The agenda we run: progress against programme, anything that has changed since last meeting, decisions needed from the client this week, variations logged since last meeting, health and safety, and next-week look-ahead.

If a meeting takes longer than 45 minutes, something’s usually being chewed over that should have been resolved in writing beforehand. Discipline around the agenda keeps the meeting useful and stops it eating the contractor’s afternoon.

We minute every meeting and circulate the same day. The minutes become the audit trail.