# Spare Parts, Extra Stock, and Warranty Letters What the spec asks for in spares and warranties, turning spares over with a signed receipt, when the warranty clock starts, and why a missing letter holds up final payment. Your final pay application comes back from the GC with two lines circled: no warranty letter from the drive manufacturer, and no receipt for spare parts. The spares exist. A box of fuses, relays, and a spare power supply has been sitting in the electrical room since startup. Nobody signed for it, and the owner's maintenance lead says they've never seen it. The warranty letter exists too, somewhere in the vendor's inbox, waiting for someone to ask for it on letterhead. Neither item is hard. Both are on the list that stands between you and your last check. This article covers what the spec asks for, how to turn spares over so the handoff sticks, when warranties actually start, and how to keep missing letters from holding up final payment. ## What the spec asks for Spares and warranties each have a home in Division 01, and each technical section adds its own list. Spare parts and extra materials usually get their own Division 01 closeout section in the 01 78 4x range, and the exact number varies by book, so search the table of contents for "spare parts." That section sets the general rules: packaging, labeling, delivery, storage location, and how the turnover is documented. The actual quantities live in the technical sections, written either as a fixed list or as a percentage of the installed quantity with a minimum count per type. Read every section you own, because the controls section, the instrumentation section, and the VFD section can each carry their own spares paragraph. Keep four categories apart, because specs often treat them differently: - **Spare parts**: replacement components, such as fuses, relays, I/O cards, power supplies, and a spare HMI or controller where the spec demands one. - **Extra materials**, sometimes called attic stock: surplus of installed materials, more common for other trades but occasionally wire, labels, or terminal blocks. - **Special tools**: anything needed to maintain the equipment that the owner wouldn't otherwise have, such as programming cables or calibration adapters. - **Software and licenses**: programming software, runtime licenses, and the as-left program files. Check whether the spec wants licenses registered to the owner. Don't confuse the contractual spares with the recommended spares list in the O&M manual. The first is what you must deliver. The second is advice to the owner about what to stock, with sources and prices. Both may be required, and only one comes out of your budget. ## Buy spares with the job Spares discovered during closeout week are a procurement problem with no float. Put every contractual spare on the bill of materials at the start and order it with the installed equipment. Lead times that bit you on the main order will bite again on the spare, and an I/O card that ships in twelve weeks will not arrive before final. Package and label spares as the spec requires, usually by item, with the part number and the equipment they serve. Keep them separate from your own installation stock so nobody grabs a spare relay to finish a punch item and leaves a gap in the turnover. ## Turn them over with a signed receipt Spares are delivered when the owner signs for them. Not when they arrive on site, and not when they go into a closet. Agree on the delivery location with the owner in advance, inventory the items together with the owner's representative, and get a signature on a transmittal that lists everything. A filled receipt: ``` SPARE PARTS TRANSMITTAL AND RECEIPT Transmittal SP-001 Project: Pine Creek WRF Lift Station Upgrades Owner No. 24-118 From: Acme Controls Our No. PS26-014 To: City of Pine Creek, Utilities Maintenance Delivered to: Maintenance building, parts cage B Item Qty Description Part number Serves 1 10 Fuse, 2 A, 5 x 20 mm GMA-2A LS-4 panel 2 4 Relay, 24 VDC, DPDT RH2B-UDC24V LS-4 panel 3 1 Power supply, 24 VDC, 10 A PS-24-10 LS-4 panel 4 1 Discrete input card, 16 pt DI-16-24 LS-4 PLC 5 1 Programming cable, USB PC-USB-01 LS-4 PLC Received complete and in good condition: Name: ______________________ Title: ______________________ Signature: _________________ Date: _______________________ ``` Copy the signed receipt into the closeout package and keep the original. If the owner refuses delivery or asks you to hold the spares, put that in writing too, with the storage arrangement and who bears the risk. ## When the warranty clock starts Under the standard general conditions most jobs use, the contractor's warranty and the one-year correction period run from the date of substantial completion. Your warranty to the owner starts when the owner can use the system, not when you shipped the panel. Manufacturer warranties often run on a different clock. Many start at shipment, at invoice, or at product registration. On a job where the panel ships eighteen months before substantial completion, a one-year manufacturer warranty can expire before the owner takes the system over, and you are left carrying the gap under your own warranty. There are a few ways to close that gap: - **Ask the manufacturer** for a letter stating the warranty starts at startup or at substantial completion. Some will issue one, especially when asked at the time of order. - **Buy an extended warranty** that covers the expected gap. - **Price the risk** into your bid if neither is available, so the gap is a known cost rather than a surprise. Read the spec for special warranties. Some sections require a manufacturer's warranty longer than the standard term, or one that starts at substantial completion, and that requirement is easiest to meet at purchase. ## Manufacturer versus contractor warranty The two cover different things, and the owner usually wants both. The **contractor's warranty** covers your work: the panel, the integration, the programming, the installation, and the workmanship. It is typically a letter on your letterhead, signed by an officer, covering the scope you performed for the term the contract sets. The **manufacturer's warranty** covers the product. It is often parts only, sometimes with labor for a shorter period, and it comes with the manufacturer's own exclusions and claim procedure. When the spec calls for a manufacturer's warranty letter, it means a letter specific to this project, not a printout of the generic warranty terms from the website. A project warranty letter should carry: - Project name, owner, and contract or project numbers. - The equipment or scope covered, with tags or serial numbers where they matter. - The start date and the term, stated as dates rather than "one year from acceptance." - What is covered and what is excluded. - How to make a claim: contact, phone, and expected response. - The signature and title of someone authorized to bind the company. Request each manufacturer's project letter when you place the order. Vendors respond to warranty requests much faster while they are still waiting to be paid. ## How missing letters hold up final payment Warranties and spares are typically listed among the closeout submittals the spec requires before final payment, and on many jobs before substantial completion. The general contractor collects them from every trade and usually won't submit the final package, or release your retainage, until all of it is complete. A single missing letter from a single vendor can hold up your whole retainage. The habits that prevent it are simple. Build the closeout list at kickoff with each warranty and spares item on it. Request letters at purchase. Collect them into the warranty package as they arrive, not in the last month. Deliver spares against a signed receipt the day they are turned over. The rest of the path from punch list to payment is in [punch list to retainage](/learn/punch-list-to-retainage). ## How Submittal Kit handles this The pain is a final payment held up by one missing letter that nobody tracked. In Submittal Kit, a Warranty is one of the closeout types you can create straight from the issued submittal, so it shares that submittal's equipment list live, approved substitutions included, and you never rebuild the list of what needs a letter. Each letter goes in a Warranties section, the section role for guarantees and warranty letters, and a signed spares receipt can go in a Custom Upload section beside it, both set up in [configure sections](/help/configure-sections). Compiling produces one bookmarked PDF, and Mark as Submitted issues it onto the Submittal Log with a permanent record of what went out and when. See [O&M manuals](/help/om-manuals) and the [O&M manual feature](/features/om-manuals). *Disclosure: I build Submittal Kit. The receipts and letters above close out a job in any tool, as long as someone collects them early.* --- Submittal Kit · Field Guides · Updated 2026-10-04 Canonical: https://submittalkit.com/learn/spare-parts-and-warranty-letters