What minutes are for
Minutes are the agreed record of a meeting. On a construction project that record often outlives everyone's memory of the meeting itself: a programme argument, a variation or a defect claim can turn on what was said in a progress meeting months or years before. The Society of Construction Law's Delay and Disruption Protocol puts records first among its core principles, and asks the parties to agree at the start what records will be kept. Minutes are one of the records that do the most work.
So minutes have two jobs. They tell the team what happens next, and they leave a record someone can rely on later. A set of minutes that does only the first job is a to-do list.
What every set of minutes should record
| Part | What to write | Why it matters later |
|---|---|---|
| Heading | Project, meeting type and number, date, time, place or call link | Puts the record in sequence with the others |
| Attendance | Name, company and role of everyone present, and apologies | Shows who heard what |
| Previous minutes | Agreed, or the corrections asked for | Closes the last record |
| Items | One numbered item per subject, kept under the same number while the subject is open | A subject can be followed through every meeting |
| Decisions | What was decided and who decided it | The single most argued point later |
| Actions | Who, what, by when | Turns talk into commitments |
| Risks and early warnings | What was raised and by whom | Shows when a problem was first known |
| Next meeting | Date and place | Keeps the series going |
How to word it
Write what was said, not what you think it meant. "The subcontractor said the steel would arrive on 14 March" is a record; "Steel delivery confirmed" is an interpretation, and the difference matters if the steel arrives in April.
Name the person, not just the company, wherever someone committed to something. Give an owner and a due date only where one was actually given: an invented date in the minutes is worse than none, because it reads as agreed. Use the project's own terms (gridlines, levels, package names) so the record can be searched later.
Keep opinions out unless they are part of the record. If someone disagreed with a decision, record that they disagreed; that is a fact.
Issue them while memories agree
Minutes issued the same day are corrected while everyone still remembers the meeting. Minutes issued a fortnight later are argued about. Ask for corrections by a set date, and record at the next meeting that the minutes were agreed or what was changed.
A recording helps here. When the minutes are written from a transcript, any line can be checked against what was actually said instead of against two people's memories. Note Metric writes minutes from the transcript alone and every timed line plays back the moment it came from; a line it could not match to the recording is marked to check against the transcript.
Questions
Who should write the minutes?
Usually the person chairing or their nominee, or the party the contract makes responsible (on many contracts that is the project manager or contract administrator). What matters most is that one named person issues them and handles corrections.
Should minutes be word for word?
No. Minutes are a summary of what was decided, agreed and raised. Keep the transcript or recording if you need the exact words, and say in the minutes where the record is kept.
Do minutes have to be signed?
Few contracts require it. What helps is a clear trail: issued on a date, corrections invited by a date, agreed or corrected at the next meeting. The Delay and Disruption Protocol suggests records are, where practicable, agreed between the parties' representatives.
What if someone disputes the minutes?
Record the disagreement and the correction asked for, then settle it against the evidence. If the meeting was recorded with everyone's knowledge, play back the moment in question.
Sources
- Society of Construction Law, Delay and Disruption Protocol, 2nd edition: core principle 1, programme and records
- Fenwick Elliott, The SCL Delay and Disruption Protocol: a second edition: summary of the record keeping guidance, including agreeing records between the parties
- CIOB, Code of Practice for Project Management for the Built Environment, 6th edition: the CIOB's reference on project management practice, including meetings and reporting
- NEC, How NEC4 ECC guarantees a good performance for clients: early warning meetings and the register the project manager keeps
Our summaries of these documents are not their wording: read the source before relying on it. This guide is general information, not legal advice for a particular case. Note Metric and AI Metric Ltd are not affiliated with or endorsed by any body named here.