Resources
Notes on running contract work
Practical, from real installs. How contractors keep the job, the money and the materials on one line.
All notes
Off-site Fabrication Payment Stages
How to claim a billing stage for work completed in your fabrication shop, and what to write into the subcontract.
Read →Stage Payment by Promissory Note
Stage payments by promissory note arrive weeks or months after the invoice is issued. Here is what to read in the contract before work starts.
Read →The Snag Check Before the Stage Claim
Walk your zones informally with the main contractor before submitting a stage claim, and most stage rejections stop before they start.
Read →Site Diary as a Billing Tool
Most site diaries capture weather and headcount. Here is what to record every day so your billing stages and variation claims go through first time.
Read →Stage Billing After Programme Revision
When a main contractor's programme shifts, your billing stage definitions no longer match the work sequence. Here is how to close that gap.
Read →Zone Billing When Completion Is Mixed
When a multi-zone subcontract bills in stages, some zones finishing before others creates a gap between work done and money you can invoice for.
Read →Settling the Subcontract Final Account
The final account is a formal total-value negotiation. Here is how to prepare your package so the numbers land cleanly.
Read →How LADs Reduce Your Stage Payment
Liquidated damages cut net cash on your certified stage. Here is how to read the clause, check the calculation, and dispute it in writing.
Read →Protect Your Final Billing Stages
The last two stages of a project carry the most billing risk. Here is how to prepare them differently from every stage that came before.
Read →Defect Fixes That Free Your Retention
How to log, fix and close out defects during the DLP so the retention file is clean before you ever submit the release request.
Read →Stage Accepted on Site, No Form Signed
A site walkthrough sign-off without a form leaves the billing stage exposed. Here is what to do before the invoice is queried.
Read →Withholding Tax on Stage Payments
The 3% withholding tax deducted from every stage payment is a cash flow gap that shows up before your annual tax return gives the credit back.
Read →Mobilization Advance: Plan Your Stages
A mobilization advance reduces each stage payment by a recovery deduction. Model the schedule before work starts, not at the first payment shortfall.
Read →When Material Prices Rise Mid-Contract
Fixed-price stages lock your invoice amount, not your input costs. Here is how to identify which stages carry price risk and what your options are.
Read →Back-Charges From the Main Contractor
When a main contractor deducts from your payment, the clock starts immediately. Here is what to document and when to dispute.
Read →Defect List at Billing Time
When a main contractor returns a defect list instead of signing acceptance, your invoice sits unissued. Here is how to reduce that risk and respond.
Read →Set Acceptance Criteria Before Work
Disputes about what counts as a complete stage land at inspection. Document the criteria before work starts and the inspection becomes a formality.
Read →Stage Billing Through a Site Handover
When your site manager leaves mid-project, the billing stages they tracked leave with them. Here is what the handover must cover.
Read →Preparing Your Retention Release File
The retention date is in the contract. The file the main contractor needs to act on it takes three weeks to build properly.
Read →Stage Sign-Off Before the Billing Date
A completed stage that misses the inspection window costs a month of cash. Use a written notice to get sign-off before the billing cutoff.
Read →Short Payment Certificate: What to Do
A payment certificate arriving below your claim is not always a dispute. The right move depends on which of three causes applies.
Read →Pay-When-Paid in Thai Subcontracts
Pay-when-paid clauses let a main contractor delay your payment without breaching the contract. Four things to check before you sign.
Read →The Stage Invoice Package Checklist
Most invoice queries trace back to a missing document. Here is how to assemble a stage submission that clears accounts the first time.
Read →Your Stage Billing Setup in Week One
The decisions made in project week one determine whether billing stages run smoothly or become problems you chase at month close.
Read →What Your Retention Clause Must Say
Before you sign, four elements in the retention clause decide whether that 5% ever becomes billable. Most subcontractors skip past them.
Read →Credit Terms Your Timeline Cannot Show
Thai subcontractors who bill on time still wait months for cash. Here is what main contractor credit terms mean for your invoice timing and planning.
Read →The Two-Role Rule on a Shared Timeline
A construction timeline needs two roles: one holds the plan, one runs the site. Here is what each job involves and why the same person cannot do both.
Read →A Stage Is Late: How Do You Recover It?
A billing pin passes its date. Three causes need three different fixes. Here is how to find which one you have and what to move first.
Read →Track Material Dates on Your Timeline
When a supplier delivery slips, that slip moves into your billing stage. Here is how to make it visible before the work stops.
Read →Catch the Billing Cycle Every Month
How to find your main contractor's monthly cut-off and align your acceptance documents so you do not wait another 30 days.
Read →Acceptance Forms That Actually Hold Up
A signed form is not enough. Four elements decide whether your acceptance document protects you when a stage is disputed months later.
Read →Chasing Overdue Retention in Writing
Once the defects period ends, the release is yours to request. How to write the chase, when to send it, and what to file if nothing comes back.
Read →Gantt Bars Too Long for Weekly Review
A bar that spans six weeks shows the same status at every review. Breaking it into zone-by-zone units makes each bar actionable on Tuesday.
Read →Two Projects on One Timeline
Adding a second project to a working billing timeline costs less admin than expected, once the method is familiar on the first.
Read →A Weekly Review That Actually Sticks
Most construction reviews die in month two. A fixed three-item agenda and two questions in the chat group are enough to keep it running.
Read →Read Billing Stages Before You Sign
The billing problems you face on site were written into the contract first. Four clauses worth checking before you put your name on it.
Read →How to Pick Your Pilot Project
The project you start with shapes whether the system holds. Four criteria that point to the right choice when you have more than one running.
Read →Sync Shop Production to Install Dates
When the shop and the site run on separate schedules, the crew arrives before the material does. Here is how to put both on one line.
Read →Get Your Stage Accepted First Time
A stage submission that comes back with queries costs two to three weeks. Here is what to package so the main contractor accepts it in the first round.
Read →The money you earned but never billed
Count two things sitting in your own files: stages the client accepted but nobody invoiced, and retention past its release date.
Read →The plan that died in month two
Construction schedules rarely fail because the plan was wrong. They fail because it was too detailed to keep current.
Read →Variation Work That Never Gets Billed
Extra work done on site rarely fails to get done. It fails to get billed because nobody priced it before the next instruction arrived.
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