Role
Subcontractor settlements
Whose desk does a discrepancy between a progress certificate and the contract end up on? If it is nowhere, because the site has already moved on, then the settlement rests on a document nobody checked.
Intro call
Four questions we would start with
Whose desk does a discrepancy between the certificate and the contract end up on?
If it falls between the site and the office, the difference stays in the invoice.
What do you do when the site manager's measurement and the subcontractor's differ?
Whether the discrepancy is settled before the invoice, or after payment.
How many times a month does a subcontractor's invoice disagree with the certificate?
If you do not know, you also do not know how much of it goes through uncorrected.
How long does settling one subcontractor take, from certificate to payment?
That time translates directly into how willingly good contractors work for you.
We take over the comparing and the chasing, you keep the judgement calls
Comparing the certificate with the contract, verifying invoices, watching retentions and watching dates can be taken off the desk. Settling a dispute and deciding on a deduction stay with a person.
- The certificate is compared with the contract. - Rates, scope and terms - automatically, on every line, not on a sample.
- Retentions and securities have their own calendar. - The date for returning them does not depend on somebody remembering.
- The joint and several liability risk is visible. - Payments to lower-tier subcontractors and the declarations required are watched, because a mistake here costs the most.
Scope
What can be taken off subcontractor settlements
Twenty-two example tasks. Each one has a human approval point. Below is a selection, and the scope we fit to your contracts.
Subcontractor contracts
- A register of contracts with the rates and settlement terms
- The dates arising from a contract in one calendar
- Pointing out work carried out with no contract (assessment: the specialist)
- A register of lower-tier subcontractors notified by a subcontractor
- The status of each notification and of the absence of objection (decision to object: an authorised person)
Certificates and measurements
- Comparing the certificate with the contract's scope and rates
- Pointing out items outside the contracted scope
- A discrepancy between the site manager's measurement and the subcontractor's
- Linking a certificate to a work front and a date
Invoices and payments
- Comparing an invoice with the approved certificate
- Pointing out items with no cover in a certificate
- Payment status against the contractual dates
- Flagging invoices subject to mandatory split payment
- A register of deductions with their basis (decision: the specialist)
Retentions and securities
- A register of retentions with the dates for release
- A signal when a retention is due to be released
- The status of guarantees and their validity
- Amounts withheld summarised by subcontractor
Disputes and deductions
- A register of contested matters with status and amount
- Assembling the documentation for a case
- A draft letter to a subcontractor (content: the specialist)
- Disputes summarised by cause
A day's work
Today
- You compare certificates with the contract by hand, on a sample
- You explain a measurement discrepancy by phone with the site
- You check invoices with several documents in front of you at once
- You release retentions when a subcontractor asks for them
- You do not know what the amounts withheld come to in total
- At a dispute you reconstruct the history from certificates and emails
With AI assistance
- The certificate is compared with the contract on every line
- A measurement discrepancy is pointed out before the invoice
- An invoice with no cover in a certificate reports itself
- The date for releasing a retention reminds you in advance
- You have the amounts withheld summarised by subcontractor
- At a dispute the documentation is already assembled
- Time to settle a subcontractor
fewer days from certificate to payment
comparison with the contract needs no manual work
- The certificate against the contract
fewer items settled outside the scope
every line is compared with the contracted rate
- Control over retentions
retentions come back on time, with nobody having to ask
the dates have their own calendar
- Joint and several liability risk
less risk of paying twice
payments to lower-tier subcontractors are watched
We start with comparing the certificate with the contract, because that is where the most common losses arise.
- Step 1
The contract register and certificate comparison
Rates, scope, settlement terms and automatic line-by-line comparison.
- Step 2
Invoices against certificates
Items with no cover pointed out, and payment statuses.
- Step 3
Retentions and securities
A calendar of dates and a summary of the amounts withheld.
- Step 4
Disputes and lower-tier subcontractors
A register of cases and watching the joint and several liability risk. Last, because it needs the contracts in order.
Common questions
Questions that come up at the first meeting
How is this different from settling with suppliers?
There the subject is goods delivered, which can be counted. Here you settle work nobody in the office saw, on the basis of a measurement - and on top of that you carry joint and several liability for payments to lower-tier subcontractors. That is a risk ordinary settlements do not have.
Can subcontractor settlements be handled by a smaller team?
On large contracts subcontractor settlements are usually late rather than overstaffed - and a late settlement costs you the relationships with the contractors you will need on the next site. Taking over the comparisons and the dates shortens the road from certificate to payment. The contested judgement calls stay with a person.
Does this fall under the AI Act?
Settling subcontractors is not a high-risk use. The data concerns companies and the scope of works; the summaries serve to verify settlements and should be checked before being used in a dispute or a deduction.
Still have a question that is not here? Book a call
Next step
What do your withheld retentions come to today, and when are they due to be released?
We will show you what settling subcontractors looks like when the certificate is compared with the contract and the retentions have their own calendar.