How to monitor construction from another country
You need somebody physically on site at a regular interval, recording the same things each time against the contract programme, so that one month can be compared with the last. Everything else (updates, photographs, video calls) shows you what somebody chose to show, on a schedule that suits them.
The four options, honestly
| Option | What it gives you | What it misses |
|---|---|---|
| Developer updates | Regular, free, no arrangement needed | Selected by the party with an interest in the answer |
| Flying out yourself | You see it with your own eyes | Two or three visits over a two-year build, on dates chosen by your calendar |
| A local contact or friend | Cheap, quick, someone you trust | No consistent record and no basis for judging what is normal at this stage |
| A specialist on a fixed interval | The same checks each time, dated, comparable month to month | Costs money, and cannot see what has already been covered up |
Why the interval matters more than the visit
A single visit tells you the state of the building on one day. It cannot tell you the rate, and the rate is what you would act on: three months behind and moving is a different unit from three months behind and slowing.
It also cannot tell you what is normal. Somebody who has seen your building once has no basis for saying whether the last eight weeks produced a reasonable amount of work.
What has to be recorded every time
- The same positions, in the same order, so two visits can be compared at all.
- Dates that are independent of anybody's camera settings.
- What was not visible, and why. An honest gap is worth more than a confident guess.
- The state against the contract programme, not against the developer's current date.
- Photographs taken from repeatable positions, so the comparison is of the building rather than of the angle.
The window that closes
Structure and services are visible for weeks and then they are behind plaster. Whatever is going to be established about how the building was made has to be established while it is open.
This is the argument against waiting until near completion to start looking. By the time a building is worth flying out to see, the part that mattered is inside the walls.
Questions on this
Can I just ask the developer for more photographs?
You can, and you should. What you will get is more of the same selection. The problem is not the number of photographs but who chose them and what was not photographed.
Is a video call with somebody on site enough?
Better than nothing and much worse than a record. A call is not dated evidence, cannot be compared with the previous month, and points wherever the person holding the phone chooses.
How often is often enough?
Monthly during active construction is the interval at which a change in rate is visible. Quarterly is enough on a slow or paused site, and cheaper.
Read one before you buy one
The specimen shows the whole structure: status, what each payment was meant to buy, the forecast with its range, the photographic record and the limits of what was checked.