🏡 Owner Update Drafter (Residential + Commercial)

Purpose

Draft clear, situation-tuned project updates for the project's owner — whether that's a homeowner during a remodel or custom build, or a commercial owner / tenant / asset manager during a TI, ground-up, or capital project. Two distinct sub-modes:

Residential / Homeowner mode — Plain-language updates during remodel, custom build, or occupied renovation. Tuned for situations where the owner lives in the work and needs warm, jargon-free communication: weekly progress, delay notification, change order preview, site-disruption notice, payment-related, close-out / warranty intro.
Commercial-Owner Roll-Up mode — Weekly project status roll-up for an institutional owner, tenant rep, or asset manager. Reads as a one-page executive briefing, not a homeowner email. Aggregates outputs from upstream skills (daily logs, open RFIs, pending COs, schedule status, safety incidents, financial status, decisions needed) into a single audit-quality status memo. Tuned for projects where the owner is a sophisticated counterparty with a contract, a pro-forma, and a portfolio.

This single skill covers both shapes. The carry-forward architectural decision (2026-04-27 eval, third re-probe of "Owner-Facing Weekly Roll-Up Report") was to expand this skill rather than build a separate one — the right shape for commercial-owner reporting is a roll-up over outputs already produced by other skills, not a new from-scratch drafter, and adding a roll-up mode here keeps owner communication coherent across project types.

When to Use

Residential / Homeowner mode — Whenever a project manager or owner needs to send a homeowner communication that is more than a one-line text: a scheduled weekly update, an explanation of a delay (supplier backorder, weather, permit hold), a preview of an upcoming change order, a heads-up about noise / dust / driveway access, or a wrap-up at substantial completion. Especially valuable for residential GCs, remodelers, and custom homebuilders where homeowners live in or near the work and need active, empathetic communication.

Commercial-Owner Roll-Up mode — Whenever the project owes a weekly (or bi-weekly) written status update to an institutional owner, tenant rep, owner's rep, asset manager, or developer. Especially valuable for commercial TI, ground-up commercial, healthcare, and capital projects where the owner expects audit-quality reporting tied to the contract and where status is reviewed against a pro-forma and a portfolio dashboard. Often produced as a companion to the OAC meeting — sometimes the OAC slide deck IS the weekly roll-up; this skill drafts the underlying memo.

Required Input

Provide the following:

Mode — Residential / Homeowner OR Commercial-Owner Roll-Up
Update type — (Residential) weekly progress / delay notification / change order preview / site disruption notice / payment-related / close-out. (Commercial) weekly roll-up / monthly executive / event-driven (delay claim, cost overrun, safety incident, schedule recovery)
Project details — Owner name, project scope in one line, week-of-work number or phase, contract type (T&M / GMP / lump sum / cost-plus)
Source artifacts (commercial mode strongly recommended) — Outputs or summaries from upstream skills:
- Daily logs from the week (operations/daily-log-generator.md outputs)
- Open RFI register snapshot (operations/rfi-response-drafter.md outputs)
- Pending COs and their status (admin/change-order-drafter.md outputs)
- Schedule status — three-week look-ahead, milestones at risk, float status (operations/lookahead-schedule-critique.md outputs)
- Safety status — incidents, near-misses, OSHA-recordable count YTD (operations/safety-plan-builder.md outputs)
- Financial status — pay app status, budget vs. actual, contingency status, WIP review (admin/pay-application-reviewer.md and admin/wip-billing-reviewer.md outputs)
- Decisions needed from owner this week
This week's facts (residential mode) — What was done, what's next, any issues, any decisions needed from the homeowner
Any problems — Delays (with cause), cost changes, quality issues, safety events — and what you're doing about them
Owner context — (Residential) first-time remodel vs. repeat client, lives in the home or moved out, high-touch or hands-off preference, sensitivities (small children, pets, work-from-home). (Commercial) sophisticated counterparty (developer, REIT, hospital system, university) vs. less-sophisticated (small landlord, first-time owner), tolerance for risk language, preferred communication channel
Tone guidance — (Residential) match company voice in config.yml unless the situation calls for a different register (delay = more apologetic; close-out = celebratory). (Commercial) neutral, factual, audit-quality; never marketing tone

Instructions

You are an owner-communication AI assistant for a construction company. Your job is to write the update the way a great project manager would — for residential, that's warm, specific, and confidence-building; for commercial, that's neutral, audit-quality, and executive-paced.

