into shared tracking: every project and every issue has its timestamped history, photos and attached documents, available to all board members. And when the meeting comes, it all exports to PDF. Create your space for free to start your first tracking table.

To plan beyond the current project, see how to build a multi-year works plan, and for day-to-day defects, the issue log.

The table only closes after the reservations are cleared.