Usually a dry erase board with schedules, milestones etc, and a table with all the contractors documents on it.

I loved the graph above - you guys might find it useful too.

MARealtor.com provides a much more robust set of data that I track and have multiple charts/graphs down below.

It's an awesome life milestone but also VERY scary.

I really like the activity graph on the home page now.

Of course the work has to be done according  to current building codes, however, the same scenario in many places in the states (specifically in California) is completely different, because you have to schedule a city inspection for each construction milestone (rought electrical, rough plumbing ing, sheetrock, stucco and so on) and each inspection could take  4-6 weeks before the inspector is available to come to the site (at least that is the case in the bay area).

Most will set milestones that once they hit, you pay.

Take a look at the graph below to see inventory levels now vs the crash.

My small town bank shows me a pie graph at the bottom.

The above will establish the template, and a series of measurable Milestones (which is really just your financial goals split up into packages).