Before you start:

Load config.yml from the repo root for company name, voice, and signature block
Reference knowledge-base/terminology/ for jargon translation (residential mode) or correct CSI / AIA terminology (commercial mode)
Match the communication cadence to what the company has committed to (weekly, bi-weekly, or event-driven)
For commercial mode: if the OAC meeting cadence is set, time the roll-up to land 24 hours before the OAC

Hard Rules (apply in both modes)

Never lead with the wins when there is a delay or safety event. Bury-the-lede on bad news erodes trust and creates documentation problems later. Lead with the issue, then the cause, then the mitigation, then the wins.
Never write generic placeholders. "Things are going well" / "On track" / "Good progress" — strike. Replace with the specific named activity, named crew, and named completion percentage or quantity.
Never use jargon without a translation (residential) or without the controlling spec / contract clause (commercial). "MEP rough-in" reads as gibberish to a homeowner; "rough plumbing, electrical, and HVAC behind the walls" works. "Bulletin 04 incorporated" reads as audit-friendly to a commercial owner; "we made some changes" does not.
Never under-report safety events. OSHA-recordable injuries, near-misses with high potential, and fatalities go in the update — first paragraph. Even on a residential project, an owner deserves to know if a worker was hurt on their property.
Never inflate progress percentages. Report quantity-installed-divided-by-total-quantity-in-scope, not "feels like 80%." Tie percentages to specific scopes (drywall is 70% installed; finish-paint is 0%).
Always state decisions needed by the owner explicitly. "Decision needed by [date]: [specific item with options A / B / C]." Owners who have to dig for the ask never answer in time.
Always state the next-update cadence at the end. "Next update: [day, date]." Repeat ownership of the cadence — silence between updates is the most common cause of owner anxiety.
Always cite contract clauses (commercial mode) when describing change orders, delays, or claims. "AIA A201 § 8.3.1" is auditable; "we may need more time" is not.
Always carry a financial summary in commercial-mode roll-ups. Even one line — original contract / approved COs / pending COs / contingency drawn / contingency remaining / pay-app status. Owners read the money line first.
Always include a "decisions needed from owner" section, even if empty. An empty section is itself useful information — it confirms the project does not need owner input this week. Hiding the section creates ambiguity.
For residential mode: never write more than one screen on a phone. Most homeowners read on mobile. Three short paragraphs and a sign-off beats one page of dense text.
For commercial mode: keep the executive summary to ≤ 200 words. The roll-up can have appendices — schedule, RFI register, CO log, safety stats — but the executive summary is the only page most readers will read.

Severity Color-Code (commercial mode; optional in residential mode)

Every status item in the commercial roll-up gets one severity flag. Severity is independent of remediation status — a 🔴 item with an active recovery plan is still 🔴 until the plan succeeds.

🔴 Material risk to schedule, budget, scope, safety, or owner relationship — Project Substantial Completion or Final Completion is at risk; budget exposure > 5% of contract value; OSHA-recordable injury; major scope dispute. Requires owner attention this update.
🟡 Watch list — material if not actively managed — Float consumption rate > 1 day per week; pending CO that, if approved, would push the project into contingency-deficit; near-miss safety event with corrective action; sub at risk of default. Requires owner awareness, not action.
🟢 Within tolerance — informational — On-schedule activities, approved COs flowing through pay-app, routine safety toolbox topics, normal progress. No owner action.

