QScope

Written for the people who value the work

Payment, valuation, variations, retention and the final account. 174 pieces, no sign-up, and no piece that ends in a sales pitch.

Latest

Subcontractors21/03/2026
Contra charges and set-off: doing it so it survives

A justified deduction made without the contractual mechanism is an unjustified deduction. Notice requirements, evidence, and why netting a contra charge inside a valuation is the wrong place.

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Variations20/03/2026
What percentage should I add to labour, plant and materials?

There are three separate daywork percentages, not one, and they are in your contract particulars rather than in any standard table. What each has to cover, and why the base under them matters more than the number.

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Retention19/03/2026
When do I get the first half of my retention back?

Practical completion is what releases the first half. What it takes to get it certified, why the rate has to drop in the same month, and why the second half is the money that goes missing.

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Final account17/03/2026
Value engineering savings, and who keeps them

A saving found by the contractor and a saving instructed by the client are different things. The contract rarely says so.

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Time & completion16/03/2026
Paying to speed up, and constructive acceleration

One is a commercial deal with a price attached. The other is a claim built on a refused extension, and it is a much harder argument.

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Construction Act13/03/2026
Do you have to pay a subcontractor before the client pays you?

Usually yes. The Construction Act struck out pay-when-paid clauses in 1996, so your subcontractor’s money is due on the subcontract’s own dates, whatever your client is doing. The one exception, the clauses that sneak the idea back in, and how to manage the gap honestly.

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Construction Act12/03/2026
The client says he is paying less than my invoice. What now?

A pay less notice is the only lawful way to pay you less than the sum notified. What it must contain, when it must arrive, what happens when it never does, and why none of it applies on a job for someone living in the house.

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Final account10/03/2026
When the final account will not close

Most accounts are not disputed, they are abandoned. Two or three items stall and the whole document sits there for two years.

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Time & completion09/03/2026
Who owns the float

The slack between when an activity can finish and when it must. Under most standard forms the answer is nobody, which satisfies neither side.

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