Pre-Contract Payment Terms Review
Risk mitigationFixed FeeFor Subcontractors, Main Contractors & Clients5 working days
I review your subcontract's payment terms before you sign: the traps found, the fixes drafted, in plain English.
The problem
The order is in front of you, they want it signed this week, and buried in the amendments are the clauses that govern every pound you're paid for the next year: notice periods, long payment cycles, pay-when-certified mechanisms, condition-precedent traps, retention terms that don't comply with the Act. Where a term doesn't comply, the Act overrides it, and knowing that is negotiating power. Where a term is lawful but hostile, you want it found before signature, not at the first missed payment.
The solution
I read every payment-relevant provision the way the other side's drafter did, testing each clause against the Construction Act and against what is commercially normal, so you know which terms the law overrides, which are lawful but loaded against you, and which are missing. The findings come back as a traffic-light report in plain English, with amendment wording already drafted for every red item, mark-ups you can put straight in front of the other side. Alongside it you get the contract's real payment calendar, so you start the job knowing when every application and notice falls due.
What you receive
A signed contract whose payment terms you understand and have improved, and a deadline map from day one. It all lands as the traffic-light report: every risk found, what it means for you, and the amendment to ask for, with the payment calendar alongside. One avoided trap covers the review many times over, and prevents the payment disputes the Claims & Disputes side exists to deal with.
The Handover Pack accompanies the work with its dates and sources, likely outcomes and responses, scope boundaries and ready-to-send correspondence where needed.
Turnaround: five working days.
The working days start when the agreed scope and required inputs are available. Optional items do not hold the start unless the agreed scope says otherwise.
Need it faster? Ask on the first call: an express turnaround is quoted in writing where the diary allows it.
How it works
You send me the paperwork
You send everything in the list below, then take one call to explain the commercial context.
- A
The draft subcontract and every amendment
EssentialWithout it: There is nothing to review, and nothing can be flagged before signature
Where to find it: Attached to the email asking you to sign, or in the other side's procurement portal under the project.
Why I need it: The terms being reviewed before they bind
- B
The order
ImportantWithout it: The review checks the draft alone, with no confirmation that what is actually being placed sits on the same terms
Where to find it: The order acknowledgement or the letter of intent your commercial team issued or received; if nothing has been placed yet, say so in writing.
Why I need it: What is actually being placed, and on what terms
- C
The intended application dates
ImportantWithout it: The working day counts in the review are assumed rather than yours, and every date in it can move once your real dates arrive
Where to find it: There is no document for this: just state them in the email, the date you apply on and the date you expect to make the first application.
Why I need it: The dates the mechanism has to work around
- D
The payment clauses from your own contract above this one, and its particulars
ImportantWithout it: There is no upstream cycle to set the subcontract against, so the cash gap cannot be calculated and the work falls back to testing the dates against your routine alone
Where to find it: The main contract, or your own subcontract with the party above them: the payment section and the contract particulars. An extract is enough, and your commercial team holds it.
Why I need it: The review sets this subcontract's cycle against the cycle you are paid on, and the gap between the two is the cashflow finding
- E
The value you expect the first application to be
ImportantWithout it: Every effect in the report is stated in days, and what a missed notice actually costs is never put in money
Where to find it: State your expected first application value in the email. There does not need to be a separate document.
Why I need it: Allows the effect of the payment terms to be stated in cash, using your expected application value
- F
Who values this package for you each month, and what else that person is committed to in the week the payment notice falls due
ImportantWithout it: The working days available can be counted from the clauses but not tested against what you can actually do, so the workability finding cannot be made
Where to find it: There is no document for this: ask the commercial lead who will run the package. A named person and their monthly commitments is enough.
Why I need it: Tests whether the payment periods can work with your actual routine and availability
- G
The date the contract must be signed by
EssentialWithout it: There is no deadline to plan the work against, and no way to tell on day one whether the review will land in time to be used
Where to find it: Confirm the required date by email so I can record it and plan the review against it.
Why I need it: It is the constraint that shapes the whole commission. The delivery date is worked backwards from it, and a review that lands after it is worth very little
Copies are fine. Send what you have and I'll tell you what's missing. Download the client request PDF or editable Word version to pass to whoever holds the files.
Signature Date Anchored
The date you must sign by is confirmed in writing first, and the review is planned backwards from it so the findings arrive while the terms can still move.
- A
I review every payment-relevant provision
Against the Construction Act and against what is commercially normal: anything non-compliant, anything lawful but hostile, anything missing.
I draft the fix for every red item
Proposed amendment wording in plain English, ready to put straight in front of the other side.
Wording, Not Opinions
Every change sought is drafted as exact words to delete and insert, and anything genuinely arguable is flagged for your solicitor rather than asserted.
I map the contract's real payment calendar
So you start the job knowing every deadline the contract actually sets, not the ones you assumed.
You take the mark-ups into your negotiation
With fallback wording already drafted for every red item, so you're negotiating from a position, not a feeling.
I hand over the traffic-light report and the calendar
Free Service Pack
A step-by-step Handbook, with the templates and working documents you need to carry out the work it covers yourself. You supply your own project information and records.
Follow the Handbook's scope and stopping points, and obtain independent advice where required. The pack is not project-specific advice or independent sign-off.
Tips that raise your odds of success
Questions I get asked often
The review's calendar becomes the setup for Payment Application Assembly & Issuance in the Payments area, and pairs with the free Payment Calendar & Tracker. Worried about more than the payment terms? The Contract Review & Amendment Schedule covers the whole contract.