Track every contract's cycles in one place
One tracker shows what was applied for, noticed and paid, and when, across all your live jobs. A cycle with no notice should stand out, because that silence may fix the sum in your favour, but only if you spot it.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
Why it matters
On any one job, a missing notice looks like an ordinary delay. Across six jobs, with documents going out and payments coming in on different days, a silent cycle is easy to lose. That silence may mean the sum applied for becomes the sum due under section 110B of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996. But that only helps if someone notices before the cycle is paid short and the moment has passed. One tracker across every live contract, updated the day something goes out or comes in, makes a quiet miss stand out. It is also the first thing any adviser will ask to see.
How to do it
- Build one sheet with a row per cycle for every contract. Record the dates and sums of the application, the Payment Notice, any Pay Less Notice and the payment, and the final date for payment.
- Keep the sheet where the whole commercial team can see it, not in one person's inbox.
- Update the row the day a document goes out or comes in, not at month end.
- Colour any cycle where the Payment Notice deadline has passed with no notice, and any final date for payment passed with no payment.
- Review the sheet every Monday with whoever chases payment, and act on every coloured line that day.
Example
Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.
The facts
A subcontractor runs five live contracts with monthly cycles. On one of them, application six, for £58,000, is sent on the 25th. The main contractor's Payment Notice deadline passes with nothing received. The company's tracker is reviewed every Monday morning.
What happens
- On the Monday after the deadline the tracker shows the cycle coloured: application sent, no Payment Notice, deadline passed.
- The commercial lead checks the cycle folder and confirms the application went to the named recipients with a read receipt.
- The subcontractor writes to the main contractor the same day. It states that the sum applied for must be paid by the final date for payment.
- The main contractor pays £58,000 by the final date for payment.
The five contracts on the Monday review
| Contract | Applied | Noticed |
|---|---|---|
| Contract A | £31,000 | £29,500 |
| Contract B | £58,000 | No notice |
| Contract C | £22,000 | £22,000 |
| Contract D | £75,000 | £71,000 |
| Contract E | £19,000 | £19,000 |
The outcome
The silent cycle is spotted within 3 working days, and £58,000 is paid in full. Without the tracker, it would have sat among four paid cycles until the main contractor issued a late notice for less.
To have this set up for you, see our Underpayment Prevention service.