Updated · Make This Useful
Punch list template for contractors
A punch list is the written list of what is unfinished or not right when a job is nearly done. Walk it with the customer room by room, number each item, write where it is and what fixed looks like, name who fixes it and by when, and photograph it. The customer signs the list at the end of the walk. That signature closes it: anything raised later is new work with its own price.
Edit the punch list
The punch walk from booking to sign-off. Write the customer’s items in the notes or add them as lines, one fix per line with its room and number.
Punch list
- Book the walk once the work is done, in daylight, with whoever decides
- Walk it yourself the day before and fix what you find
- Bring the contract, change orders, low-tack tape, a marker and a phone
- Walk room by room, then outside, in one order, with the customer
- Every room: walls, ceiling, trim, floors, fixtures and hardware
- Every room: open, close and switch on everything that moves or runs
- Tape-flag each item where it is and write its number on the tape
- Write each item: room, spot, what is wrong and what fixed looks like
- Photograph each item close with its number, then from the doorway
- Name who fixes each item, you or which sub, and the date it is due
- New requests go on a change order with a price, not on this list
- Customer signs at the end of the walk: these are all the items
- Order parts and book the subs for their items the same day
- Fix each item, take the after photo from the same spot, pull its tape
- Clean up after the fixes: dust, drips, drop cloths and offcuts
- Walk the closed items with the customer and tick each one off
- Customer signs off the finished list; final invoice goes out that day
- Hand over spare paint and tile, manuals, warranties and keys
What is a punch list in construction?
It is the last list on a job: the items left to finish or fix before the work counts as complete. On a bathroom remodel that might be a drawer that sticks, a missing outlet cover, a gap in the tub caulk and a paint drip on the door casing. A punch list is not new scope. It holds only work that was in the contract and is unfinished, or finished wrong.
The usual mistake is a list that never closes. A customer who finds one more thing every few days keeps the job open, and the final payment with it, for weeks. Walk it once, together, when everything that can be finished is finished. Do your own walk the day before and fix what you find, so the customer’s list holds what only they noticed, not what you already knew about.
How do you photograph punch list items?
Flag each item with a strip of low-tack painter’s tape and write its number on the tape. Photograph it close with the tape in the frame, then once from the doorway so anyone can find the spot. After the fix, shoot it again from the same place. A sub working alone goes straight to the item, and “was that ever fixed?” has a dated answer. Pull the tape when the item closes, before it marks fresh paint.
How does the punch list tie to the final payment?
Write it into the contract before the job starts: the final payment is due when the punch list is signed off. If a few items wait on a back-ordered part or a sub’s schedule, offer a holdback instead. The customer keeps back enough to cover those items, pays the rest now and releases it when they close. Size it from what someone else would charge to finish those items, and write the amount on the signed list.
Frequently asked questions
What should each item on a punch list say?
Where it is, what is wrong and what done looks like, then who fixes it and by when: “Kitchen, left of the sink: grout missing at the backsplash corner, regrout to match; tile setter, by Friday.” “Fix kitchen tile” leaves the sub guessing, and leaves the customer judging the fix against a picture only they can see.
What if the customer adds new work during the punch walk?
Write it on a separate sheet, not on the punch list. A punch item is contract work that is unfinished or wrong. A new shelf, a different color on a finished wall or a room that was never in the scope is a change order with its own price. Keeping the two apart stops the list growing into a second job you do for nothing.
Who should sign off a punch list?
Whoever signed the contract, and ideally twice: once at the end of the walk to agree that these are all the items, and once when every item is closed. If two people share the decision, walk with both. A partner who missed the walk and brings their own list a week later is how a closed list opens again.