What to put in the bag before you commission a report

People arrive at Level 9 with a single spreadsheet and an apology. Sometimes that is enough to start a reconstruction. It is not enough to bind an occupancy report.

Bring copies of the rent roll you actually use, even if it is embarrassing. Bring leases or a lease list. Bring collections for the last twelve months — bank lines, envelope notes, whatever exists. If you want operating-cost plates, bring contractor invoices for the common parts. Photographs of doors help when numbers have been painted over.

Leave originals in the safe. We do not want your only copy of a 1998 agreement. Leave the story of the cousin until we ask; the papers first, the family history second, or the sitting becomes theatre.

Write down the telephone number of the caretaker or the person who still walks the courtyard. More unit identities are recovered that way than from any sheet titled “final_v7.” If that person will not speak to us, say so. We will mark the gap rather than invent a floor plan from the street façade.

If the bag is light, we will still answer. The fee sketch will simply say which plates cannot be drawn yet. That sentence is not a sales delay. It is the difference between a briefing and a quarrel.