Building Renovation Change Log
This is a practical guide to building a change log for a building renovation project — a record of change requests and their decisions, adapted to the realities of renovating or refurbishing an existing building.
What a Change Log is
A change log is a record of change requests and their decisions. For the full concept and how it works in general, see Change Log. On a building renovation project it plays the same role, tuned to this kind of work.
Why it matters for a Building Renovation project
Building Renovation projects live or die on renovating or refurbishing an existing building. A well-built change log gives the team a shared, explicit reference for exactly that — reducing ambiguity, aligning stakeholders, and making problems visible early enough to act. Skipping it, or doing it generically, is how building renovation projects drift into avoidable delay and cost.
What to include
- Change ID and description
- Impact assessment
- Decision and date
- Updated baselines
Building Renovation-specific considerations
Tailor the change log to the risks that most often derail building renovation projects:
- Unknown existing conditions
- Occupied-site working
- Scope changes on discovery
Example
On a real building renovation project, the change log would be shaped by renovating or refurbishing an existing building. In particular, it should explicitly account for the project’s biggest risks — unknown existing conditions, occupied-site working, scope changes on discovery — rather than treating them as afterthoughts.