Final Account Assessment & Agreement
Risk mitigationFixed FeeFor Main Contractors
I assess and agree your subcontractors' final accounts for you: each account checked line by line against its order, its instructions and the record, answered with a reasoned assessment rather than silence, and negotiated package by package to a signed agreement that closes it. Accounts that get answered close; accounts that sit in a drawer come back as disputes.
The problem
At the end of a job the subcontract accounts arrive together, in every format, each finishing higher than its order and none in a shape that can be checked quickly. The surveyor who ran the packages has moved on, the people who saw the work done are dispersing, and checking a dozen accounts is nobody's spare-time job, so the stack sits: the subcontractors chase then escalate, the retentions and final payments hang unresolved, and your own final account upstream cannot close while the numbers below it are guesses. Silence hardens an account into a dispute.
The solution
Every account goes through the same discipline: measured work checked against the subcontract order and its rates, every variation tested against what was instructed and what the record shows was done, dayworks and provisional items resolved to actuals, claims and contra-charges positioned honestly in both directions, because an assessment that concedes what is genuinely owed is the only kind that can resist what is not. Each is answered with a reasoned written assessment, agreed, adjusted or rejected with reasons tied to the order, instruction or record. Then packages are negotiated one by one to a signed final statement.
What you receive
The packages end in signed statements instead of open arguments. Every account got a reasoned answer while the job was still warm, so most lines agreed early and the negotiations were about the handful of real differences; the contra-charges that deserved to stand were carried at figures the paperwork supports; and the subcontractors who did the job well leave paid, still willing to price the next one. Your reporting carries actual closing costs instead of provisions, your own final account upstream closes on settled numbers below it, and next year's disputes were dealt with while still conversations.
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: the timetable is agreed in writing at scoping and then kept.
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.
How it works
You tell me which packages need closing
One call on the job: how many accounts are open, where each stands and what is waiting on them, your own account upstream included. The first conversation is free and commits you to nothing.
You send me the orders, the accounts and the records
The list below lets each account be assessed against its own order and record rather than negotiated from impressions.
- A
The subcontract, executed, with amendments
EssentialWithout it: There are no confirmed terms to assess the account against, so nothing in the assessment can be relied on.
Where to find it: The buying folder or each order's confirmation trail.
Why I need it: The terms the account is settled under
- B
Every application and every certificate
EssentialWithout it: There is no running payment history to test the account against, so the assessment has nothing to reconcile to.
Where to find it: The payment folder and the cost ledger.
Why I need it: The full history of the account
- C
The variations, with the instructions behind them
EssentialWithout it: Instructed changes cannot be tested against what actually happened, so they get resisted or discounted for want of evidence.
Where to find it: The instruction file, the site team's records and the project correspondence.
Why I need it: What was instructed and what was agreed
- D
The contra-charges, with grounds and notices
ImportantWithout it: The deduction is written off in the assessment, whether or not it was actually justified.
Where to find it: The payment folder and the cost ledger.
Why I need it: What is deducted and whether it was notified
- E
The retention position
OptionalWithout it: The assessment cannot say what should actually be released back to the subcontractor.
Where to find it: Whoever manages the subcontract accounts holds the retention schedule or ledger. Ask for the percentage, the sum held and any release already made.
Why I need it: What is held and what releases it
Quality: an open item list with evidence and value.
- F
The defects status
ImportantWithout it: There is nothing to justify holding retention against defects, so the assessment cannot back up keeping the money.
Where to find it: The site manager or whoever handled the snagging holds the open items list. If nothing is written down, ask them to list what is still outstanding.
Why I need it: What is still open against them
Quality: an open item list with evidence and value.
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.
- A
I triage the stack and show you where the money sits
A schedule of every package: submitted figure, certified to date and a first view of the gap, so the accounts that carry real exposure are dealt with first.
Response Clocks Checked
Any period for answering a final account, and any conclusivity provision, is read from each executed subcontract and diarised before assessment begins.
I assess each account line by line
Measured work against the order, variations against the instructions and the record, dayworks to actuals, claims and contras positioned honestly in both directions.
I draft each reasoned assessment for you to issue
Agreed, adjusted or rejected, line by line with reasons and references, in your name and on your approval, so the answer narrows the account instead of inflaming it.
Reasons and Authority
No assessment is issued until every difference carries a written reason with its clause reference and you have authorised the settlement ceiling in writing.
You issue the assessments and convene the meetings
The assessments go out from you; the meetings are yours, with me beside you in them or briefing you before each, whichever suits how you run your jobs.
I negotiate each package to a signed final statement
The uncontentious majority recorded first, the genuine differences worked meeting by meeting with a running schedule holding what is agreed closed, through to a statement signed by people who can bind both sides.
You close the packages and release what each statement says
Final payments and retention releases follow the signed statements, and each package file closes with its evidence attached and its number final.
I end every package in a signed statement
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
Your own account up the chain is built, submitted and negotiated by Final Account Assembly, Negotiation & Agreement, and the packages this service closes are the ones Subcontractor Account Administration keeps orderly while the job runs. Where a package account has already hardened into a formal dispute, that is work for the claims side of this practice.