Building a Digital Record of a Property

Property documents are paper, scattered and lost at exactly the wrong moment. Building a record that survives.

Property documentation is created across years by different parties and typically ends up distributed between a folder, an email account and the memory of whoever managed the project. A deliberate digital record takes little effort and repays it at every transaction.

Before stage one

Start with whatever exists rather than waiting for completeness, since a partial organised record is considerably more useful than a complete disorganised one.

• A single location decided for all property records.
• A simple folder structure agreed before filing begins.
• A backup arrangement, since a single copy is not a record.
• Someone responsible for keeping it current.

Stage 1: Gather what exists

Collect every document currently held: title, permits, drawings, warranties, contracts and correspondence.

• Deliverable: An initial collection in one place.
• Owner: Owner.
• Approval gate: Everything gathered before organising, since organising a partial set wastes effort.

Stage 2: Digitise and name consistently

Scan physical documents and adopt a naming convention that makes files findable years later.

• Deliverable: Digitised documents with consistent names.
• Owner: Owner.
• Approval gate: Names include date and subject rather than the scanner's default.

Stage 3: Organise by category

Structure by ownership, construction, maintenance, tenancy and financial records.

• Deliverable: An organised structure.
• Owner: Owner.
• Approval gate: Structure simple enough that someone else could navigate it.

Stage 4: Identify and fill gaps

List what is missing and obtain it while sources are still reachable.

• Deliverable: A gap list with actions.
• Owner: Owner.
• Approval gate: Gaps pursued rather than noted, particularly where the source may become unavailable.

Stage 5: Add the photographic record

Include photographs of concealed services, the property's condition and any work performed.

• Deliverable: A photographic record indexed by area.
• Owner: Owner.
• Approval gate: Photographs labelled, since unlabelled images are nearly useless years later.

Stage 6: Maintain and back up

Add documents as they arise and maintain a backup in a separate location.

• Deliverable: A current record with a backup.
• Owner: Owner.
• Approval gate: Updated as events occur rather than reconstructed later.

Handovers between stages

The record is most often lost at transitions: change of owner, change of manager, or a device failure with no backup. Each is foreseeable and each is addressed by having the record in more than one place.

How you know it is finished

The record is adequate when a buyer's adviser could be given access and find every answer, and when losing any single device would not lose the record.

If you are deciding what technology your project or business actually needs, Domira can assess the options against the problems you are trying to solve rather than against feature lists.