When the owner's representative changes mid-project: briefing the new one in a week
The owner appoints a new representative halfway through the job. They ask why a finish differs from an early rendering and request a fresh review. Your team remembers the approved selection, but the incoming person has not received the decision record.
Give a new owner’s representative a focused briefing in their first week: the current scope and forecast, key contract procedures, recorded decisions, pending changes, open choices and site arrangements. Walk the affected work with them and verify their decision authority through the owner’s agreed process. Use the briefing to establish continuity. Do not assume the outgoing representative’s private notes or your team’s memory will transfer the project history.
Transfer the record without overwhelming the newcomer
- Confirm the role and authority. Ask the owner how the new representative fits the project’s communication and approval routes. Update the contact list and identify limits rather than treating a new title as proof of every decision power.
- Prepare a short current-position summary. Show scope, milestones, major constraints and the latest forecast with its cutoff. Link the detailed records so the person can read further without receiving an unexplained archive dump.
- Walk the important decisions. Identify decisions that affect visible work or remaining orders. Provide their references, dates and recorded conditions. If an understanding was only verbal, seek confirmation through the appropriate route and label its status honestly.
- Show the choices still open. Name each decision, information needed and required date. Distinguish a genuine current choice from work already ordered or installed, and explain the process for considering a requested change.
- Arrange a purposeful site walk. Connect the record with the locations the representative needs to understand. Follow site orientation and access rules and include the superintendent or relevant lead rather than touring independently through active work.
- Record the handover questions. Send the summary and agreed actions after the briefing. Correct misunderstandings promptly and tell the team which communication routes changed. Preserve previous decisions unless they are revised through the proper process.
The briefing package
- Current scope, schedule and forecast.
- Authority and communication routes.
- Key decisions with references and conditions.
- Open choices and pending changes.
- Site rules and next actions.
Checklist
Before the first meeting with the incoming representative
- Confirm who may decide what.
- Prepare a readable current summary.
- Select the important historical decisions.
- Show genuinely open choices.
- Arrange the site briefing and follow-up record.
Check your understanding
Nobody can find a written record of the outgoing representative’s instruction. Should you present it as approved?
