Forty applications in one inbox
It is application week. The groundworker, the frame erector, the roofer, the M&E subcontractor and thirty-odd others each send their application for payment. Some use their own template, some use yours, a few send a one-line email with a total. Attached, sometimes, are daywork sheets, delivery notes or a list of variations they believe are due.
Your QS needs to check each against the subcontract order, what was paid last time, what variations have been instructed, and what the site team says has actually been done. The payment run is fixed, and the notices have dates.
What makes application checking slow
- Applications arrive in dozens of formats, many as PDFs.
- The subcontract order breakdown sits in one place, previous payments in accounts, and variations in a separate log.
- Site progress lives with the site manager and has to be asked for.
- Retention, discounts and contra charges are calculated differently on different orders.
- Nothing records what was queried last month and whether it was resolved.
Each application is simple enough. Forty of them, each needing four sources pulled together, is what fills the week.
The cost of doing it by hand
Commercial staff spend the week on assembly and have little time left to challenge the numbers that deserve it. Subcontractors wait for answers and chase by phone. Overpayments happen when a previous certificate is misread. Relationships suffer when the same query is raised twice because nobody wrote down the first answer.
| Item on the application | What it is checked against |
|---|---|
| Work to date by line | Order breakdown and site progress |
| Variations claimed | Instructed variations log |
| Materials on site | Delivery records and site confirmation |
| Previous payments | Payment history in your accounts |
| Retention and discount | Order terms as set up |
What we build for the commercial team
- Applications arrive at one address, or through a simple upload link each subcontractor is sent, and are logged against their order.
- Each application is read, including PDFs, and its lines matched to the order breakdown.
- Previous payments are pulled from your accounts system, such as Sage or a construction ERP with an API or export, so the net amount is calculated from the record.
- Variations claimed are matched against the instructed log, with anything not found listed as unrecognised.
- The site manager gets a short progress confirmation request on their phone for the lines that need it.
- The QS sees a queue: each application with its differences, flags and history, ready for their assessment.
- The assessed amount produces the payment notice draft in your format, and queries are logged against the subcontractor for next month.
Assessing value and deciding what to pay remains with your QS. The tool does the gathering and the arithmetic.
Contra charges get the same treatment. When the site team records a clean-up or damage that is to be charged back, it is logged against the subcontractor with photos at the time, so the charge appears on the right application with its evidence instead of being argued about from memory months later.
Application week, afterwards
Applications are logged as they arrive rather than dug out of an inbox. The QS opens each one with the comparison already done and spends time on the claims that look wrong. Site confirmation happens before the office needs it. Subcontractors get clearer answers, and last month's queries are there to refer to.
Is this your commercial team?
- Subcontractor applications arrive in many formats and many inboxes.
- Checking one means opening four different files or systems.
- Site progress is chased by phone during application week.
- The same query has been raised with a subcontractor more than once.
- Overpayments have been found after the event.