The main contract cash position depends on the subcontract one. These guides cover subcontract payment dates, retention, set-off, back-to-back terms and what happens when a subcontractor is not paid or becomes insolvent.
Insolvency partway through a package raises questions about payment, materials, retention and completing the work. The answers depend on what was in place before.
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Set-off is legitimate and routinely done badly. Without a valid pay less notice and a quantified basis, the deduction fails and the full sum falls due.
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A subcontract described as back-to-back with the main contract usually is not, in the ways that matter. The gaps show up in payment dates, notices and delay.
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The worst day on a subcontract, in plain terms: what your unpaid certificates become, why a dead pay-when-paid clause can come back to life on this exact day, and the direct-deal offer from the employer.
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Half an hour at Companies House before appointment is worth more than any amount of contract drafting afterwards. Most people do neither.
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A claim is only recoverable upstream if it fits the main contract too, and the two sets of provisions rarely align as neatly as assumed.
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Everybody knows which package is late. Very few files contain what would actually be needed to do anything about it.
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A variation instructed above does not become a subcontract variation automatically. The two accounts are separate and they routinely diverge.
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Money in a ring-fenced account, released to everyone on the same date. It protects the supply chain and constrains the main contractor.
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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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QScope turns the valuation cycle and the final date for payment into a cash flow forecast, so a contractor sees when money lands, not just when it is earned.
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Two contracts, two timetables, and a main contractor in between funding the difference. How the gap arises, how large it gets, and what can be done at procurement.
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