Contra-Charge Prevention
PreventionOptional monthly check10 working days
Give your team the records and response routine to challenge deductions for cleaning, damage, attendance or defects.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
Get a free report on your claim. About three minutes; no obligation.
The problem
Small deductions keep appearing on payment notices, or defect charges arrive before you have had a chance to put the work right. Incomplete handover records and photographs leave your team without the evidence needed to answer them.
Want deductions already taken returned? See Contra-Charge Claim. Late-completion charges? See Delay Damages Prevention.
The solution
We check the subcontract’s deduction rules and flag charges needing an immediate answer. We set up evidence and response routines, train your team and test them on a live payment cycle.
What you get
You receive a one-page guide to permitted deductions and required notices, supported by a charge register, challenge templates and a handover evidence checklist. We test the routine and record a named owner and deputy.
Includes a Handover Pack: key dates and sources, next steps, likely responses, scope limits and any ready-to-send letters.
Fee: Fixed set-up fee agreed in writing before work starts. Optional monthly checks have a fixed fee agreed first. Pause between jobs or stop at month-end.
How it works
You tell us about your jobs
Start with a free call. Agree the scope, fixed fee and timetable in writing, then send the records listed below.
What you get: A written scope, fixed fee and timetable
- A
The signed subcontract
A complete PDF with all schedules and amendments, the set-off, defects and payment clauses included.
Where to find it: The commercial folder or the order email normally holds the signed copy.
Why we need it: Your subcontract as amended sets what the main contractor may deduct and what it must do first. The standard form and habits on site do not.
How we will use it: We put its set-off, notice, defects and payment terms into the one-page deduction rules your team works to.
- B
The last three Payment Notices and Pay Less Notices
As received, with the emails that carried them, dates intact.
Where to find it: The payment folder for the job, or the inbox of whoever receives the main contractor's payment paperwork.
Why we need it: They show how deductions really reach your account on this job. You can see which notice carries them, how they are described and how late in the cycle they arrive.
How we will use it: The routine's day-of-arrival check is built around the way your main contractor's notices really arrive.
- C
Any contra-charges already taken, and anything said about them
The schedule or line items, and any emails, letters or meeting notes about them, as they stand.
Where to find it: The payment paperwork, the commercial inbox and the site manager's correspondence.
Why we need it: The charges already made show which back-charges this main contractor raises, and so which records your team most needs to keep.
How we will use it: They seed the deductions register and set the record sheets we put in place first.
- D
How your site team hands over finished areas today
Whatever exists: handover sheets, snag lists, photographs, or a note that nothing is signed.
Where to find it: The site office files, the site manager's phone and the snagging folder.
Why we need it: Most damage and cleaning back-charges turn on who was last in an area, and a signed handover answers them. A system that ignores how your people already work gets abandoned.
How we will use it: The handover and photograph routine is shaped from what your team already does, so it survives the busy weeks.
- E
Who receives notices and who can reply
Names and roles: who opens the payment paperwork, who answers the main contractor, and who can sign a challenge.
Where to find it: This is rarely written down. A short email from you is enough.
Why we need it: A deduction is lost when the notice sits in one inbox and the person who could answer it never sees it.
How we will use it: Every step of the routine gets a named person and a deputy, so a challenge still goes out in a holiday fortnight.
Copies are fine. Send what you have and we will tell you what's missing.
- A
We work out what can be taken off
We set out on one page what your subcontract lets your main contractor take off, and what it must do first. Then we find where charges have slipped through.
What you get: One page of what can be taken off, with the date each challenge must go in by
We set up the routine and the records
A register to log every charge, ready-made challenge letters, and handover sheets and photographs that answer charges. We then walk your team through it.
What you get: A register of charges and ready-made challenge letters, in your subcontract's terms
You try it on your next payment cycle
Your team runs the routine on a real payment cycle, with us alongside. We check every charge was logged and challenged in time, and fix anything it missed.
What you get: A routine proven on a live payment cycle
You decide on a monthly check
Your team runs the routine from here. If you want a second pair of eyes, our optional Ongoing check looks over it each month and sends you a short note.
We hand over a routine your team runs
Get a free report on your claim
Answer the questions below for a free PDF report by email. Allow about three minutes; choose “Not sure” where needed.
Your report explains where you stand, the next steps to take and the records to gather. It also sets out how we could help for a fixed fee, with no obligation.
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Already dealing with it? Contra-Charge Claim.