ITP template

An inspection and test plan template, with the hold points explained.

Thirteen columns, a worked in-situ slab from set-out to stripping, the H/W/S codes for each party, and one line on why each column is there. Download it, copy it into a sheet, or read where an ITP on paper breaks. No form, no email.

↓ Excel (.xlsx)8 KB · drop-downs for the H/W/S columns, header row frozen, a second sheet explaining the columns ↓ CSV2 KB · the same columns and the slab example, opens in anything

13 COLUMNS · 8-STEP SLAB EXAMPLE · NO GATE

Item	Stage	Inspection or test	Acceptance criteria	Reference	Frequency	Record	Subcontractor	Builder	Engineer / Superintendent	Signed by	Date	Notes
1	Set-out	Survey check of slab edge, penetrations and set-downs	Within ±10 mm of drawing	A-201 rev C; survey control sheet	Each pour	Survey report	H	W	S	L. Chen (surveyor)	2026-05-11	—
2	Formwork	Formwork line, level, cleanliness and release agent	Level within ±5 mm; no debris; agent applied	AS 3610; S-001 rev B general notes	Each pour	Pre-pour checklist item 2	H	W	—	M. Reyes	2026-05-12	—
3	Reinforcement	Bar size, spacing, laps, chairs and cover	As S-201 rev C; cover 50 mm bottom; laps per schedule	S-201 rev C note 7; AS 3600	Each pour	Pre-pour checklist item 3; cover meter log	H	H	H	D. Marsh (structural engineer)	2026-05-13	Hold released after chair replacement, NCR-031.
4	Embedments and services	Conduits, penetrations, cast-in plates located and fixed	As services drawings; fixed against movement	E-301 rev A; H-201 rev B	Each pour	Pre-pour checklist item 4	H	W	—	M. Reyes	2026-05-13	—
5	Pre-pour release	All hold points above released; pump and crew confirmed	Items 1 to 4 signed	ITP-CON-03	Each pour	Pre-pour checklist	H	H	H	D. Marsh (structural engineer)	2026-05-14	—
6	Concrete delivery	Docket check: mix, slump, time from batching	Mix as specified; slump within ±15 mm; placed within 90 min	Spec 03300 cl 2.4; AS 1379	Each truck	Delivery dockets; slump test record	S	W	—	M. Reyes	2026-05-14	—
7	Placement and finish	Compaction, level, finish and tolerances	Surface within 3 mm under 3 m straightedge	Spec 03300 cl 3.6	Each pour	Pour record	S	W	—	M. Reyes	2026-05-14	—
8	Curing and stripping	Curing method applied; strip no earlier than specified	Cured 7 days; strip at 70% f’c per engineer	Spec 03300 cl 3.8; S-001 rev B	Each pour	Curing log; cylinder results	S	W	W	M. Reyes	2026-05-21	—

Scroll sideways for the rest of the columns. The eight rows are one activity, an in-situ concrete slab, walked through further down; the file carries the same eight so you can see the shape before you replace them with your own activity.

The columns

What each column is for

An ITP answers, for one activity, four questions at every step: what is checked, against what number, how often, and who has to be there. The first seven columns are the plan. The three H/W/S columns are the contract. The last three are the record, and they are the ones that are blank when it matters.

01Item: The sequence number within the activity. An ITP is per activity (the slab, the steel, the waterproofing), so the numbers restart with each plan.
02Stage: The step in the work the check sits at: set-out, formwork, reinforcement, pre-pour. The stage is what tells a reader whether the check is still possible or the concrete is already over it.
03Inspection or test: What is inspected or tested, and how: a visual check, a measurement, a laboratory test, a docket review. Specific enough that two inspectors would do the same thing.
04Acceptance criteria: The number, tolerance or condition that passes. If the criterion is “to the engineer’s satisfaction”, there is no criterion, and the argument comes later.
05Reference: The drawing, specification clause or standard that sets the criterion, with its revision. The criterion came from somewhere; this column says where, so a changed drawing changes the check.
06Frequency: How often: every pour, every truck, every 50 m³, once per level. Frequency is where a plan quietly becomes unworkable, so set it against the real programme.
07Record: The form, checklist, certificate or docket kept as evidence that the check happened. A check with no record did not happen, as far as an auditor is concerned.
08Subcontractor: H, W or S for the party doing the work. H is a hold point: work stops until this party inspects and releases. W is a witness point: they are notified and may attend. S is surveillance: they monitor as the work proceeds.
09Builder: H, W or S for the head contractor at this step. Most steps are at least a W for the builder; the ones that are about to be covered up are an H.
10Engineer / Superintendent: H, W or S for the designer or the client’s representative. Their hold points are the few steps that cannot be undone: reinforcement before the pour, the structural connection before the cladding.
11Signed by: Who released or witnessed the step, by name. Each party with an H or W signs here when they have. A blank against an H means the work should not have proceeded.
12Date: When it was signed. The useful signature is the one made at the step, not in the office on Friday.
13Notes: Anything else: a non-conformance raised, a hold released after rework, a witness point the engineer declined to attend. Never a substitute for the columns.

