These are working definitions for the way this site uses the terms, not official legal or CSI definitions. Contract language governs when it differs. For ASI, RFI, and CCD in a little more depth, see ASI, RFI, and CCD: The Alphabet Without the Confusion.

Addendum (plural: addenda). A change to the bid documents issued before the contract is awarded. After bid day, what actually governs is the contract set plus later official changes, not an unmarked bid set left in the truck.

Approved as noted. A submittal return that is not a clean approval. The notes are part of the official answer and have to reach the installer.

As-built. A record of what was actually constructed, usually marked on drawings. Collect markups while the work is still visible.

ASI. Architect’s Supplemental Instruction. A direction issued after the contract, often for clarification or a minor change. File it, log it, and get it to the field if it changes the work. Whether it is also a change order is a contract question.

Attic stock (extra stock). Spare material required by the contract or the specs to be turned over to the owner. Record the count, the location, and who signed for it.

Audit trail. The dated record of what was issued, who received it, and what was official on a given day — transmittals, logs, and filed PDFs, not memory.

Backcharge. A cost you intend to assess against another party for work or damage. Start the paper when the condition is visible. This site treats that as a filing habit, not as legal advice.

Ball in court / who has the ball. The person or party currently responsible for the next action on an RFI, submittal, or punch item.

CCD. Construction Change Directive (in common AIA-style usage). A direction to proceed with changed work, often before the price is fully agreed. File it and follow the contract. Not legal advice.

Change event. A potential change recorded before it becomes an executed change order. Procore and similar tools facilitate this; a change log can do the same job.

Closeout. The collection and handoff of O&Ms, warranties, as-builts, extra stock, tests, punch paper, and training records. Starts in week one, not the last month.

Current set. The only official drawings and official design changes that govern today’s work. If it is not in the current-set folder, do not build from it.

Daily report / daily log. A same-day record of manpower, work, conditions, delays, visitors, and inspections. A Friday catch-up for the whole week is a memory test.

Distribution. The act of sending an official document to the people who need it, with a record of who received it.

Document control. The system that keeps the field, the office, and the design team on the same facts: one current set, honest logs, distribution, and a closeout folder.

Job file. The company-owned folder of official project records — preferably in Google Drive or Dropbox — that more than one person can open.

O&M. Operations and maintenance manual, often built in part from approved product data and submittals.

Pay application (pay app). A periodic billing. Keep the packet and related waiver paper as a filing habit; Arizona Pay App and Lien Waiver Packet Checklist covers Arizona’s version. Not legal advice.

Preliminary twenty-day notice. A written notice described in A.R.S. § 33-992.01, generally relevant to mechanics’ lien rights, with statutory rules on timing, content, and service. That is Arizona’s statute; other states differ. Track it as a dated document. Not legal advice.

Procore. An enterprise construction platform. On this site, it is discussed as a tool that facilitates a process (RFIs, submittals, drawings, dailies, punch, closeout, changes). Many simpler tools can accomplish the same goals. I do not offer Procore work as a service.

Punch list. The official list of incomplete or deficient items, with locations, owners, and photos. Two unofficial lists are how punch goes bad.

RFI. Request for Information. A numbered question to the design team or owner. An answer that changes the work is not done until it is filed with the current set and the field has received it.

Submittal. Product data, a shop drawing, a sample, or similar information submitted for review. Status and notes have to be tracked, and “approved as noted” has to be read.

Superseded set. Yesterday’s official sheets, kept on file and moved out of the current-set folder.

T&M ticket. A time-and-material ticket recording labor, equipment, and material for extra work. It is backup, not a change order, until it lands in an executed document.

Transmittal. A short cover record of what was sent, to whom, and when. It is how “I never got that” gets an answer.

Warranty. A written guarantee required by the contract or the manufacturer. Request it while the sub is still on site, and keep a copy after handoff.

Write to travis@builtonrecord.com. Based in Arizona, working remotely with contractors in any state.