Good records are essential to every business. They help the staff to plan and carry out projects efficiently, and keep track of payments and expenses.

They also allow people to check up at any time on the measurements, calculations, job specifications, customer instructions or any other pieces of information that relate to the job.

It's generally the case that several people will need to refer to the information you've recorded in your site assessment and quotation.

In most companies, there's a whole team involved in ordering materials, preparing site deliveries, supervising installers, carrying out the installation, producing invoices, liaising with the client, and so on.

So the more accurate and thorough your records are, the less chance there is that a mistake will be made, or something overlooked.

Even long after the event, there may still be times when you want to refer back to old records.

For example, if you're quoting on a similar job in the future, you'll save a lot of time if you can reuse your earlier calculations.

You may also want to get an idea of cost movements over time, or look at particular trends that are developing.

Here's some tips on keeping good records:

• Write clearly and legibly so that everyone can read the information easily and find details quickly.
  
  
• Show all costs and charges separately so they can be double-checked later and verified as correct.
  
  
• Attach all necessary documents, such as site sketches and specifications; or if they can't be attached, make clear references to where they can be found.
  
  
• File the records away in the correct place once you've created them, so that everyone knows where to find them.