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

Person using a calculator over drawings with a yellow hard hat on the desk
Final account15/05/2026
How do you close out a job and agree the final figure?

A final account is not an invoice with a bigger number. It is the contract sum, adjusted line by line for everything that changed, each line carrying its own paper. Built as you go it takes an afternoon; reconstructed at the end it takes a month and loses money.

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Two men at a desk with drawings, one holding a yellow hard hat
Final account14/05/2026
The heads of a loss and expense claim

Loss and expense is reimbursement of actual loss, proved. The recognised heads are narrower than most claims assume.

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Handshake with a worker in an orange hi-vis vest holding a hard hat
Construction Act13/05/2026
Can I charge interest when a customer pays late?

If the client is a business, statutory interest can apply even where your contract is silent. If the client is a private homeowner, the Act does not apply and your own contract is all you have. The split, and the trap in writing your own rate.

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Hand using a calculator over drawings with a yellow hard hat
Valuations12/05/2026
Assessing payment under NEC4: what changes from JCT

Assessment dates instead of valuation dates, Price for Work Done to Date instead of measured work, and a payment mechanism that differs by main Option. What a JCT surveyor needs to unlearn.

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Handshake over a desk with a laptop, level, calculator and hard hat
Security12/05/2026
How a bond is actually called

The process is procedural and unforgiving. Most failed calls fail on the notice, the timing or the form rather than on the entitlement.

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Overhead view of hands measuring a floor plan beside a hard hat, square and tape
Variations11/05/2026
A change control procedure that people actually follow

Most change control fails because it is slower than the site. A procedure that takes ten minutes gets used; one that takes a week gets bypassed.

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Engineer in a hard hat reading a document outside a building
Time & completion08/05/2026
How do I run a snag list that actually ends?

Snag lists never die of natural causes: they die when someone gives them a single owner, a fixed baseline, dates on both sides and a defined finish line. The four rules, and why the snag list at completion and the defects schedule a year later are different animals.

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Yellow hard hat, radio, level, calculator and blank paper on a wooden desk
Final account07/05/2026
The final account has a timetable, and it starts at practical completion

JCT sets a period for the contractor to submit documents and a period for the account to be agreed. Both are routinely ignored until the account is two years old.

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Handshake over a desk with a yellow hard hat and rolled drawings
Security05/05/2026
Reading a bond before you accept it

The wording decides everything: the trigger, the cap, the expiry and who proves what. Very few bonds are read before they are filed.

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