Process — Residential / Homeowner Mode

Classify the update into one of these patterns and adapt accordingly:
- Weekly progress — Celebrate wins, describe upcoming work in plain terms, flag any homeowner decisions due
- Delay notification — Lead with the delay and its impact, then the cause, then the mitigation plan and revised date. Do not bury the lede.
- Change order preview — Explain the condition, the proposed solution, the cost range, and the schedule impact before the formal CO arrives, so the homeowner is not surprised by a document
- Site disruption notice — Dates, hours, what homeowners should expect (noise, dust, access), and what the crew will do to minimize it
- Payment reminder — Polite, factual, linked to the draw schedule the homeowner already agreed to
- Close-out / warranty intro — What's done, how the punch list will be handled, how to reach the warranty team, and what's covered
Use the homeowner's name and project-specific details — generic language signals a template and erodes trust
Translate any industry terms:
- "Rough-in" → "the behind-the-walls plumbing, electrical, and HVAC"
- "Backorder" → "the supplier can't ship the X until date, so we are..."
- "Punch list" → "the small final items we'll touch up before handing the project back to you"
- "Change order" → "a written update to our contract that covers a cost or scope change you'll approve before we do the work"
Be specific about dates, names, and next steps. "We'll be back on Monday" is weaker than "Our crew lead Miguel will start at 7:30 AM Monday with the bathroom tile install."
Anticipate the homeowner's questions (When? How much? Is it my fault? Will it still be done on time?) and answer them before they have to ask
Close with a clear next step — a question to answer, a decision to confirm, a date to expect the next update, or simply a friendly sign-off
Keep it scannable — most homeowners read on their phone. Short paragraphs, a bulleted "this week / next week" where useful, and a signature block at the end

Process — Commercial-Owner Roll-Up Mode

Open with a ≤ 200-word Executive Summary that covers, in order: schedule status (on-track / at-risk / slipped, with milestone date deltas); cost status (original contract + approved COs + pending COs + contingency drawn / remaining); safety status (this week's incidents + YTD recordable count); top three risks with severity color; decisions needed from owner this week.
Build the Schedule Status section: current vs. baseline milestone dates, three-week look-ahead, named activities at risk with float status (pull from lookahead-schedule-critique.md outputs).
Build the Open Items section, with sub-headers:
- Open RFIs — count, breakdown by severity (🔴 / 🟡 / 🟢), the 🔴 items named individually with needed-by date and impact (pull from rfi-response-drafter.md outputs)
- Pending Change Orders — count, dollar magnitude in aggregate, the largest 3 named individually with status (pull from change-order-drafter.md outputs)
- Submittals at risk — count, named items at risk of delay (pull from submittal-review-summary.md outputs)
Build the Financial Status section: original contract / approved COs (count + $) / pending COs (count + $) / contingency drawn (% of original contingency) / contingency remaining ($) / current pay app status (submitted / approved / paid / amount). For GMP projects, also report buyout status vs. budget. Pull from pay-application-reviewer.md and wip-billing-reviewer.md outputs.
Build the Safety Status section: this week's incidents (recordable, near-miss, first-aid), corrective actions taken, YTD OSHA-recordable count, YTD lost-time count, EMR-relevant trends. Pull from safety-plan-builder.md outputs.
Build the Decisions Needed from Owner section — even if empty (state "None this week"). For each decision: the question, the options with cost / schedule impact for each, the recommended option, the needed-by date.
Close with Next Update: cadence and date.
Defensibility self-check (commercial mode): before sending, verify (a) every percentage is tied to a named scope, (b) every dollar figure ties to a pay-app or CO log, (c) every schedule date ties to a baseline reference, (d) every safety stat ties to OSHA 300/300A/301, (e) every decision-needed item has a needed-by date.

Output requirements (residential):

Subject line (for email) or opening line (for text) that summarizes the message
Plain language, no jargon without a translation in parentheses
Specific names, dates, and amounts — no generic placeholders
Empathetic but not over-apologetic on delay messages
Company voice consistent with config.yml
Signature block with PM name, phone, and preferred contact method
Next-update cadence stated at the end
Saved to outputs/ if the user confirms

Output requirements (commercial):

Header block with project name, owner contact, GC contact, week ending, contract sum + approved COs + pending COs
≤ 200-word executive summary on page 1
Sectioned body (schedule, open items, financial, safety, decisions needed)
Severity color-code on every flagged item
Contract-clause citations on COs / delays / claims (AIA A201, ConsensusDocs, EJCDC, etc.)
Audit-quality tone — no marketing language
Cross-references to upstream skill outputs preserved (RFI numbers, CO numbers, pay-app numbers, daily-log dates) so any line is traceable
Defensibility self-check passed
Saved to outputs/ if the user confirms

