I sent my final account months ago and heard nothing back
No assessment, no rejection, no meeting: just silence, and the chasers are getting politer.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
What's happening?
Silence is a position. While your account sits unanswered, the balance stays in your main contractor's bank, and often the retention too. Every polite chaser tells them that waiting costs them nothing.
Your subcontract says what should have happened. It sets when your main contractor had to respond, whether its silence has any effect, and which dates and notices apply to the final payment. Some subcontracts are precise; many say little.
Leave it and it gets harder. The people who could explain your account move to other jobs. The final payment terms may be running towards dates that matter. And without a clear record of what you sent, when, and what went unanswered, the silence stays their tactic instead of becoming their problem.
The solution
Check your subcontract for the response that was due, and by when. Check what its final payment terms say about notices and dates. Then stop chasing and write once, formally. Set out the account and the date you sent it, the chasers since, the sum you say is due, and a date for agreement or a reasoned reply.
Final Account Claim builds that letter and the item-by-item position behind it, and runs the correspondence on a timetable in your name. If the silence continues and the sums justify it, the file is ready for adjudication on the account or its largest head. For your next job, Final Account Dispute Prevention builds and agrees the account line by line as the work runs.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
A mechanical subcontractor submitted a final account of £1,120,000 against £1,010,000 certified, 7 months ago. Three chasers have gone unanswered. The main contractor's surveyor who received the account has since left.
What happens
- The subcontract's final payment clause is read. It required the main contractor to respond within 3 months of receiving the account, and nothing has come.
- The submission, its date and the three chasers are set out in a one-page timeline.
- The £110,000 difference is set out as thirty-eight variations and one loss and expense head, each with its instruction or notice reference.
- A formal letter goes out in the subcontractor's name, with the timeline and the schedule attached. It asks for agreement or a reasoned reply within 21 days. Otherwise, it says, the largest head will be referred.
- The main contractor's new surveyor replies on day 19, agreeing twenty-six variations worth £61,000 and disputing the rest.
The account in figures
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Final account submitted | £1,120,000 |
| Certified to date | £1,010,000 |
| Difference | £110,000 |
| Agreed after the formal letter | £61,000 |
The outcome
The £61,000 is certified in the next cycle. The remaining £49,000 goes to a meeting with both positions on one schedule, not to a fourth chaser.