9 November 2026

Defects list or NCR: which document, and when

On site both get called a defect, and they are two different records with two different consequences. The question that separates them, and why a hundred and eighty unsorted lines hands the superintendent a reason to withhold practical completion.

Two weeks before practical completion a list arrives with a hundred and eighty lines. Scratches on door frames sit next to a missing fire collar. Both are called defects, both sit in the same column, and both get the same due date.

Two documents, two purposes

A DEFECTS LIST is a list of outstanding work. It gathers visible, mostly cosmetic departures to be closed out before or at practical completion, and its currency is speed: many lines, short descriptions, fast closure.

An NCR is an assessment process. It concerns a departure from a stated requirement, it needs a decision about what happens to the non-conforming work, and it closes only with verification of effectiveness. Its currency is traceability.

The question that separates them

• After rectification is the departure undetectable, and does it touch no other trade? Then defects list.
• Does it touch work that was inspected, tested or certified? Then NCR, because the record is affected too.
• Is it structural or fire related? Always an NCR, however small it looks.
• Is there any prospect the departure is accepted rather than rectified? Always an NCR, because acceptance needs a recorded decision from the principal.

Why the mix-up is expensive at practical completion

Practical completion turns on whether the work is complete except for minor defects and minor omissions that do not prevent the works being used for their intended purpose. A hundred and eighty undifferentiated lines makes that judgement impossible and hands the superintendent the argument for not certifying. A short outstanding-works list beside a run of closed NCRs reads as a job under control. Same number of lines, different outcome.

And practical completion moves more than one clock

The date of practical completion is where the defects liability period starts, where the second half of retention usually becomes claimable, and on most forms where liquidated damages stop. Anything that pushes it pushes all three. That is why the sorting is worth an afternoon.

What the product does with it

VariationFlow keeps the defects list and the NCRs apart and links both to the same project and element. A defects-list line can be raised to an NCR when it turns out a record is involved, keeping its photographs and its history.

Decision support, not legal advice. What counts as a minor defect at your practical completion comes from your contract.