QScope

Bonds and warranties

Security that expires quietly

A performance bond that lapsed before practical completion, and a collateral warranty nobody ever executed, are both discovered at exactly the same moment: the one you needed them.

  • In place, requested, draft, not required and expired as separate states
  • Amount or limit held against every record
  • Given by, so it is clear whose obligation it is
Start free for 30 days See the interactive demo

30 days free, no card.

Insurance, bonds and warranties: each record with provider, amount, expiry and status

The collateral warranty is requested, not in place. On a project where the security was priced into the deal, that is an obligation nobody can currently enforce.

Requested is not the same as in place

The commonest gap is not an expiry at all.

It is a bond that was asked for at contract stage, chased twice, and never arrived. Nobody notices because there is no document to file and therefore nothing missing from the file. QScope counts requested and draft records separately from those in place, so the absence is visible as a number rather than as silence.

Bonds and warranties

Everything tracked on the date it runs out

Bonds and policies have end dates, and those end dates are set at a point when the programme looked different.

  • Performance, advance payment, off-site materials and retention bonds
  • Parent company guarantees and collateral warranties
  • Contractors all risks, public liability, employers liability and professional indemnity
Bonds and policies with expiry warnings and records not yet in place

An expired bond turns red on the register the day it lapses, and the Contract Register lists it under Securities with its expiry date.

Bonds and warranties

A printed register of the security held

Print turns the register into a document titled Bonds, Policies and Warranties, listing type, giver, provider, reference, amount, expiry and status for every record.

  • The printout lists every record with its type, Given by, provider, reference, amount, expiry date and status.
  • Any record past its expiry date is marked as expired next to its status.
  • The document is headed Security held on this project and carries the project reference in its title.
Printed register of bonds, policies and warranties with provider, amount, expiry and status

The register prints every bond, policy and warranty with its provider, amount, expiry and status, so the security held on the project sits on one page.

See it running before you sign up

Bonds and warranties

Securities in the Contract Register

Every record also appears in the Contract Register under Securities, with its expiry date as the deadline and a link back to the register.

  • Each bond, guarantee and policy is listed under Securities alongside the payment, time and completion deadlines.
  • The status reads In place, Expires in so many days within the last 30, or Expired once the date has passed.
  • Open takes you straight from the Contract Register to the record on the bonds register.
Securities in the Contract Register with expiry dates

The Contract Register lists each security under Securities with its expiry date, and a record with no expiry says so.

Every other function on the Bonds and warranties screen

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

Functions 1 to 6

01The register sits under Risk and insurance, next to the Risk Register, as the tab Insurance, Bonds and Warranties.
02Add record opens a new line for each bond, guarantee, warranty or policy on the project.
03Latent defects insurance can be recorded on the same register as the bonds and the project insurances.
04Each record names the provider or surety who issued it, so you know who to call when it needs extending.
05The bond or policy reference is held against each record and carried onto the printed register.
06A record you no longer need is deleted from its own line, after a confirmation.

Functions 7 to 12

07From the Contract Register you can mark a security as sent and record which party it went to.
08A client you invite by link sees the bonds, guarantees, warranties and insurances on the job with their expiry dates, at no charge.
09A new record starts as Requested, with the contractor named under Given by, so nothing is shown as in place until you say so.
10A record marked Not required is left out of the expiry warnings and the counts, so it never raises a false alarm.
11On the printout any record past its expiry date carries the word expired next to its status.
12The Project health card on the Dashboard includes the share of required insurances and bonds that are in place.

Who it is for

One paper trail, four people behind it

You are applying

The record defends your own figures

You keep the record that defends your own applications: who changed which figure, and the documents behind every line.

Applying for payment
the same measurement

You are certifying

The trail holds when yours are challenged

You certify on the strength of the record, and when a figure is challenged the audit trail is what stands between you and an argument.

Certifying payment

You are doing both

The file protects the one who kept it

You keep the paperwork yourself, and the file that assembles as you go is the one that protects you when memories differ.

Doing both yourself

You are reporting

The record is all the site you see

You rely on the record more than anyone: bonds in force, access controlled, every figure traceable, because you were 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.

Store the executed document in the project files area. The register holds the dates, amounts and status, which is what needs watching.

Because a bond extension needs a request, an underwriting decision and an execution, and that rarely happens in a fortnight. Sixty days leaves room for the process to go wrong once.

Yes. The register is per project and covers security given by anyone on it, with the giving party recorded against each entry.

No. It is a record of what exists and when it ends. Whether the cover is adequate is a question for whoever arranged it.

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.

Handshake over detailed drawings with a white hard hat and coffee
Security05/08/2026
The client will pay up front, but wants a bond first. What am I signing?

An advance payment bond is a guarantee that if you take the money and fail, the client gets it back from a bank or surety instead of chasing you. What it costs, how it reduces as the advance is recovered, and the wording that quietly makes it dangerous.

Read now
Laptop and hard hats on a folding table on a rooftop site
Security27/07/2026
A retention bond instead of retention: is it worth it?

Instead of the client holding 5% of every payment for two years, a surety guarantees the same protection and you keep the cash. When the swap genuinely pays, what the premium and the counter-indemnity really cost, and the client objections worth taking seriously.

Read now
Pallet of bricks and a bucket on scaffolding beside a brick wall
Security25/06/2026
Who owns the materials on site when the contractor fails

Title to site materials passes to the employer once their value is certified and paid. But a contractor can pass only the title it holds, and a supplier's retention of title clause can defeat the employer even after payment.

Read now

All 174 pieces

Keep reading

The three parts this page leans on

Risk register Record commercial risks with a probability and a cost. The allowance is the expected value, ready to carry into the cost report as a contingency you can defend. See how it works Advance payments Materials on site drop out the month they are built in, so nothing is certified twice. FIDIC covers Plant and Materials under 14.5 and advances under 14.2. See how it works When a subcontractor goes under Insolvency partway through a package raises questions about payment, materials, retention and completing the work. The answers depend on what was in place before. See how it works

Security that expires quietly

A performance bond that lapsed before practical completion, and a collateral warranty nobody ever executed, are both discovered at exactly the same moment: the one you needed them.

Start free for 30 days See the interactive demo

30 days free, no card.

Rather ask first? Write to help@qscope.co.uk and you will get a reply within one working day, Monday to Friday.