If you are an architect or consulting engineer, then you already know that record retention for design and construction documents can be a complex issue. Some documents, such as final versions of drawings and specifications, should really be archived for as long as your firm exists, in case changes need to be made to the building in the future. Others can be disposed of after a period of time. Knowing when and how to get rid of documents is important for any business, but it is especially important for building designers.
Transitioning Between Short and Long Term Storage
Each state and territory has its own laws regarding how long a company must keep files that contain confidential client information. As a manager or partner in a design firm, you should familiarise yourself with the local law, as well as the laws in the places where you do business. If you haven’t discussed this issue with your lawyer, then it’s a good idea to do so. Keeping calculations, mark-ups and intermediate versions of specifications and drawings for a period of time after each project has been completed is a vital security measure as well as good business practice. As you know, they may be needed in the event of a dispute. However, it would not be practical to keep every document associated with every job around forever; it would take up a huge amount of space.
Many firms have a two-tiered storage system in place. They keep the full documentation from in a short term archive for a time period after each job is finished, then pare it down to final versions and put it into long term storage. If you schedule a drawing and archive box clean out at the same time every year, we can bring our mobile shredding equipment to your place of business on schedule, and it will be a breeze. Shredding on site is an easy way to dispose of your unneeded documentation. We will issue you a certificate of destruction so that if you need to, you can prove you’ve disposed of your old files in a secure manner.
What about Electronic Files?
It may seem like a good idea to keep all of your project files electronically instead of on paper. After all, that takes up a lot less space, right? It is important to remember that technologies change. Your carefully saved CAD drawings from a project you completed 15 years ago may require 10-year-old software to be of any use; backward compatibility has its limits. If you do store your files electronically, make sure you upgrade them as the software changes or store them and back them up in a format, like jpg or pdf, that is unlikely to become unreadable in the future.
If you haven’t already, you should make sure that your policies in regard to record keeping are well defined and well understood by your team. If you need help developing a record retention policy, call us.
