The work is complete. What is still commercially open?
Physical completion is not commercial closure. After the field is finished, five places in the record still decide whether the project can be treated as closed.
Work performed
What occurred in the field, including extra work and T&M support.
Commercial treatment
What was priced, submitted, approved, rejected, or left unresolved.
Financial outcome
What reached billing, retainage, deductions, and the final balance.
Read across the chain. An item can exist in one column and be missing from the next.
Change work
Was extra or revised work directed, performed, logged, priced, and given a disposition? A change that exists only in the field, or only in a log, is still commercially open until those records agree.
T&M support
Time-and-material tickets, signatures, rates, and quantities must connect to a commercial item. Incomplete T&M support is a documentation gap, not a closed cost.
Billing
Approved value that never reached a pay application, or billed value that does not match the change record, leaves the account open even when the work is done.
Retainage
Retainage is part of the billed account. Reconcile the held amount separately from the closeout conditions that delay its release.
Final balance
The difference between billed, paid, retained, and deducted amounts should reconcile arithmetically. Arithmetic agreement is not the same as commercial closure.
Management question
For each material item: is it closed, commercially open, missing support, or a matter for another professional? That classification is the usable record.