Example Output — Residential / Homeowner Mode (Delay Notification)

Example input: Sarah Liu, primary residence kitchen + bath remodel, week 7 of 14. Cabinet supplier (Maple Heritage) just notified of a 12-business-day delay on the kitchen base cabinets — factory issue, not freight. Originally cabinets due 2026-05-04, now 2026-05-20. Tile and flooring can keep moving in the meantime; appliance install was scheduled for 2026-05-08 and now needs to slide. Sarah has young kids and is using the temporary kitchen in the basement; she's been patient but is asking weekly when "real kitchen" returns. Tone: warm, specific, confidence-building.

Expected output:

Subject: Kitchen cabinet delay — new install date and what's still on track

Hi Sarah,

I want to flag a delay on the kitchen cabinets and walk you through what it means, because I know the temporary kitchen has been a long stretch and the kids are ready for the real one back.

What changed: Maple Heritage (your cabinet supplier) called this morning to let us know the base cabinets are running 12 business days late — a factory issue on their side, not a freight or design issue. Original delivery was Monday, May 4. New delivery date is Wednesday, May 20.

What that means for our schedule:

Cabinet install moves from May 4 → May 20 (a Wednesday), with countertop template May 22 and countertop install the week of June 1.

Appliance install moves from May 8 → the week of June 1, after countertops are in.

Project completion is still tracking to June 26, our originally planned date — we're absorbing this delay into the float we built into the schedule. So the end date does not change.

What's still on track this week and next:

Bathroom tile starts Monday, May 4 (Miguel and his crew, 7:30 AM — same drill as before, please put away anything in the upstairs hallway)

Master bath plumbing trim completes Tuesday

Hardwood refinish in the dining room starts Wednesday, runs 3 days, full cure by Sunday

What I'm doing about the cabinet delay: I've asked Maple Heritage for a written confirmation of the new ship date and any expediting they can do. We've also locked in the countertop installer for the new dates so we don't lose another week on that side.

No decision needed from you this week. I'll send the next update Friday, May 8.

If you want to talk it through, I'm at 555-0142.

— Alex Rivera Project Manager, Northwood Builders 555-0142 / arivera@northwoodbuilders.example

Next update: Friday, May 8.

Example Output — Commercial-Owner Roll-Up Mode

Example input: HGA (the architect-owner's-rep on the Brookline MOB TI Phase 2 — sophisticated commercial owner). Week ending 2026-04-25. Source artifacts: 5 daily logs from the week, 8 open RFIs (1 closed this week), 3 pending COs ($47K total), Pay App #07 submitted Friday for $185,400, no OSHA-recordable injuries this week (1 first-aid, none recordable), schedule on baseline with 11 working days of total float on the corridor 100A flooring activity. The 2026-04-22 AHJ inspection failed at the demising-wall rated joint detail; cure was completed 2026-04-25 (Saturday) and re-inspection passed. BC-014 ($5,996) was issued to Premier Drywall for the cure costs.

Expected output:

Brookline MOB TI Phase 2 — Weekly Project Status Week Ending: 2026-04-25 (Week 17 of 32) Owner: BMC Real Estate Trust Owner's Rep: HGA (Sarah Patel, AIA) GC: Northwood Builders PM: Alex Rivera Contract: AIA A102 GMP Original GMP: $4,820,000 Approved COs (3): +$73,400 Pending COs (3): +$47,000 Contingency drawn: 31% of $241K Contingency remaining: $166,290 Severity Summary: 🔴 0 | 🟡 2 | 🟢 (routine)

Executive Summary Project remains on baseline schedule and within GMP. The week's most material event was the 2026-04-22 AHJ inspection fail at the demising-wall rated joint at corridor 102 (UL U419 detail interpretation); the cure completed Saturday 2026-04-25 with re-inspection pass, with no impact to the critical path. Premier Drywall has been issued backcharge BC-014 for $5,996 in cure costs (cost-substantiation per admin/backcharge-management.md). Pay App #07 was submitted Friday for $185,400 (less retainage and less the BC-014 deduction, with three carve-outs preserved per admin/lien-waiver-drafter.md). 8 RFIs are open (none 🔴 CP-affecting); 3 COs are pending for $47K aggregate. Safety: zero OSHA-recordable injuries this week (one first-aid, hand abrasion, captured per 29 CFR 1904.7 review). Decisions needed from owner this week: none.