Filling it in

One slab, eight steps

Items 1 to 4 are the hold points before anything is covered. Set-out, formwork, reinforcement and embedments are each an H for the subcontractor doing the work, because the work does not proceed to the next step until their own check is done. The builder witnesses most of them. The engineer holds item 3, reinforcement, because it is the one step on the whole plan that cannot be inspected afterwards.

Item 5 is the gate. Pre-pour release is an H for all three parties and its acceptance criterion is simply that items 1 to 4 are signed. This is the row that stops a pour. On this job it did: the reinforcement hold found 25 mm chairs where 50 mm were specified, NCR-031 was raised, the chairs were replaced, and the engineer released the hold the next day. The note on item 3 says so.

Items 6 to 8 are surveillance and witness. Once concrete is being placed the checks are continuous rather than gated: dockets and slump per truck, finish per pour, curing over days. The subcontractor is at S, the builder at W, and the engineer returns as a W at stripping because the strip date depends on the cylinder results. Different codes for different steps is the point; an ITP where every cell says H is a plan nobody will follow.

The limit

Where an ITP on paper breaks

An ITP in a Word document, signed on a printed sheet, is how most of the industry still runs. It fails in three predictable ways, and each of them turns a quality record into evidence against the people who kept it.

The audit

Signed on Friday, poured on Wednesday

The pre-pour checklist for pour 3 is signed by all three parties. The dates are all the same Friday. The pour was Wednesday. The auditor does not need to prove the reinforcement was wrong; the paper has already said that nobody checked it before the concrete went over it, whatever actually happened on site.

Pour morning

The hold point that could not hold

Item 3 is an H for the engineer. The engineer is in Geelong. The pump is booked, the trucks are rolling, and the site manager signs the engineer’s column “as discussed by phone”. An ITP on paper has no way to stop a pour; it can only record afterwards that it should have. NCR-031 on this page is what the morning looked like when the chairs were wrong and the hold did hold.

Drawing revision D

Twelve ITPs, one revision behind

S-201 goes to rev D and the cover changes. The ITP still says rev C, because the plan is a Word document on the shared drive and nobody owns updating it. The next three pours are inspected against the old number, correctly, and are all wrong. The reference column exists so that a changed drawing changes the check; on paper that only happens if someone remembers.

Asked alongside the download

Questions about the ITP

What is an inspection and test plan?

A per-activity document listing each inspection or test, the acceptance criterion and its source, how often it is done, the record kept, and which party holds a hold point, a witness point or surveillance at each step. It is how a project quality plan becomes checks that actually happen on site, and the signed plan is the evidence that they did.

What do H, W and S mean on an ITP?

H is a hold point: work must not proceed past this step until the named party has inspected and released it. W is a witness point: the party is notified and may attend, but the work proceeds whether they come or not. S is surveillance: the party monitors as the work proceeds, with no stop and no notification. A good plan uses all three; a plan where every cell is H is one nobody follows.

Who signs an ITP?

Usually three parties: the subcontractor doing the work, the builder’s quality or site representative, and at the hold points the engineer, superintendent or client’s representative. Each signs the steps where they hold an H or a W, by name and on the date the step was inspected. A signature dated after the work was covered records that nobody checked in time.

Is the ITP template free, and in what format?

Yes. An Excel workbook with drop-downs for the H/W/S columns, the header row frozen and a second sheet explaining the columns, or a CSV with the same columns. A worked eight-step in-situ concrete slab is included as the example activity. No form, no email.

What to do about it

Sign the step at the step, and make the hold point stop the work.

The plan is the easy part; every builder has a folder of them. What goes wrong is the record: signatures made after the fact, holds released by phone, references a revision behind. Whatever runs your ITP should make the check happen where the work is, with the name and time recorded as the answer is given, and should make an open hold point visible to everyone until the right party releases it.

That is how IssuesId runs the checks on an ITP. The eight steps above become a checklist template with items 1 to 5 marked as hold points; it runs once per pour, every answer records who gave it and when, and a No raises the non-conformance linked to the step. The stretch a subcontractor is responsible for can be sent to them as a share link with a due date, and the organisation-wide checklists list shows every open hold point across every job. The terms are in the glossary under inspection and test plan and hold point, and the non-conformance the slab raised is the first worked row on the NCR template.