What a monthly owner report should contain, in order
The contractor issues a monthly report. The architect issues a field report. The owner's representative, if there is one, issues something in between. None of these is the owner's report. The owner's report is the document the owner's own board, finance committee or lender reads, and it answers a narrower question: where does our money stand on this contract, and what do we need to decide.
The order of the pages is not cosmetic. Readers stop reading after the second page. If the second page is a photo of the steel erection, the reader leaves without knowing that the contingency will be exhausted in March.
Page one: the position
Five figures, each against the same figure last month. GMP as amended. Anticipated final cost. Projected gap between them, labeled as savings or as exposure. Contractor contingency remaining and owner contingency remaining, each as a dollar figure and as a projected exhaustion date. Percent complete by cost and percent complete by schedule. Nothing else on this page.
The exhaustion date matters more than the percentage. A board member cannot act on 41 percent remaining. A board member can act on a fund projected to run out in February on a project that finishes in July.
Page two: what moved
The waterfall from GMP to anticipated final cost, with this month's bars beside last month's. Below it, a short list of every bar that changed and the reason: two packages bought, one allowance reconciled, one change order executed, three contingency draws approved. Each line carries the dollar movement and a reference to the register entry.
A fictional $46 million performing arts center offers an example. In month eleven the AFC rises by $520,000. Page two shows the bars: buyout variance unchanged, allowances up $90,000 after the theatrical rigging reconciliation, executed change orders up $430,000 for an owner directed acoustic upgrade. The board can see that most of the movement was its own decision, and that the allowance reconciliation is the only surprise.
Pages three and four: the registers in summary
Change orders: executed this month, pending with expected value, PCOs received and not yet priced, and the split of the total by cause. Unclassified items older than thirty days are listed by name. Contingency: draws this month for each fund, cumulative draws, burn rate against percent complete, and any draw that was approved without backup. Buyout: packages bought this month, variance to the GMP line, and the percent of the GMP now under subcontract. Allowances: reconciled, open, and any decision deadline inside the next sixty days.
Each register gets half a page. Detail lives in an appendix or in the ledger itself. The report summarizes; it does not reproduce.
The pay application line
One table: this month's G702 figures, cumulative certified, retainage held, and the cash flow curve of planned against certified. Any schedule of values line billed more than a third ahead of observed progress is named.
Page five: flags and decisions
Flags raised this month and flags closed this month, as two short lists with a sentence each. Then the decisions required before the next report, with a date and an owner for each. This is the page that turns a report into a meeting agenda. If nothing needs a decision, say so in one line. The absence of decisions is itself information.
A report that follows this order can be read in ten minutes by someone who has never seen the project, and in three minutes by someone who read last month's. Costwitness produces this report from the owner's ledger each month, in this order, with the figures drawn from stored snapshots so the comparison to last month is the comparison to what was actually issued. The software assembles the pages. The owner's team writes the sentences beside each flag.
What to do this month
- Take the report you issued last month and mark which page carries each of the five position figures. If they are spread across several pages, move them to page one.
- Add a flags raised and flags closed section, even if it only has two entries.
- End the report with the decisions needed before the next one, each with a name and a date.
- Compare this month's position to last month's issued figures, not to a recalculated version.
Questions on this
How is the owner's report different from the contractor's monthly report?
The contractor's report describes progress, safety, schedule and the contractor's view of cost. The owner's report describes the owner's position on the contract, built from the owner's own registers. They should agree on certified figures and will often differ on forecasts and classifications. The difference is the agenda for the owner meeting.
How long should the monthly owner report be?
Five to eight pages in the main body, with registers in an appendix. Longer reports are read less. A one page version for the board and lender can be drawn from page one and page five.
Should photos and schedule go in the owner's report?
A schedule summary with percent complete belongs on page one because it sets the context for burn rate. Photos and narrative progress belong in the contractor's report. If the board wants them, put them in an appendix after the cost pages.
In the product
Monthly owner report, Anticipated final cost, Contingency ledger. Free tool: Pre-GMP Readiness Score, Contingency Runway.
Keep reading
Earlier: The one page report for the board and the lender. Later: Why a trend line needs stored snapshots, not recalculated history. All articles on owner reporting.
See the report your board would read.
Thirty minutes on a call. We generate the twelve page report on a fictional project and hand you the sample PDF.