Note
How Many of Your Open Projects Will Close Before December?
Mid-October is a reasonable moment to stop and count: how many open installation projects are you currently running, and how many of them will produce a signed handover before December 31? Most contractors have a rough answer, and that answer is usually wrong by two or three projects in the direction of overconfidence.
Factory clients are not indifferent to the December date. Their capital budgets close with the calendar year. A project that signs in December is booked against the current budget. One that signs in January needs a new purchase order, a budget extension request, or a reallocation decision. Some clients go quiet between mid-December and mid-January, and a project that misses December by one week can end up slipping four to six weeks further. Most contractors discover this dynamic in late November.
How Many Open Projects Do You Actually Have?
An “open project” is any project that has not yet produced a signed handover. Not “nearly done” or “effectively complete” or “the crew was there last week.” A signed handover, or it is still open.
That category includes:
- Projects where site work is complete but the client has not signed
- Projects that are 80% done on site with the final phase still to run
- Projects on hold waiting for a third-party inspection, a permit, or a material delivery
- Projects where a scope change mid-installation has not yet been formally agreed
Count all of them. The number is usually two to four higher than expected, because some projects that were supposed to close weeks ago are still carrying open handover status.
What Determines Whether a Project Will Close in Time?
Two things: the site work remaining, and the client’s handover process.
Site work remaining is usually straightforward to estimate: a cable pull and commissioning test is two to four days on site; a panel still in progress is more.
The client’s handover process is where projects most often slip. Some factories close within a week of site completion: one engineer, one signature. Others require a scheduled meeting, a pre-handover checklist, and an acceptance certificate issued by the factory, meaning three to four weeks from site completion.
If you have never closed with a particular factory before, assume three weeks. If you have, use the actual time it took.
Worked example. You have seven open projects on October 16.
| Project | Site work left | Client process | Earliest close |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 2 days | 10 days (previous close: quick) | Early November |
| B | Complete | 3 weeks (first time with this client) | Early November |
| C | 2 weeks | 2 weeks | Late November |
| D | 4 weeks | 2 weeks | Late December |
| E | 1 week | 4 weeks (committee sign-off required) | Late December, borderline |
| F | 7 weeks | 2 weeks | February |
| G | Complete | Waiting: third-party inspection, date unknown | Unknown |
Projects A, B, and C look solid. D and E are borderline. F will not make it. G is unknown and needs a call this week.
Three Categories for Your Open Project List
Once you have the estimates, each project belongs in one of three places.
Will close before December 31. Site work is done or within a week. You know this client’s process and it fits inside two weeks. Note the planned handover date, confirm the signing contact, and clear the punch list now.
Might close, depending on something outside your control. The site work will be done in time, but closing depends on a third-party inspection, a long client sign-off process, or a material delivery that has not arrived. These need action in October, not November.
Will not close before December 31. More than four weeks of site work remaining, or a client process too long to fit even if you finish on time. Plan for January and tell the client now.
What to Do with the “Might Close” Projects
By late November, most of the available slack is gone. Three actions matter for each borderline project right now.
Call the client this week, not when you think the work is done. Tell them where the site stands, when you expect completion, and ask when they can schedule the handover. Getting that meeting on their calendar in October, before their December fills up, matters more than any amount of chasing in late November.
Clarify the sign-off process. If you have not done a handover with this factory before, ask directly: who signs, what do they need to see, and how much notice does the meeting need? Finding out on November 28 leaves no room.
Clear outstanding items now. Any punch list item sitting for two weeks needs to move this week. Every open item is a reason for the client to push the handover date back.
What to Tell Clients in the “Won’t Make December” Group
A client who hears in October that their project will not close before year-end has time to plan: a budget extension, an adjusted asset schedule, a team prepared for a January handover. The same message delivered in late November or December removes all of those options.
The message does not need to be long: “Site work will finish in early December, but the earliest realistic handover is mid-January. I wanted to give you as much notice as possible. Would a specific January target date be useful?” That conversation is easy to have in October.
FAQ
Why do factory clients care whether a project signs in December or January?
Most Thai factories operate on a calendar-year capital budget. A project booked before December 31 comes out of the current year’s approved budget. One that signs in January may require a new purchase order or a fresh allocation from next year’s budget. Some clients treat this as minor; others treat it as significant. Worth knowing before mid-December.
What if a client says they need the project finished before November?
Ask what is driving the deadline: a factory shutdown window, an insurance inspection, or a budget milestone earlier than December. If site work cannot be completed and handed over before November, be direct: “We cannot safely complete and hand over by then. Here is what can be done before November, and here is the earliest realistic date for the rest.” A partial handover on a cleanly divided scope is sometimes possible.
Can we invoice on partial completion if the full handover will not happen until January?
It depends on the contract. If the contract includes milestone billing, relevant milestones trigger invoices independently of the final handover. The question becomes which milestones fall before December 31 and whether those phases are complete. Check the contract and align with the client now, not at month-end.
The owner’s screen in Field Operation System shows this view directly: open projects, closed-but-not-yet-billed jobs, and sites with no maintenance agreement lined up after handover. Take a look at the program or book a short call.