The account has been open so long the people have left
Nobody still here knows what was agreed, and the file is all that's left of it.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
To stop the next account going the same way, see how to close the account while the people are still there.
What's happening?
When an account stays open for years, the people who dealt with it leave, on both sides. What is left is a file of minutes, certificates, payments and reversals, with nobody to explain them. Items that were half agreed in a meeting now sit there with no context.
The risk is that everyone guesses, and a surviving document or memory gets treated as the whole story when it is not. The older the account, the closer it may be to limitation, the legal time limit for bringing a claim. Your solicitor needs to check that against the actual agreement and dates.
The solution
Start with the documents that survive. Reconcile what was certified, paid, reversed, agreed or left open, and link each entry to its source and date. Get dated written accounts from anyone who can still explain the file. Keep those as separate documents, and record where they match the records, where they conflict and what is still unknown.
Final Account Claim builds that reconciliation and puts the supported balance to your main contractor, with the unproven items shown for what they are. Because the account is old, your solicitor checks limitation before any step is taken. For your next job, Final Account Dispute Prevention builds the account as the work runs, while the people are still there.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
A subcontractor's account has been open for 5 years, with a claimed balance of £220,000. Nobody still employed by either side worked on the job. The file holds 31 certificates, the payment ledger and boxes of minutes. Certificate 24 shows a £45,000 reversal that nobody can explain.
What happens
- The surviving documents are reconciled first: certified £3,140,000, paid £3,080,000. The £60,000 difference is retention, matching the deduction the subcontract states.
- The claimed £220,000 is traced to that retention plus £160,000 of variations that were applied for but never certified.
- The former quantity surveyor is tracked down and writes a dated account of the reversal. It is kept as a separate document, not folded into the file.
- The minutes back up £30,000 of what he recalls. The other £15,000 has no record either way and is marked as unknown.
- Of the £160,000 of variations, £110,000 have instructions in the file. The other £50,000 rest on an application alone, and their source is recorded as unresolved.
- Given the age of the account, the solicitor is asked about limitation against the actual dates before any step is taken.
The reconciliation in figures
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Certified | £3,140,000 |
| Paid | £3,080,000 |
| Retention held | £60,000 |
| Variations applied for, never certified | £160,000 |
| Of which with instructions on file | £110,000 |
| Of which on an application alone | £50,000 |
The outcome
The reconciliation puts £170,000 to the main contractor, with the £50,000 shown separately as unproved. It is the first document in 5 years that states what is certified, paid, open and unknown.