Your Role as the Owner During a Landed A&A Project: Site Meetings, Records and What to Ask For

Most owners think an A&A project starts when the builder arrives and ends when the keys come back. In between, they picture themselves as a spectator. That is the mistake. On a landed A&A, you are the person who signs off the scope, approves every change, and releases every payment. If you do those three jobs badly, a good builder still ends up working from a moving target. If you do them well, most of the disputes that wreck landed projects never start.

This is a guide to the owner's side of an A&A project: what a site meeting should cover, what records to insist on, and which questions to ask at each stage. It is reader guidance, not a legal checklist, so where a rule depends on your property or on an authority, the advice is to ask for it in writing.

Who decides what: the three jobs that are yours

A landed A&A project has several people around it: the builder, your appointed professionals, and the authorities. But three decisions cannot be delegated, because only you can make them.

• Scope. What is being built, and what is not. The quotation is the written version of this, and Wong Lye's own quotations are line-itemised so you can see what each item covers. Your job is to read it against what you actually expect.
• Changes. Every time you say "can we also…", the scope moves. Only you can approve that, and it should be approved on paper before the work is done. See variation orders on a landed build.
• Payment. Releasing money is the one lever you always hold. How you use it decides how much risk you carry. On a progressive milestone billing structure, most of the project is billed only after the work has been done and verified, which means your job at each milestone is to verify.

The site meeting: what it is for

A site meeting is not a tour. Its job is to turn "how is it going?" into a written record of what was done, what is next, and what needs a decision from you. A useful one is short and covers five things every time:

1. Done since last meeting. What was completed, in plain words, tied to the items in the quotation. If the builder says "structure is 60% done", ask which items that adds up from.
2. Next two weeks. What work is coming, and in what order. This is also when you learn which phases will be noisy, dusty or blocking access, so you can warn neighbours. See construction noise on a landed A&A.
3. Decisions needed from you, with a date. Tiles, fittings, positions of points, anything the builder cannot proceed without. A decision you take late is a delay you caused, and the record should show whose it was.
4. Problems found. Old houses hide things behind finishes. If something unexpected is found, you want it named at the meeting, with a written explanation of what it changes.
5. Open changes. Any variation that has been discussed but not yet priced and signed.

How often? Agree it before you sign. A fixed weekly or fortnightly slot, at the same time, with the same person from the builder's side attending, works better than ad hoc visits. Whatever you agree, write it into the start-up conversation rather than negotiating it once you are already unhappy.

The records worth insisting on

Memory is the first casualty of a project that runs many months. The published guide on the Wong Lye site puts a focused landed A&A at typically 6 to 12 months from first meeting to handover, with submissions alone taking 2 to 4 months before physical work begins. Over that span, you will not remember what was agreed in month two. Ask for these:

• A meeting note after each site meeting. Half a page is enough: date, who attended, what was decided, what is open. Reply to confirm it, or correct it, on the same day.
• Dated progress photos. Above all of the work that will be covered up: foundations and reinforcement before concrete, pipes and wiring before walls close, waterproofing before screed. After it is covered, a photo is the only proof of what is behind it. See rewiring before the walls close.
• A variation log. One running list of every change: what it was, who asked, the price, the date you approved it, and whether it changes the completion date.
• Copies of submissions and approvals. Whatever has been submitted to the authorities and whatever has come back. You may need these when you sell, and you cannot rebuild them later from memory.
• Drawings as revised. When a drawing changes, you should receive the new version, and the old one should be marked superseded. Two versions circulating on site is how the wrong one gets built.

Before you pay: the milestone check

Wong Lye collects a small deposit, typically 5 to 10 percent of project value, and bills the rest at milestones tied to actual job completion. If you are on a structure like that, each milestone claim is a question you are entitled to answer before you pay. A practical routine:

1. Ask for the milestone description from the contract or quotation, word for word, so you know exactly what "complete" means for that stage.
2. Walk the site, or look at the dated photos, and compare against that wording. Not against how you feel about the general progress.
3. List anything that is not finished, and agree in writing whether it must be done before you pay, or is a short listed item to be finished by an agreed date.
4. Only then pay, and keep the claim and the payment record together.

The point is not to be difficult. It is that the payment schedule only protects you if someone actually checks the milestone. For the reasoning behind this billing structure, see progressive milestone billing explained.

Questions that belong at specific stages

You do not need engineering knowledge to ask good questions. You need to ask them at the right time, while the answer can still change something.

• Before work starts: Who is my single point of contact on site? Who is my appointed professional for this project and how do I reach them? Which inspections or sign-offs apply to my project, at which stages, and can I have that list in writing? What happens to my neighbours' access and my own if the road is narrow? See site access on a landed build.
• During demolition and structure: What did you find that was different from the drawings? Does it change the scope or the price? Can I see it before it is covered?
• During services and finishes: Which of my decisions are still outstanding, and what is the last date for each before the programme slips?
• Before handover: Can we do the inspection room by room against a written list? See handover defects inspection.

What good communication does not look like

Watch for patterns that look friendly but leave you without a record:

• Every change agreed verbally on site, with the paperwork "to follow".
• Progress described only as a percentage, with no link to quotation items.
• Photos sent on a chat app with no dates, no locations, and no way to find them six months later.
• A payment request that arrives before the milestone has been described or shown to you.
• Different people from the builder's side giving you different answers, with no one owning the question.

None of these proves a builder is bad. But each one makes a later disagreement your word against theirs, and that is a position you do not want to be in on a project this size.

If you are living elsewhere, or living there

If you have moved out, agree who visits and when, because a project nobody visits drifts. If you are staying in the house, agree the site rules for shared areas, dust, water and power shutoffs in advance. See staying in your home during a major rebuild.

Quick checklist

• Know your three jobs: scope, changes, payment.
• Fix the meeting rhythm before you sign, and get a written note after each one.
• Insist on dated photos of everything that will be covered up.
• Keep one variation log, with your written approval on every line.
• Check each milestone against its written description before you pay.
• Keep copies of every submission, approval and revised drawing.

Planning a landed A&A project and want to know how site meetings, progress records and milestone checks will work before you commit? WhatsApp us on 9107 2601 and tell us about your house and what you want to build. Wong Lye Pte Ltd holds a BCA General Builder Class 2 (GB2) licence and builds A&A works, extensions and reconstructions on landed homes. See A&A works for landed homes.

Related reading: variation orders · progressive milestone billing · handover inspection