Materials on site

Paid for once, recovered automatically

Materials delivered but not yet built in still have to be paid for, then recovered as the work is certified. Doing that from memory is how a contractor ends up paid twice for the same brick.

Description, quantity, rate and total, like any other priced item
Linked to the bill line the materials relate to
Status from provisional through confirmed to paid

Start free for 30 days See the interactive demo

30 days free, no card.

Advance Payments

AP-01 Structural steel on site

Relates to2.02 Structural steel frame

Date issued12 Jun 2026

StatusPaid

Advance value, excl VAT£12,500.00

VAT at 20%£2,500.00

Total paid£15,000.00

Once linked, QScope knows that when that line is certified, part of the money has already been paid.

Record it against the line it belongs to

An advance floating loose in a spreadsheet is a number waiting to be forgotten.

Linking it to the bill line it relates to is what makes recovery automatic instead of manual. Once linked, QScope knows that when that line is certified, part of the money has already been paid.

Client Valuations

Recovery happens as the work is certified

You do not track it.

Recovered in proportion to the work certified on that line
Shown on the certificate as a note against the line, not buried
Outstanding balance visible at any time

Client Valuations

Recovery on PC-04

2.02 Structural steel frame, 62% certified£18,600.00

Includes advance £7,800.00 for materials on site

Advance value£12,500.00

Recovered to date(£7,800.00)

Outstanding£4,700.00

You do not track it. As the linked line is valued in following certificates, the advance is drawn back automatically, and the certificate shows what is happening rather than hiding it inside a total.

Payment

The advance notice keeps the statutory timetable

An advance payment notice is a payment like any other, and it sits on the same statutory timetable as an interim certificate.

Final date for payment and pay-less deadline counted from the due date
Contract form sets the day counts, with England and Wales bank holidays skipped
Dates printed on the advance payment notice, not just on screen

Payment

Statutory dates, JCT SBC/DB

Due date15 Aug 2026

Last date for payment notice due + 520 Aug 2026

Last date for a pay-less notice final - 524 Aug 2026

Final date for payment due + 1429 Aug 2026

The advance payment notice runs on the same Construction Act timetable as the interim certificates, counted from the same due date.

See it running before you sign up

Advance Payments

The Advance Payment Notice, printed for both parties

Every advance has its own Advance Payment Notice, numbered AP-01 and onwards, with the items, the total and the tax.

Advance number, date issued, status with the paid date, the line it relates to and a reference
An item table with the total advance before and after VAT, remarks and notes
Signed as issued by the contractor and acknowledged by the client

Advance Payments

Advance Payments · AP-02

Total advance, excl. VAT£7,200.00

Recovered from valuations to date£2,880.00

Remaining to recover£4,320.00

The five off-site conditions are a listed item, proof the property has vested, set apart and marked, insured, and an off-site materials bond in place. No valuation recovers an advance before its paid date.

Every other function on the Advance payments screen

15 functions the sections above do not cover, each as it works in the program.

Functions 1 to 8

01An advance can also be linked to one approved variation, or to all approved variations in proportion.

02Each advance records whether it was invoiced with VAT, because the answer changes how recovery is taxed.

03A certificate already issued without recovery can be marked so that nothing is recovered on it.

04Record when materials arrived and when they were built in, for your own record of the advance.

05A valuation that recovers an advance cannot be issued until that VAT question is answered.

06The advance card says why nothing has been recovered yet, and warns if valuations recovered more than the advance.

07An advance marked Paid without a paid date is flagged on the valuation, because nothing is recovered until the date is entered.

08The printed certificate shows the advance recovery, the net payable after it and the gross before it.

Functions 9 to 15

09Recovery on an issued valuation is fixed at issue, so later changes to the advance do not alter it.

10The bill line shows the advance taken against it.

11The Detailed Valuation Report notes the advance against each line it relates to.

12The Advance Payment Notice can also be printed from Reports.

13The financial summary shows what the client has paid in advances.

14If a re-imported bill loses a line with an advance on it, QScope tells you to re-link it.

15The Contract Register lists each bond with its expiry date.

Who it is for

Four chairs, one valuation on the table

You are applying

You value it, and the certificate cuts it

You value the work line by line and submit the application. When the certificate lands short, the difference is argued line by line too, and your valuation is the evidence.

Applying for payment

the same measurement

You are certifying

You cut it, and you sign your name

You value the same lines from the other chair and issue the certificate. Every percentage you cut has to survive the question of why, a month or a year later.

Certifying payment

You are doing both

You value your own work, alone

You price it, you value it and you apply for it yourself, between site visits. The certificate still has to add up as if a surveyor had built it.

Doing both yourself

You are reporting

You certify value the lender pays on

You certify value in place so the lender can release the next tranche. The valuation is the same arithmetic; the reader was never on site.

Recommending a drawdown

The client, the architect and the tenderer are not on this list. They are the people you let in on a link: they see the one document you sent them, answer it, and that answer is written into the record. No account, no licence, no charge, on every plan.

FAQs

The questions this page raises most often, answered without a sales pitch at the end.

No. A variation changes the works. An advance pays early for works already in the contract, because the materials are on site and the contractor has bought them. It does not change the contract sum.

It follows your contract. Many contracts do not retain against materials on site, since retention secures workmanship rather than delivery. Set it to suit the terms you are working under.

The advance stays outstanding and carries into the final account, where it is settled with everything else. Nothing disappears quietly.

Yes. It prints on your letterhead with the description, the quantity and rate breakdown, the VAT and the total, ready to issue.

From the blog

The part nobody teaches you, written down

Three pieces from the same corner of a contract as this page, answered at length and without a sales pitch at the end.

Yellow hard hat, calculator, tape measure and sticky notes on a desk

Valuations14/08/2026

Reverse charge VAT: why your subcontractor’s invoice has no VAT on it

Since the domestic reverse charge, most VAT-registered construction supplies inside CIS swap who accounts for the tax: the customer does, not the supplier. Why the invoice looks wrong and is right, the end user exception, and the cash flow effect nobody warns you about.

Read now

Hands with pens on floor plans beside a red hard hat

Valuations07/08/2026

JCT or RIBA: which contract for a small building job?

The honest answer is that either beats a two-page quote, and the choice mostly follows who the client is: RIBA’s domestic forms are written for homeowners, JCT Minor Works for jobs run by a professional. And Minor Works is not a small version of the big forms.

Read now

Hand drawing on a floor plan with a pen and ruler

Valuations12/06/2026

VAT tax point on certificates and retention: when the tax falls due

For construction the tax point is usually the earlier of invoice or payment. Retention is different: its tax point waits until the retention is received or invoiced.

Read now

All 174 pieces

Keep reading

The three parts this page leans on

Valuations and certificates Interim valuations and payment certificates by percentage or fixed sum, with retention and previously certified. UK JCT and NEC, plus FIDIC certificates. See how it works Variations Record the instruction, basis of valuation and clause, on JCT, NEC or FIDIC. Approved variations pull straight into a payment certificate. See how it works Final account From the adjusted contract sum to the final balance under JCT, or the FIDIC Final Statement and Final Payment Certificate, every adjustment on its own line. See how it works