We over-applied all the way through and now there's nothing left

Applications ran ahead of the work all job - front-loaded rates, optimistic measures, the usual - and the cushion felt like health. Now the work is finishing, the cushion is unwinding, and the last applications are worth little or nothing while demobilisation, snagging and attendance costs carry on. The final account opens from behind: the argument is not how much more but how much back.

The response is to know the real position before the other side announces it: the account rebuilt honestly - work done, work applied, the gap stated - and the genuine remaining entitlements assembled with their evidence: variations never priced, materials, retention, the items the generous months skipped. If a clawback conversation is coming, walking in with your own reconciliation beats reacting to theirs; the assembly service is that reconciliation done properly, while there is still an account to influence.