Eliminating long punch lists

[Curt Bixel]

I am brand new to hiring other people to manage work on rehabs.  I have typically done all the work myself, and thus know how to do pretty much everything from cabinetry, appliance installation and repair, sanding and refinishing hardwood floors, window replacement, drywall, painting, plumbing, electrical, and even a bit of HVAC.  I really do have a strong understanding of these tasks and what quality work looks like.  

My first attempt at having others manage and complete the processes did not go well, mostly due to lack of supervision.  I am in the process of cleaning that up. I want to do better the the next time.  I am curious if I can describe my plan going forward and get some feedback. 

There are multiple parties involved.

Owner - me

Project manager - oversees entire project

General Contractors 

Workers

Here would be the steps of the project.

• 1) Work with the project manager to create a detailed scope of work.
• 2) Project manager gets bids for all items in the scope of work, selects the general contractors and presents the plan to the owner for approval.
• 3) Project manager gets all contracts signed with detailed scopes of work agreed to as well as timing of payments, and dates for completion for each contractor. 
• 4) Owner makes any initial payments.
• 5) Contractors organize workers and supervise completion of each item in their respective scopes of work.  
• 6) When workers inform the contractor that the work is complete, the contractor goes through the scope of work, line by line to assure that each task is completed and is of reasonably quality.  Once satisfied, the contractor pays the workers, and at that point becomes responsible for the completion and quality of all items in the scope of work.
• 7) When the contractor informs the project manager that the work is ready to be inspected, the project manager goes through the scope of work, line by line, to assure that each item is completed and of reasonable quality. At this point, a punch list is likely generated, but it should be quite short, as the contractors have each carefully inspected all work.  Once satisfied, the project manager approves payment of the contractors.  At this point, the project manager becomes responsible for the completion and quality of all items in the scope of work.  
• 8) When the project manager informs the owner that all work is complete.  The owner goes through all scopes of work, item by item, to assure that all work has been completed and is of reasonable quality.  If there is any punch list needed at this point, it should be exceptionally short.  Once the owner is satisfied that all items are complete and of reasonable quality, he approves all final payments.

Again, I am looking for feedback.  My original plan was to hire good people and assume they would provide a quality project.  I think we are going to be able to finally achieve that on my first project, but it became quite clear that there need to be strong incentives at each level in order to keep a rehab on track.  The steps above are my attempt to incentivize the supervision aspects at each level, so that I am not presented with an incomplete project where I am generating long punch lists that include multiple items from the scope of work that have simply not been addressed.