Record keeping- I wish I had!

[Miljah]

Is anyone else out there way more sensible than me thus has kept a big note book of every bit of work you had done on your property, by whom, when, who you got in to quote; final price, satisfaction with the work done, invoices, guarantees etc?

I wish I had!

God knows how many different plasterers and plumbers we've had through over the years! Just had to email my husband to tell me the names of the two workmen here right now! I have a selection of business cards in a case but I don't know among them who we used, especially if they were sub-contractors.

But it's something I'd do in future!

No, but I do have a notebook with all the room and window dimensions written in it. the notebook also contains small samples of my existing curtain materials and carpets and pieces of white cardboard with my wall colours painted on.

Add to that how much paint you used to decorate each room, how many rolls of wallpaper, etc. and notes of the actual colours.

Excellent advice!

Why do you need to know all this??

So that you know for next time you decorate without starting from scratch, when you have to repaint something or decide to do another room in the same colour. When you need a tradesperson. Is it so hard to understand?

Yes, I would usually keep it all in a kitchen drawer, along with all the instructions for the dishwasher, washing machine, coffee maker etc.

But not sure why OP needs all those old invoices - no good to anyone after a time.

Luckily we are moving out of rented so if they put this one up for sale any records will be their resposibility not ours all ive got to do is dig out the gas and electric safety certs for the letting agents

So you know who you used and don't get them around again if they did a mediocre job; conversely who did a good job!- so you have a sketch of where the wiring goes on that exposed wall before it was plastered over; so you know when the chimney was swept, when the oven was cleaned; the name of that oh-so-elusive laminate floor repairer.

I would imagine you might cull old invoices, though they might form the record of who did what, when?

I keep operating instructions/warranties separate and filed properly.

The thought struck me that I wish I'd been more organised as currently, we have about 4 different tradesmen doing stuff here (not all at once) and stuff like whether I found them via the local FB page or not; whether they communicate on FB messenger or email, how 'we left it' and so forth is currently scribbled on the back of old envelopes!