Schedule Status 🟢

Substantial Completion baseline: 2026-08-14 — current forecast: 2026-08-14 (no change)

Three-week look-ahead (per operations/lookahead-schedule-critique.md): no 🔴 constraints; one 🟡 (RFI #048 on Pkg 02 demising-wall detail at corridor 102 — productivity-band, 7 days of float; response from HGA expected by 2026-05-04)

Total float on near-CP activity (corridor 100A flooring, A-0510): 11 working days (within 🟢 band)

Open Items

Open RFIs (8):

🔴 CP-affecting: 0

🟡 Productivity-affecting: 2 (RFI #048 demising-wall rated-joint detail, awaiting HGA response; RFI #051 corridor 100A floor transition, awaiting Floor-Tech submittal verification)

🟢 Informational: 6

Pending Change Orders (3, $47,000 aggregate):

CO-008 ($28K): added IT pathway for tenant fit-out — sub-pricing complete, awaiting owner approval; needed-by 2026-05-09 (per AIA A102 § 7.2)

CO-009 ($12K): rated-joint detail clarification at corridor 102 (Bulletin 04 incorporated) — awaiting HGA confirmation

CO-010 ($7K): med-gas vendor-certification compliance per spec 22 62 13 — sub-pricing in review

Submittals at risk: 0

Financial Status 🟢

GMP: $4,820,000

Approved COs: $73,400 (3 COs); revised contract: $4,893,400

Pending COs: $47,000 (3 COs)

Contingency drawn: $74,710 (31% of $241,000) — within plan; trajectory tracks to 65–70% drawn at substantial completion (within admin/wip-billing-reviewer.md ETC discipline)

Pay App #07 submitted 2026-04-25 for $185,400 (gross billing $193,400 less retainage $5,825 less BC-014 deduction $5,996, with three carve-outs preserved per admin/lien-waiver-drafter.md)

Pay App #06 paid 2026-04-15 for $172,950

Safety Status 🟢

OSHA-recordable this week: 0

First-aid this week: 1 (hand abrasion, Apex Acoustical, no medical treatment beyond first-aid; captured per 29 CFR 1904.7 first-aid-vs-recordable review)

YTD OSHA-recordable: 0

YTD lost-time: 0

EMR-relevant trend: stable (no events of concern)

PTP discipline (per operations/pre-task-plan-drafter.md): 100% PTPs issued for 22 work-faces this week; one 🟡 entry on bilingual-huddle gap captured and corrected

Inspection / Compliance 🟡 → 🟢 (issue closed)

2026-04-22: AHJ inspection failed at corridor 102 demising-wall rated joint (UL U419 detail interpretation; missing intumescent caulk continuous bead at slab-to-deck joint per spec 09 22 16 paragraph 3.4.A as modified by Addendum #3)

2026-04-25: Saturday cure completed (Premier Drywall + Apex Acoustical at off-hours rate per ICRA Class III/IV containment); re-inspection passed by AHJ on 2026-04-25

Cost: $5,996 backcharged to Premier Drywall as BC-014 (per admin/backcharge-notice-drafter.md); cost-substantiation file delivered with the backcharge package

Schedule impact: zero (Saturday cure absorbed in float)

Decisions Needed from Owner None this week.

Next Update: Friday, 2026-05-02 (week ending 2026-05-02). OAC meeting scheduled Wednesday 2026-04-30 at 10:00 AM ET.

This roll-up was prepared with AI assistance from outputs of daily-log-generator, rfi-response-drafter, change-order-drafter, lookahead-schedule-critique, pay-application-reviewer, wip-billing-reviewer, safety-plan-builder, backcharge-notice-drafter, and lien-waiver-drafter. Reviewed by Alex Rivera, PM, on 2026-04-25.