Notes on the parts of the job that cost money when they go wrong: payment timetables, valuations, variations, retention and final accounts. No product announcements.
Ten minutes with the contract particulars at the start of a job removes a category of error for its whole duration. What to extract, and what to do when the particulars are silent.
Construction ActContractual interest, statutory interest under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts Act, and the fixed compensation most claimants forget. Which applies, and why the choice is not freely yours.
Construction ActWhether days are calendar or business days, whether the first day counts, and what happens when a deadline lands on a bank holiday. The small arithmetic that decides whether a notice was valid.
VariationsTime and money are separate entitlements with separate tests. Why an extension of time does not carry money with it, what has to be ascertained, and where these claims usually fail.
ValuationsMonthly valuations, stage payments and milestones compared. How the date interacts with your own workload, and what happens to the statutory dates when the cycle slips.
Construction ActConditional payment clauses are ineffective under section 113, with one narrow exception. What survives, what does not, and what fills the gap when a clause is knocked out.
VariationsAgreeing the price and the time effect of a change before work starts is better for everyone. Why the mechanism is used so rarely, and what acceptance actually settles.
ValuationsAssessment dates instead of valuation dates, Price for Work Done to Date instead of measured work, and a payment mechanism that differs by main Option. What a JCT surveyor needs to unlearn.
Construction ActSection 112 gives a statutory right to stop work when the notified sum is not paid. The seven day notice, what can be suspended, and the costs and time recoverable when it is done properly.
PracticeRebuilding the same spreadsheet every month, reformatting certificates, and finding out what was agreed. An honest look at the hours that do not appear on any fee proposal.
VariationsA defined provisional sum is allowed for in the contractor programme and preliminaries. An undefined one is not. Getting the classification wrong changes what happens to time and preliminaries.
ValuationsFront-loading moves money forward without changing the contract sum. How it appears in a bill, in an activity schedule and in an application, and what a client-side surveyor can properly do about it.
Construction ActOne adjudication asks whether the notices were served. A different one asks what the work is worth. Confusing the two is how a payer ends up funding both.
Audit trailAn adjudicator decides on documents in twenty-eight days. What contemporaneous means in practice, and why a reconstructed record damages the case it was built to support.
SubcontractorsA justified deduction made without the contractual mechanism is an unjustified deduction. Notice requirements, evidence, and why netting a contra charge inside a valuation is the wrong place.
Final accountOn JCT contracts the final certificate has conclusive effect on certain matters unless proceedings are commenced within a short window. What it settles, and what it does not.
VariationsDayworks are the last resort in the valuation hierarchy, not the convenient one. When they are properly used, what the sheets must show, and the checks that take five minutes.
ValuationsUnfixed materials are the most common source of interim overpayment. The conditions for certifying them, why off-site materials are treated differently, and what happens on insolvency.
Construction ActIf no payment notice is served, the payee can serve one instead, and the sum it states becomes the sum that must be paid. Why silence is the most expensive response to an application.
ReportsA flat percentage contingency is a guess with a decimal point. How to build a register that produces a number, keep it current, and answer the question every client eventually asks.
SubcontractorsProfit and cash are different questions and a job can be healthy on one and dangerous on the other. What to measure, how often, and the four figures that tell you where a project stands.
Final accountHow to get from a submitted account to an agreed one. Sequencing the items, dealing with the three that are genuinely contentious, and why one meeting rarely does it.
RetentionRetention held from subcontractors outlives the packages, the surveyors and sometimes the relationship. Why release is missed downstream more often than upstream.
VariationsNot every instruction is a variation and not every variation arrives as an instruction. How to tell the difference, and what to do about verbal instructions on site.
ValuationsGross valuation, less retention, less previous payments, less deductions. The order the deductions come off in changes the answer, and the wrong order is surprisingly hard to spot.
Construction ActA pay less notice is the only lawful way to pay less than the notified sum. What it must contain, when it must arrive, and the four ways surveyors lose the right to serve one.
ReportsA cost report answers what the job will cost when it finishes, not what it has cost so far. What belongs in it, how to treat risk and unagreed variations, and why the first bad report matters.
SubcontractorsTwo contracts, two timetables, and a main contractor in between funding the difference. How the gap arises, how large it gets, and what can be done at procurement.
Final accountThe structure of a final account, from contract sum to final balance. Which adjustments belong where, why netting destroys reconciliation, and the checks that find the missing few thousand pounds.
RetentionThe rate halves at practical completion and the balance falls away at the end of the rectification period. Why the second release is the most commonly forgotten money in the industry.
VariationsContract rates, pro-rata, fair rates, dayworks or a lump sum quotation. The rules in order, and why recording which one you used matters more than the number itself.
ValuationsMeasured work, variations, materials, fluctuations, loss and expense. What is properly included at interim stage, what waits for the final account, and why the distinction protects you.
Construction ActDue date, payment notice, final date for payment and pay-less notice. What each one means, how the days are counted, and what happens when you miss the one that matters.
Something you would like covered? Write to support@qscope.co.uk. The list of topics comes from what surveyors actually ask.
Not your whole portfolio. One live job, one certificate. If it does not save you time the first time you use it, walk away and take your data with you.