COST TRACKING

Punch List Tracker in Excel

7 min read · Template referenced below

Punch lists tend to live in someone's notebook or a dozen text messages. Centralizing them in a tracked spreadsheet makes closeout status visible to the whole team instead of just whoever wrote it down.

Set up the core columns.
Item, Location, Trade, Assigned To, Date Identified, Status, Date Closed.

Add a Status dropdown.
Select the Status column → Data → Data Validation → List → type Open,In Progress,Closed. This keeps status entries consistent so formulas can count them reliably.

Count open items live.
=COUNTIF(StatusColumn,"Open") gives a running count of unresolved items — put this at the top of the sheet so it's the first thing anyone sees.

Calculate percent complete.
=COUNTIF(StatusColumn,"Closed")/COUNTA(StatusColumn) shows what fraction of the punch list is actually resolved, formatted as a percentage.

Color-code rows by status.
Conditional Formatting → New Rule → formula =$F2="Open" (adjust the column letter) with a red fill; a second rule for "Closed" with green. Entire rows update automatically as status changes.

Add a "Days Open" column with =IF(Status="Closed",DateClosed-DateIdentified,TODAY()-DateIdentified) — this surfaces items that have been sitting open too long, not just how many exist.

A live punch list like this replaces the walk-through-and-guess approach to closeout with an actual, shareable record of what's left.

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