Your commercial department, without the salary.
Large contractors have a commercial department whose job is to protect the money. Small firms have nobody doing that job, and it shows between the quote and the final account: an extra agreed on site and never billed, a certificate that came in short and was never queried, retention sitting on a job finished last year. We do that job for you.
Thirty minutes, no charge, and an honest view of whether we can help.
Illustrative only. Your health check puts a number on what it finds in your own business.
Money leaks at every stage of a job. Commercial control stops it.
Illustrative project journey
The price is agreed before the terms are read. The margin goes before anyone is on site.
Every contract read before pricing. Risk priced, or qualified in writing.
Read all seven stages
00 Pre-construction
The price is set before the terms are read. Amended standard terms, a letter of intent with a spending cap and a scope nobody wrote down give the margin away before work starts on site.
Every tender and contract read before pricing: payment terms, retention, set-off, design duty, damages. Risk priced or qualified in writing, and nothing worked beyond a cap without the cap being raised in writing.
01 Groundworks
The ground is never what the drawings assumed. Extra dig, pumping and muck-away get worked on a verbal say-so; unless it was instructed and confirmed in writing, under most JCT forms that cost sits with the contractor.
Records kept from day one. Every instruction confirmed in writing the same week, notified inside the contract's time limit, valued and carried into the next application.
02 Superstructure
Progress outruns the paperwork. The monthly application goes in late or light, is certified lower still, and the gap between applied and paid is never chased.
A measured valuation every month, applied for in full on the contract date with the substantiation attached. Payment and pay less notices checked; every shortfall reconciled and queried in writing.
03 Envelope
Small instructed changes stack up unpriced: details, junctions, samples, sequence. Each is minor; together they are the margin. On NEC contracts, the changes you must notify yourself are time-barred after eight weeks.
Every instruction, however small, logged, priced and notified inside the contract's time limit. A running change register shared with the client's team so nothing surprises anyone at final account.
04 Near handover
Daywork sheets unsigned, variations unpriced, snagging dragging. Deductions for cleaning, damage and rework arrive in the payer's pay less notice and are never challenged.
Daywork sheets numbered and signed weekly by someone with authority. Every variation priced while those who did it are still on site. Each deduction checked for notice, basis and evidence.
05 Handover
The final account stalls and retention sits unreleased for months, sometimes years. Defects charges arrive without evidence, and a thin account invites a low offer.
Final account assembled from live records, submitted inside the contract period, agreed and closed. Retention release dates diarised and chased; handover documents delivered so release is not delayed.
06 In use
The fee is fixed; the deductions are not. Missed maintenance dates, unlogged reactive jobs and extra work done on a phone call become performance deductions and unpaid variations.
Planned maintenance and helpdesk evidence kept to the standard the contract will test it against. Every deduction checked; extra work instructed and invoiced; lifecycle costs tracked from year one.
The person who protects the money, and the person who builds the system that keeps it protected. Here, that is one person.
A firm of one to twenty people rarely has either on the payroll, and it does not need to. The Commercial Desk gives you both without hiring anyone.
Commercial control
Quantity surveyor and Chartered Member of the CIOB, more than seven years protecting margins on major contracts - commercial lead across contracts worth around £15m a year. Variations, retentions, payment applications, final accounts: the discipline that decides whether you get paid.
- ·Payment applications at main-contractor standard
- ·Variations captured, priced and notified on time
- ·Retentions tracked to release, not written off
Practical systems
Two real businesses built end to end, and the reporting of a £15m portfolio rebuilt the same way. We build the process that carries the routine work, recording, drafting, chasing, tracking, and the record that shows it was done.
- ·Pipeline boards, payment flows, and chasing on a schedule
- ·Replies drafted, quotes compared, documents read and summarised
- ·Proven tools in your name - no custom software, no lock-in
Variations, retentions, payment applications, final accounts: the discipline that decides whether you get paid.
Quantity surveyor and Chartered Member of the CIOB, more than seven years protecting margins on major contracts - commercial lead across contracts worth around £15m a year.
- ·Payment applications at main-contractor standard
- ·Variations captured, priced and notified on time
- ·Retentions tracked to release, not written off
The process that carries the routine work, and the record that shows it was done.
Two real businesses built end to end, and the reporting of a £15m portfolio rebuilt the same way.
- ·Pipeline boards, payment flows, and chasing on a schedule
- ·Replies drafted, quotes compared, documents read and summarised
- ·Proven tools in your name - no custom software, no lock-in
Three steps, from first look to keeping it running.
For contractors, subcontractors, trades and small construction consultancies.
Find where the money goes
We review how work flows through your business: enquiry to quote, job to invoice, invoice to money in the bank. You get a written report: where the money sits and where it goes, what each gap costs, and the three fixes worth doing first. If the report does not find at least £500 of money you can recover or save, the fee comes back.
Fix what matters
We build the fixes: a board that shows every quote and job, trackers for variations and retention, invoice and application templates, and chasing on a schedule. It is assembled from proven tools in your name, with no custom software and no six-month project.
Keep it running
We stay on to keep it running: maintenance, tweaks, support. For contractors, the Monthly Application Service runs alongside, priced per contract, your applications prepared properly every month. If you would rather we ran the commercial side of a contract for you, Monthly Commercial Support does that from £750 a month per contract.
Find where the money goes
A written report: where the money sits and where it goes, what each gap costs, and the three fixes worth doing first.
We review how work flows through your business: enquiry to quote, job to invoice, invoice to money in the bank. If the report does not find at least £500 of money you can recover or save, the fee comes back.
Fix what matters
The fixes, built from proven tools in your name, with no custom software and no six-month project.
We build the fixes: a board that shows every quote and job, trackers for variations and retention, invoice and application templates, and chasing on a schedule.
Keep it running
We stay on to keep it running: maintenance, tweaks, support. For contractors, the monthly services run alongside, priced per contract.
For contractors, the Monthly Application Service prepares your applications properly every month. If you would rather we ran the commercial side of a contract for you, Monthly Commercial Support does that from £750 a month per contract.
The payment rules are set to change. Is your firm ready?
The Commercial Payments Bill, now passing through Parliament, would bring a 60-day payment cap and the end of retentions. Here's what it would mean for your firm.
Start with the health check.
£500, fixed. One to two weeks, a few hours of your time, and a written report of where the money sits and where it goes.
Thirty minutes, no charge. The health check is booked only if we both think it is worth your money.