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Homestead Team
punch list [puhnch list]
noun
Informal.
A document listing all final work items remaining before a construction project is complete; synonyms: snag list
Most builders will have their own punch list, but Danahy advises that homeowners (and/or their interior designer, project manager, or representative) come up with their own. “As a project is wrapping up, builders know what still needs to be done, but a homeowner should still walk through and look for unfinished items,” Danahy says. “Sometimes even the most incredible builders don’t catch everything—they’ve been looking at the walls and cabinets for so long. A homeowner with fresh eyes might see a mark or a crooked cabinet door that the builder didn’t see.” Even better? Bring an extra pair (or two) of fresh eyes. “The more sets of eyes you can put on the project to create a punch list, the more things you’ll catch,” Danahy says.
Punch lists track a project’s final tasks and fixes. Here’s how to make sure yours is complete.
Bontecou agrees. “The best punch lists are collaborations. The more people we have looking at everything, the more certain we are that we’re catching everything,” she says. If you’re wondering why builders and project managers want to catch as much as they can before moving on to their next project, Bontecou says it is about efficiency. “It is way easier to get workers and subcontractors to do things when they’re still there, or when it’s just been a week, versus after homeowners have been living in the house for two months and whoever needs to come back is into their next project,” she says.

Dave Simpson and Kirsten Corbett moved into a new house in East Jackson last July. “The punch list was going before we moved in, and was still going after we moved in,” Simpson says. Their punch list was a shared Google Doc. The couple brought a printout of their most current punch list to weekly meetings with their contractor, and they’d go over it together. “Most of the time, the items on our list were already on [the contractor’s] list,” Simpson says. “But there were some things we saw that he didn’t.”

And then there can be things that don’t present as problems until the end. It wasn’t until after the refrigerator at Simpson and Corbett’s house was put in place—close to the end of construction—that it became known that the hardware the couple had selected and that had been installed on the kitchen cabinets didn’t work. “Without the fridge in, the pantry doors next to it opened just fine,” Simpson says. “But once we put the fridge into place, the pantry doors couldn’t open. No one could have foreseen that.” Their builder made new fronts for the inoperable doors.
Don’t think of the punch list as static. “There are a thousand lists that happen during a project,” says Lindsey Bontecou, president of Bontecou Construction. “The actual ‘punch list’ is the final evolution of these—the last tasks we need to accomplish before the end of a project and we hand the keys over to the homeowners.”
System and Appliance Check
Punch lists aren’t just about crooked cabinets or scuffed walls or wood floors. “Plumbing can be installed perfectly, but once it starts getting used regularly, the fixtures might loosen up, and there could be a small leak,” Danahy says. “Walk through and run all of your systems and make sure they work properly. If you can’t shower in the showers yet, at least run them. Builders test these things, but usually not at the levels they will be used regularly. New systems need to be exercised.”
So do new appliances. The Simpson/Corbett project included a small apartment for Simpson’s 85-year-old father. The couple thought everything in this space was great for months after everyone moved in. “My dad washes all of his dishes by hand, and so had never used his dishwasher,” Simpson says. “We were there and tried to use it and found it didn’t work, and this was months after he had moved in. Make sure everything runs.”
Changes vs. Punch List Items
While items on punch lists are varied, they have something in common: they are all items from the scope of work as it was defined. Installing back-ordered hardware on cabinetry is a punch list item. Changing all of the kitchen cabinetry hardware out because homeowners decide they don’t like it is not a punch list item. Repainting a scuffed wall is a punch list item. Having a whole room repainted in a different color is not. “Of course, we’re happy to help with any last-minute changes, but these are different than punch list items,” Bontecou says. How do you know if what you want is a punch list or a change? “A punch list item is something that was previously done and needs to be fixed or cleaned up, something that was overlooked, or something that wasn’t able to be done earlier,” Bontecou says. ‘If it’s something new or different, it’s a change.”