Confirming a verbal agreement in a same-day note
At the slab edge, you discuss Monday access with the owner's representative. By the following week, the millwright and door installer both expect the north bay. The conversation needs a shared record before the two plans collide.
Write a short confirmation the same day while the details are available, and send it to the people involved through the project's approved channel. State the subject, participants, time, place, agreed actions and dates, plus any approval still needed. Ask for confirmation or correction. Do not assume an unanswered note proves agreement or completes a required contract change.
Turn the conversation into a reviewable note
- Identify the event. Use a specific subject line with the job, location and issue. State who took part and when and where the conversation occurred. Describe your understanding plainly; if you are unsure of a detail, flag it for confirmation rather than presenting it as settled.
- State each action. Write what each party understood they would do, for which area and by when. Include limits such as the access window, release prerequisite or excluded task. Separate an actual agreement from a proposal someone undertook to discuss with their office.
- Request a response and route approvals. Ask recipients to confirm or correct the account. Identify affected people who need the confirmed plan through the authorized communication process. If scope, price or quality changes need a formal direction, obtain it through the actual authority route before relying on the conversation.
- Keep the response with the subject. Link the sent note and replies to the diary or daily report and the relevant issue record. Preserve corrections and differing accounts. Follow up an unanswered note as unresolved; when the arrangement changes, record the new discussion and confirm the changed actions.
Keep the wording specific enough to expose a misunderstanding. 'As discussed, Monday is fine' could refer to delivery, installation or access. A useful note tells the recipient exactly which understanding to check. If the agreement's legal effect or required notice is uncertain, take that question to the project's appropriate advisers rather than adding a sentence that declares your email binding.
Common mistakes
- Writing 'agreed' when the other person only promised to ask.
- Using a vague subject or omitting the affected location.
- Treating silence, a copied recipient or a diary entry as completed approval.
Checklist
Send a useful confirmation
- Subject, participants, time and place.
- Each action, location, date and limit.
- Proposal and agreement clearly distinguished.
- Confirmation request and outstanding approval route.
- Sent note, replies and changes kept together.
Check your understanding
Nobody corrected your note. Can you mark the scope change approved?
