Outsourced construction administration, with a line you can see
Outsourcing administration fails when nobody says what is being handed over. So here is the actual list, including the parts that must not leave your desk.
What goes out
- Draws built and submitted against the schedule of values, with waivers attached.
- Invoices out within 48 hours, and receivables chased weekly.
- Subcontractor compliance: certificates, licences, W-9s and waivers tracked with expiry dates.
- Change orders priced and documented before the work proceeds.
- The customer kept informed, so the person paying knows what they are paying for.
What stays with you
- Pricing. Every number that commits you is yours to set. We prepare, you decide — there is no version of this where someone else agrees a price on your behalf.
- Hiring and firing, and anything that touches a contract term.
- The customer relationship, beyond the routine status updates.
Why remote, specifically
The work is documents, deadlines and follow-up. None of it requires a desk in your office, and all of it stops when the person doing it is also answering the phone.
Remote also means the office does not close when you are on site, which is when the drawing being revised and the sub calling actually happen.
How the first month works
Week one is reading what you already have: the open jobs, the receivables, the certificates on file. Week two is the list of what is drifting. After that it is the weekly rhythm — draws, invoices, compliance, follow-ups.
Why this fails more often than it should
It fails when the arrangement is "we will handle your admin" rather than a list. Without the list, the person on the other side cannot tell whether a job is going well, and you cannot tell whether you are getting what you paid for.
It fails the second time when the decision-making is not explicit. If the office has to guess whether a change order is approved, it either waits — and the work stops — or it does not wait, and commits you to a number you never agreed.
Both are fixable on day one. The list is the scope, and "nothing publishes without your approval" is the boundary. Everything after that is the weekly rhythm.
Looking for remote construction administrator? That is the decision this page answers — the documents, the dates and what it costs to stop covering it yourself.
Nothing goes out without your say-so. Money and commitments stop at you by default. We write it up, you make the call.
Questions
Is this the same as a virtual assistant?
No. A virtual assistant holds tasks. This is answerable for the job — the draw, the certificate, the follow-up. That is a different arrangement, and it is why nothing publishes without your approval.
What do you need from me to start?
The open jobs, the current receivables, and whatever certificates you already have on file. Week one is reading those.