Construction records as evidence: diary, certificates and minutes

Under § 15(1) of the Building Code (ehitusseadustik, EhS), construction must be documented where a building permit is required, and the documenting is done by whoever builds. The duty therefore usually lies with the contractor (töövõtja), not with the client, but the records speak to both parties' decisions.

Construction records include, among others, as-built drawings or an as-built model, the construction diary (ehituspäevik), the covered works certificate (kaetud tööde akt), the minutes of site meetings and test reports (§ 15(3), wording in force from 01.08.2026). The records are handed over to the register of construction works (ehitisregister) or to the competent authority (§ 15(4)).

Document	What it proves	Why it matters to the client
Construction diary	what happened on site each day, including instructions, notices and obstacles	dates: when something was requested, notified or obstructed
Covered works certificate	that work to be covered by the next layer was done and inspected before covering	it can no longer be inspected later without demolition
Site meeting minutes	what the parties discussed and agreed at the meeting	oral agreements become written ones
As-built drawings or as-built model	what was actually built	comparison with the design shows the changes
Test reports	the results that were measured	evidence of defects and compliance

If no building permit is needed, the documenting duty in § 15(1) may not apply, but the client can require the same by contract. For smaller works, a contract clause requiring a diary to be kept and meetings to be minuted is a cheap way of making sure evidence exists.

The owner's supervision engineer does not prepare all construction records, but leaves traces in them that the client can use later. Under the procedure for owner's supervision (omanikujärelevalve) (Regulation no 80 of the Minister of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure of 02.07.2015), the supervision engineer notifies the owner and the builder without delay in the cases listed there, for example where construction does not comply with the design (§ 5(1)), and notifies other breaches of the owner's rights in writing within 2 working days (§ 5(2)). The notifications are entered in the construction works diary (ehitustööde päevik) (§ 5(4)).

Supervision requirements and refusals to sign are also in writing. The owner's supervision engineer may, among other things, require works that do not comply with the design or the contract to be redone (§ 6(1)), submits requirements in writing within 2 working days (§ 6(3)), and if it refuses to sign a document, it must give written reasons for the refusal (§ 6(4)). A reasoned refusal to sign a covered works certificate can be strong evidence in a later dispute.

Supervision can only check performance of the contract if it has the contract. Under § 3(2) of the regulation, the owner must give the supervision engineer at least the building permit, the design and the contract between the builder and the owner. What the regulation requires of supervision and what it does not, for example that it does not mention the price, checking certificates of work done or additional works, is explained in the article owner's supervision: what the law requires and what it does not.

Three final-cost questions all depend on what is written down, and when. The first is additional work. According to the Supreme Court (Riigikohus) case-law review "Töövõtuleping" ("Contract for work", 2022), additional work requires an agreement of the parties, and without one the contractor is not entitled to payment for it under the contract. In a dispute, the question is therefore whether an agreement exists, and the agreement is proved by a document. How to tell additional work from changed work is explained in the article additional work or changed work: why the difference matters.

The second is the substantial overrun of a non-binding estimate. The contractor must notify the client of it without delay, and if it fails to do so, it may claim the amount exceeding the estimate only to the extent that the client has been unjustly enriched (VÕS § 639(2)). The date of the notice is therefore the central evidential question.

The third is the client's delay. If the client has to do something, for example supply materials or an instruction or otherwise cooperate, and it is late, the contractor may claim compensation for the damage caused by the delay, taking into account, among other things, the length of the delay (VÕS § 652(1)). When the client's decision was requested and when it was given is shown by the diary or the minutes.

The documents also affect how the contract is interpreted. Under § 29 of the Law of Obligations Act (võlaõigusseadus, VÕS), the actual common intention of the parties comes first, and in establishing it, account is taken of, among other things, pre-contractual negotiations and the conduct of the parties after the contract was concluded (subsection 5). Minutes in which the client's representative agreed to a solution without objection are evidence of the parties' conduct, whether or not anyone regarded it at the time as an amendment of the contract.

Every decision that affects the final cost must be recorded in at least one document that both parties have seen. The table below is a practical recommendation, not a list from the law; the names of the documents follow § 15(3) and Regulation no 80.

Decision or event	Where it must be recorded	Who signs	Why
The client orders a change	a written change order; reference in the diary	the client's authorised representative and the contractor	an agreement on additional work needs evidence
Price of the change and effect on the deadline	change order or contract annex	the same	an agreement without a price is incomplete
Oral consent given at a meeting	site meeting minutes, sent out for confirmation	the author of the minutes; participants confirm	the parties' conduct is a basis for interpretation
Notice of an overrun of a non-binding estimate	the contractor's letter; reference in the minutes	the contractor	the date of the notice is decisive
The client's response to the overrun	the client's letter	the client	acceptance or termination must be unambiguous
Waiting for the client's decision, materials or access	construction diary, site meeting minutes	the contractor; supervision	start and length of the delay
Covering up work	covered works certificate	the contractor, owner's supervision	cannot be inspected later
Defect or non-compliance	owner's supervision letter and diary entry	the owner's supervision engineer	basis for a demand to remedy
Refusal to sign a document	written reasons	the owner's supervision engineer	requirement of § 6(4) of Regulation no 80

The site meeting is where most changes are actually decided, and the minutes are where they either become evidence or disappear. It is in the client's interest that minutes are produced for every meeting, that they record who attended and in what role, and that every decision is worded so that someone who was not at the meeting can understand it.

An agreement with a financial effect must be recorded separately in the minutes. Good minutes distinguish information, discussion and decision. If the decision is a change, the minutes should say whether it is additional work or changed work, whether the price has been agreed, and when and by whom the change order will be submitted. The minutes do not replace the change order, but they tie it to a date.

The procedure for confirming minutes should be agreed in the contract. A useful clause states who prepares the minutes, within what time they are sent out, and within what time a participant may submit comments. The client must actually submit comments: if the minutes record consent that the client did not give and it does not challenge this, it will be hard to argue the opposite later.

The authority of the client's representative must be visible in the minutes. If a project manager (projektijuht) or the client's representative (tellija esindaja) attends the meeting, it must be clear whether they are entitled to order a change and up to what amount. Otherwise, whether their consent binds the client becomes a point of dispute.

As-built drawings show what was built, and comparing them with the design shows what changed. Where a change affects the design, the regulation on design requirements (Regulation no 97 of the Minister of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure of 17.07.2015) requires an explanatory note on the changes with their reasons and possible effects (§ 12(7)) and a list of valid documents indicating which documents have been added, replaced or become invalid (§ 12(8)). For the client, that list is evidence of the subject matter of the contract: it shows which version of the design the contractor's price was based on.

If what was built differs from the design, it is also a procedural question. What this means in terms of the building permit and the register of construction works is described in the article on when what is built differs from the design.

The Building Code says which records must exist, but not how the client gets access to them. It is worth agreeing the following in the contract:

• the client and its representatives have continuous access to the construction diary;
• the client's instructions, the contractor's notices and obstacles are entered in the diary with their date;
• site meetings are minuted within a set time and participants have a deadline for comments;
• no change is valid without a written change order, except work needed to remove a hazard;
• the construction records are also handed over to the client at the end of the works, whether or not they are handed over to the register of construction works.

Keeping the records is the contractor's duty, but reading them is the client's. A diary entry to which the client raised no objection may count against the client in a dispute. A client's representative or owner's supervision engineer who reads the diary regularly spots a claim for additional work or an allegation of delay while there is still time to respond.