AI Playbook for Contract Admin

Here is this month’s site photography for [project], plus my walk notes. Caption each image with trade, level or area, date, and what it evidences for the claim. Sort by trade then area. Flag any photo showing a defect, a safety issue or an unrecorded variation. Where you cannot tell what an image shows, ask me.

Write up this site meeting for [project] on our minutes template. Carry forward every open item from last month under its original reference number. State the position now in one or two sentences, not the whole conversation. Give every action an owner by name and a due date. Where the record is unclear about what was decided, flag it for confirmation instead of resolving it.

Assess this progress claim for [project] line by line against the schedule of values. For each item show value, previously certified, claimed this period, cumulative claimed percentage and your assessed percentage. Where the claim exceeds what the evidence supports, name the evidence needed to accept it. Separate work in place from materials on and off site. Do not certify.

Reconcile three positions for [project] this month: the contractor’s claim, the QS assessment, and my control figures. One row per schedule-of-values item with all three plus the difference, sorted largest difference first. For each material gap, name the likely cause. Check the QS assessment’s own arithmetic independently and report any error. List variations in the claim but not the register, and the reverse.

Draft the progress certificate for [project], claim [number]. Show the arithmetic in full and in order: original contract sum, approved variations to date, adjusted contract sum, value of work completed, materials on site, less retention, less previously certified, amount now due, GST as the contract provides. Carry only approved variations. Reconcile previously certified against last month’s certificate and stop if they disagree. Draft the covering letter. Leave the signature block unsigned.

Build this month’s cost position for [project]: original budget, approved variations, current contract sum, committed, spent to date, forecast final cost. Show the movement on every line since last month with a one-line reason each. Keep approved, pending and disputed variations separate and say which the forecast includes. Report contingency drawn and remaining. If the forecast exceeds budget, say so at the top.

Build the variation register for [project]. For each item record number, description, the instruction or event that triggered it, the clause relied on, cost impact, time impact, date notified and status. Test each notice against the contract time bar and say whether it appears to be in time, or that the date is unclear. Separate genuine variations from rework, scope already included, and claims dressed as instructions. Total approved, pending and disputed separately.

Assess this extension of time claim for [project] against the approved programme. Identify the delay event, its cause, and which party bears it under the contract. Test each claimed day against the critical path: days that do not delay practical completion are not an extension. Look for concurrent delay and name it. Check the notice against the time bar. Give an assessed EOT in days with reasoning for every day allowed and refused.

Update the approved programme for [project] with this month’s progress. Mark actual against planned for every activity, showing start, finish and float consumed. Recalculate the critical path and say whether it has changed since last month. Report slippage by activity, separating recoverable from not. Forecast practical completion and state whether it is against the original date or one revised by an assessed EOT. List the reasons the date moved.

Consolidate the open items for [project] into one register from the RFI register, the site minutes, this month’s correspondence and last month’s register. Where the same item appears under different names, combine it and note both references. For each: reference, description, owner, date raised, days open, cost impact, programme impact, status. Sort by what is blocking work, then days open. List overdue items separately with the owner named.

Sync this month into the control workbook for [project]. Reconcile the variation register against the variation folder in both directions and list what is unmatched each way. Confirm approval status with me before writing any variation. Write the certified amount into the cash flow against the correct month and check the cumulative against the certificate. Update the provisional sum schedule with quantities drawn, the current rate and the balance. Leave every formula and protected cell intact. Report each change cell by cell.

Fill this month’s funder return for [project] on their template. Confirm the reporting period and the deadline back to me first. Update only the reporting period, progress percentage, progress narrative and forecast milestone dates. Progress comes from the certified assessment. Do not touch expenditure figures, formulas, dropdowns or locked cells. Keep the narrative to their word limit in their terminology. Flag any milestone date that has moved. Diff against last month and list every field you changed.

Assemble the monthly report for [project] from the outputs of the record, claim, variation, EOT, programme, cost and risk skills, on our template. Follow the template section order exactly; where a section has no content say no change since last report rather than deleting it. Carry every number straight from its source and stop to flag any figure that does not reconcile between sections. Write the executive summary last: cost position, programme position, and the three things needing a client decision.

Format this document in our house style: logo at [width] top right, the address block for the [office] office, [body typeface] throughout at [size], the Re: subject convention, and the standard footer with the copyright line and the current year. Australian English. Where a template has been hand-edited, reproduce its body exactly and replace only the text. Never rebuild its tables. Render it and show me the result rather than telling me the markup is correct.

Turn this practical completion inspection for [project] into a defects schedule. Number every item once and keep that number for the life of the job. Locate each precisely: level, room or area, element. Assign the responsible trade. Separate genuine defects from incomplete work, damage by others, and items that are actually variations, and flag those rather than deciding them. Give each a rectification date from the contract timeframe and a re-inspection column. Carry unresolved items forward under their original numbers. Produce one extract per trade.

I just ran the monthly contract admin cycle on [project] by hand. Turn what we did into a reusable Claude Skill: YAML frontmatter with a kebab-case name and a description saying what it does and when to use it, then What it does, When to use, Instructions, Output format, and the one mistake to avoid. Keep the description trigger-focused, because that is what decides when it loads.