The civil engineer’s guide to project email records
A site instruction is confirmed by email on a Tuesday afternoon. Three years later, someone asks why the drainage run was built at a different depth to the drawing. The answer is in that email, but only if someone can find it.
On long programmes with many parties, the record behind your decisions often sits in personal inboxes. It leaves the project when the person does.
This guide follows one site instruction from issue to handover. It shows where project email records hold up and where they quietly fall apart, so you can fix it before it costs you.
What you'll find inside
Where email records slip out of the formal register, from site instructions to delay notices
Why long programmes, many parties and fast site decisions make the risk worse
What to file at each stage, plus a handover checklist your asset owner will thank you for
A four-step route to a reliable record that stays with the project, not the person