November 6, 2022
As a construction manager, you understand the importance of organization.
After all, construction is detail-oriented work that requires expert planning and coordination.
And while you may have a great system for keeping your construction projects on track, what about your meeting minutes?
Between coordinating projects, dealing with clients, and managing employees, the last thing you need is the responsibility of trying to keep track of the minutes from every meeting.
The truth: If you're not using construction management software to keep track of your meeting minutes, you may be missing out on a valuable tool that can help you stay organized and on top of your projects.
In this blog post, we'll take a closer look at why minutes matter and offer some tips on how to keep your meeting minutes organized.
You know that every minute counts when trying to get a project completed on time and on budget.
Meeting minutes are a valuable record of what was discussed and decided at a meeting, and they can help you stay organized and on track.
But what if there was a way to streamline the process of taking and keeping meeting minutes? What if there was a construction management software that could help you keep better records and stay organized?
If you are asking questions like these about management software, you need to know about CM Fusion.
CM Fusion offers a variety of services, including:
Try CM Fusion today and see how we can help you keep better records and keep your projects organized.
Meeting minutes are the written or recorded documentation that captures the essential information discussed during a meeting.
In construction, minutes are often taken to:
While meeting minutes may seem like a tedious task, they are an important tool for keeping all project stakeholders on the same page and moving the project forward.
With so many moving parts and so much at stake, it's crucial to have a written record of what was discussed to avoid miscommunication or confusion down the line.
Meeting minutes are critical for the success of your construction projects because they can:
Minutes should also be read immediately upon receiving them to ensure any important action items were addressed and not forgotten.
There are a variety of ways to take minutes during a meeting, but the most important goal is to be accurate and impartial.
While it’s important to capture the meeting’s events, you don’t always have to record every single word that is said.
Instead, focus on creating an objective account of:
To do this, you can use formal minutes-taking techniques like the ones below.
Action minutes focus on noting any decisions that were made and any action items that were assigned.
This type of minute-taking is most popular, and probably best for construction-specific meetings, as almost everything discussed will be action-related.
As the name suggests, verbatim minutes are a word-for-word account of everything that was said during the meeting.
Verbatim minute-taking is helpful when needing to refer back to a decision made during the course of a project.
Discussion minutes capture the main points that were discussed during the meeting without recording everything that was said.
This type of minute-taking can be useful for capturing key ideas without getting bogged down in the details of a construction meeting.
Since construction projects can be complex and involve many different people and moving parts, it’s important to have a system in place for tracking all the information related to the project.
Meeting minutes will ensure nothing falls through the cracks and that everyone is aware of their roles and responsibilities.
There are many ways to take minutes, but there are a few key elements that should always be included.
There are a few housekeeping items that should be included in every set of construction meeting minutes, including:
Keeping a record of housekeeping items is especially important if you have a large team or if members of your team are located in different parts of the country.
Some of the major construction items that should be documented in your meeting minutes include a description of:
You can use meeting minutes to make sure everyone on your construction team is on the same page regarding the varying range of important details.
Always make sure to include upcoming projects in your minutes.
This will give everyone a chance to review the construction project plan for anything coming down the pipeline and ask any questions they might have before work begins, such as:
By keeping track of these details, you can help ensure that your project stays on schedule and on budget.
The general contractor usually leads the project meetings, but depending on the size of the company, there may be an administrative support person who is responsible for recording minutes.
It is important to have someone who is organized and can capture key information from the meeting in a concise format.
Whoever takes the meeting minutes is typically responsible for ensuring everyone knows where to find the minutes and that they can access them easily.
There are many stakeholders in any construction project that may get a copy of the meeting minutes, including:
A copy of the meeting minutes is generally distributed to everyone who was invited to the meeting, including those who were not present.
While anyone who wants a copy of the meeting minutes can request them from the person who took them, there are a few key players who will always want or need a copy of the minutes.
It should go without saying that the person who takes the minutes should keep a copy for themselves.
This way, they can refer back to their notes if there are any questions about what was discussed at the meeting.
The project manager is responsible for coordinating all aspects of the construction project, so it's important that they have a record of what was discussed at meetings.
They can use meeting minutes to track progress on various aspects of the project and make sure that everyone is on track.
The owner of the construction project will want to have copies of all meeting minutes, so they can stay up-to-date on what is happening with their project.
They may also use meeting minutes as a way to hold the project manager and other stakeholders accountable for meeting deadlines and staying within budget.
If you're in construction, you know every minute counts.
That's why it's important to keep your construction meeting minutes organized with document management by CM Fusion.
With our easy-to-use software, you can manage all your construction documents in one place. And because we're cloud-based, you can access your documents from anywhere, anytime.
But that's not all. CM Fusion also offers a variety of features to help you stay organized and on top of your project, including:
Plus, our team of experts is always here to answer any questions you may have.
Ready to get started?
Try a demo of CM Fusion software by contacting us today.
Try us out completely free for 30 days - no credit card required.