Document control as a service means a person keeps the official job file for you, on a cadence, in tools you already understand. It is not a software contract, and it is not a full-time hire sitting in your trailer. It is someone whose job is the current set, the logs, the distribution record, and the closeout folder, so the superintendent can spend the day on the work.

I did this work from the document control seat at Mortenson Construction, on a mission-critical data center project from startup through Phase 1, and I helped onboard Procore there. The enterprise tools facilitated a process. The service I built is that same process, scaled for a contractor running several jobs at once, without a dedicated controller and without a Procore budget, run in tools you already have.

The files stay yours. You keep the Drive or Dropbox. You keep the logs. If the work ends, you still have the record.

What is actually being kept

On a typical retainer, the work looks like this, week after week:

  • New official drawings and design changes are filed into the current set, and what they replace is moved to superseded.
  • The RFI and submittal logs are updated: what is open, who has the ball, what is late, which answers changed the work, and whether the field received them.
  • When the work changes, a short distribution goes to the people who will build from it, and a transmittal or send-record is filed.
  • Dailies and job photos that reach the file are put in the right folders, named so they can be found later.
  • Closeout documents are dropped into the closeout folder as they appear, instead of being chased in the last month.
  • Before a pour, a cover-up, or an inspection, someone reviews the open items for that area and flags what is still unanswered.

That is document control at its core: the same short list of habits a large GC staffs a person to watch. You can run it yourself with a clean file and fifteen minutes twice a week. The service is for when that cadence will not hold, or when you want it held by someone whose only job is the file.

What it is not: I am not the superintendent, and I am not making field means-and-methods decisions. I am not your attorney, and I am not giving legal advice on notices or liens. I am not “approving” submittals or issuing design answers. I am keeping the record of those things so the people who do decide can trust what they are looking at.

Where the work lives

The default is your Google Drive or Dropbox, with a job folder, a naming rule, and permissions so most people can view the current set and only a short list can replace it. If you already have a structure, I will use it and tighten it, not invent a new tree for its own sake. If you do not, I will set one up and leave you with a README a new superintendent can follow.

The fee depends on the job. I quote it based on scope, and it is usually carried as a fee in the job’s general conditions. If we talk, I will give you a straight answer on what the next job needs: a one-time setup, an ongoing retainer, or closeout help. More detail is on the Services page.

What a week of communication looks like

You should not have to wonder whether the file is current. A short weekly note is enough: what was issued, what is still open, what was distributed, and what is coming up that could be affected, such as a pour, a cover-up, an inspection, or a pay-app cutoff. If something urgent lands mid-week, the current set should not wait for Friday.

This is not a black box. You will still see the drawings, the logs, and the closeout folder, and you should be able to take the file back and run it yourself, because it was built in your account. If you want to know whether this is the right kind of help, read “When DIY Is Enough, and When It Isn’t,” or bring a recent RFI thread to a short call and show me where your drawings live.

If you want help, not just a checklist

Some jobs run fine on a clean file and a superintendent who gives the log fifteen minutes twice a week. Others do not: revisions are moving fast, closeout is already behind, or the field simply has no hours left for paperwork.

That is where I come in. I set up the job file, run the logs on a retainer, or prepare closeout before the scramble starts. Your files stay yours, and there is no software contract to sign.

Email travis@builtonrecord.com Get the free Job File Kit