On every mandate, every week, I send a single PDF of eight to twelve pages called the cahier du chantier. It is the one document that keeps a Paris renovation legible to an owner six time zones away. Below is the structure I use, rubric by rubric, with a worked example of a week in a real (anonymised) file. A weekly document of this kind is the instrument that makes distance manageable: on a project followed from afar, its absence is paid for every month.
Six rubrics, always in the same order
The site journal opens with a cover page: the calendar week number, the project reference, the target completion date, the budget consumed to date as a percentage of the signed amount. Then the body unfolds in six fixed rubrics, in the same order every week, so that the reader can compare week fourteen against week six without rereading everything. The rubrics are: photographs of the week; works completed and works in progress; discrepancies flagged to the design authority; decisions pending on the client's side; finance — calls for funds, retentions, insurance events; and a final page of open questions with the owner.
A week in the life of a cahier — Paris 11e, week 14 of 26
Photographs of the week: twenty-four images, dated and captioned, taken on Tuesday morning and Thursday afternoon. The plasterwork on the corridor ceiling has been completed; the oak parquet has arrived from the supplier and is resting in the main room for three days before laying.
Works completed and in progress: corridor ceiling plasterwork closed; first coat of paint on two bedrooms; electrical pull-through 70 per cent done; the cabinetmaker has begun the kitchen carcasses in workshop, delivery scheduled for week 18. Works behind schedule: bathroom plumbing awaits a single waste valve, expected Monday; this places the tile-layer at the start of week 16 rather than mid-week 15.
Discrepancies flagged to the design authority: the signed quote specified a brushed brass handrail on the mezzanine; the one delivered to site is polished chrome. Photograph on page 7. A corrective order has been sent. Expected response within three days.
Decisions pending on the client's side: three. The final RAL reference for the library joinery, awaiting your validation; the socket layout in the study, where the desk location has a direct effect on two power points; the arrival date of the client's personal rug, which determines the sequencing of the parquet finish.
Finance: call for funds n°4 received from the design authority this week, €38,000, for the month of March. Reviewed against the schedule; approved for payment. Running total released: 62 per cent of the signed amount. Retentions holding at five per cent as per contract.
Open questions with the owner: confirmation of the handrail correction; furniture layout in the study; availability for a video walk-through on Friday 26 April at 15:00 Paris time. That is week 14. Week 15 will open with the first three items carried over, so that nothing is lost from one Friday to the next.
— Paris, April 2026. Charles-Eric Guerrier.