The 25th of the month
The main contractor wants your application for payment by the 25th. Your painting package covers four floors of apartments, the common areas and the stairwells. The supervisor has a marked-up drawing showing which apartments have had mist coat, which have first coat, which are finished. Two variations were instructed by email. There are daywork sheets for repairs to damage by other trades, some signed, some not.
The owner spends a day putting the application together. Some of the daywork does not make it in. The QS values it lower than you applied for, and you have no easy way to show what was done.
Why applications understate your work
A painting package progresses in many small pieces across many areas, and the evidence of progress sits with the supervisor. Variations and daywork arrive through different routes. Pulling it together once a month by hand is slow, and anything not easy to find gets left out.
- Progress is recorded on paper drawings or not at all.
- The priced schedule is not broken down by area.
- Variations are instructed by email and priced later.
- Daywork sheets are paper, and some are not signed.
- There is no photo evidence to support a disputed valuation.
Contract terms, payment dates and notices are set by your subcontract and the law, and your adviser can explain them. The tool helps you meet the dates you set and assemble the evidence.
What weak applications cost
Work done but not applied for is paid late, sometimes months late. Undervalued applications strain cash flow on large jobs where you are paying painters and buying materials every week. Unsigned daywork is hard to recover. And the owner loses days each month to paperwork.
A painting package also has a particular problem: much of the work is invisible once done. A mist coat and first coat on an apartment look much like a finished wall to a QS walking through, and progress on woodwork is easy to underestimate. Without a record by area and stage, with photos, the valuation leans towards what can be seen rather than what was done.
The valuation tool we build
- The priced schedule is broken down into areas and items, such as apartment walls by coat, ceilings, doors, common areas, so each has a value.
- The supervisor records progress on their phone by area and stage, with photos.
- Variations are logged when instructed, with the instruction attached, and priced for approval.
- Daywork is recorded on the phone with hours, materials and photos, and sent to the main contractor's site manager for signature on screen.
- Each month, the tool compiles the application: measured work by area, variations, signed daywork, less previous payments, in the format the main contractor wants.
- Payment notices and payments received are recorded against each application, and differences are listed so you can query them.
| Part of the application | Evidence attached |
|---|---|
| Measured work | Progress by area and stage, with photos |
| Variations | Instruction and priced breakdown |
| Daywork | Signed sheets with hours and photos |
| Previous payments | Recorded payments to date |
| Differences | Valuation compared with application |
What the month end looks like
The application is compiled from records kept during the month, and takes an hour to check rather than a day to build. Daywork is signed while the work is fresh. Disputed items come with photos. And the business can see, across all packages, what has been applied for, valued and paid.
Is this your application process?
- Applications take a day or more each month.
- Progress is tracked on a paper drawing.
- Daywork sheets go unsigned.
- Valuations come in lower than your applications and you cannot easily show why.
- Variations are priced long after instruction.