What This Covers
One loose bracket is a normal call, and so is a list two pages long. These visits are usually a stack of small jobs that have been waiting, and grouped together they take fewer setups than they would one at a time.
Inside
- Doors that stick or will not latch, planed and re-shimmed
- Drywall patching, nail pops and doorknob holes
- Cabinet doors and drawers realigned and re-hung
- TV mounts, shelves and mirrors anchored into studs
- Grab bars and handrails set into solid framing
Outside
- Gates that drag squared up and re-hung
- Window screens rescreened after a windy spring
- Fence pickets and rails swapped a few at a time
- Downspout extensions run out past the foundation
- Caulk and weather seals where blowing dust gets in
Odd Jobs
- Move-in and move-out lists, grouped to save trips
- Inspection punch lists before a closing date
- Flat-pack furniture and shelving assembled and anchored
- Single small jobs that do not fill anybody's day
How a Punch List Visit Goes
Most people apologize before they hand over the list. They think the number of items decides how the visit goes. It is the number of setups, not the number of items. Six small jobs in one room, with the same ladder and the same tools already out, is close to one job. One in the garage, one at the gutter line, and one in the back bathroom is three.
Much of what lands on these lists is written by the climate. Doors that swing free in July bind in January, because freeze and thaw cycles and big day to night temperature swings keep a house moving all year. Blowing dust finds every gap in a worn weather seal. Wind takes screens apart. Long dry summers open caulk lines that were tight two seasons ago. Items like these look unrelated on paper and usually are not.
We walk the list with you before anything starts and sort it into what is doing damage, what is only annoying, and what can wait for next time. Water and anything holding weight go first, because those are the items that get worse by sitting. If an item is electrical, plumbing, or gas, it goes to a licensed electrician or plumber, and if it is structural it goes to an engineer. You hear that at the walk-through rather than afterwards.
Questions
Punch List Questions
What people want to know before they hand the list over, answered plainly.
Is one small job too small to call about?
One item is a normal call. A single loose handrail bracket, one door that will not close, one shelf that has to hold real weight. Jobs that size do not fill a day for a bigger outfit, which is why they sit, and that is the gap this work exists to fill. You are not wasting anybody's time.
A long list is welcome too, and it usually makes better use of a trip. If you have been adding to a note on the fridge for years, bring the whole note. We read it, walk it with you, and say what is realistic in one visit and what needs a second. The walk-through and the estimate are free either way, so there is no risk in having the list looked at.
Which things on my list need a licensed trade instead?
Anything that ties into electrical, plumbing, or gas belongs to that trade. Moving an outlet, adding a circuit, replacing a water heater, running a gas line for a range. All of those go to a licensed electrician or plumber, and we say so rather than take the work. Structural changes that need an engineer and full roof tear-offs are the same story.
Most of a punch list is nowhere near that line. Doors, drywall, trim, cabinet hardware, mounting, caulk, screens, gates, fence boards, and shelving are ordinary handyman work. RockBuilt is licensed, bonded, and insured, and part of working that way is being clear about where the line sits. You get told which items are ours and which are not while we are still standing in the room.
Can you get through the whole list in one visit?
What decides that is the mix, not the length. Ten small jobs in the same two rooms, with one ladder and one set of tools out, often go faster than three jobs spread across the house and the yard. Parts matter too. Anything needing a specific hinge, a screen frame, or a matching trim profile depends on what is on the shelf locally that week.
The other variable is what opens up. A wall patch can expose a stain that is still active. A soft spot under a bathroom floor can turn out to be a leak, and the leak itself goes to a licensed plumber before the floor gets closed back up. When that happens we stop, show you, and let you decide before we keep going. If what turns up will not wait, emergency work is available around the clock.
Half of this list has sat for years. Is any of it actually worth doing?
Some of it is, and the dividing line is water, weight, and weather seals. A stain that keeps coming back, a railing or grab bar that has to hold a person, a door seal that has given up. Those items get worse on their own, and in this climate a failed seal also means dust in the house on the next windy stretch.
The rest can honestly wait, and we will say so. A scuffed baseboard, a drawer that sticks, a knob that does not match. None of that is doing damage, and there is no reason to work through it just because it is written down. If the useful answer is that four items matter and the other ten can sit until next year, that is the answer you get.
Ready to get it done?
Tell us about the project, or call and talk it through.