Solved
Paid a third short. No pay less notice.
The notified sum and the notices received, recorded against each application.
Applications for payment
Assembled from
Assembled from
the work itself.
Unibuild's applications for payment module is software for UK contractors that builds each application from the tendered sections and the work your client has already signed. It splits part payments across the applications they cover, holds retention until release and ages the debt by manager.
Problems we solve
Eleven payment problems. All eleven solved.
From the valuation cut without a notice to the retention nobody asked for.
Solved
Sent on the wrong date, so it never counted.
Each application carries its valuation date, and anything overdue is flagged.
Solved
One total, nothing behind it. Cut to suit.
Every line built from the tendered sections and the signed measure.
Solved
Retention due at completion. Nobody asked.
A running retention balance, claimed back through its own application.
Solved
Agreed on site in week two. Never applied for.
Signed variations wait in one list until they are applied for.
Solved
The measure rebuilt at month end, then argued down.
Measured on site each week and signed by the client.
Solved
Ninety days old, and nobody owns the chase.
Debt aged by the manager responsible, with the correspondence on the project.
Solved
VAT paid on money that never arrived.
Each application states that it is not a tax invoice.
Solved
The same variation, claimed in March and April.
Marked as billed once applied for, so it cannot go twice.
Solved
Asked where the account stood in March. Nobody knows.
The position at any date, applications and receipts side by side.
Solved
One payment for three applications. Booked to the oldest.
Split across the applications it covers, with the unallocated figure shown.
11/11Solved in one module
Book a demo →
Where the month end goes
Assembled by hand, from four sources, by one person who cannot take that week off.
Day one
Somebody rebuilds the measure from the tender, the diary, a folder of instructions and last month's file.
≈ 3 days
The variation from week two
Agreed verbally on site. It never appears on an application, and surfaces at final account as an argument.
Written off
Or worse
The same variation gets claimed twice in consecutive applications, because nothing tracks what was billed.
Credibility
Retention
Half should have come back at practical completion. Nobody asked. It is still with the client two years later.
Cash stuck
The bank
One transfer arrives covering three applications. It gets applied to the oldest. The aged position is fiction within two months.
Unreliable
Nobody chases
Because assembling the evidence to chase with takes half a day, and the person who could do it is doing the application.
Debt ages
What is in the module
Six things the ledger does, and does properly.
One ledger
per project
Applications and receipts in one list, in date order, with total requested, total received, retention held and total outstanding across the top.
- Numbered in the project's own sequence
- The first application is recognised as the first
- No question which version was issued
- A branded A4 application document per entry
A list, not a folder of filesLive
Priced from
the tender
Where the project was quoted through the platform, the works schedule draws on the priced sections of that quotation with their tendered values.
- The client sees a structure matching the tender
- The valuation cannot drift away from what was priced
- Your client's quantity surveyor and order number on the face
- Custom lines where the job needs them
Starts from what was pricedLive
Cash allocated
properly
One receipt split across the applications it actually covers, with every open application and its live balance on screen and the unallocated figure updating as you type.
- The mechanism a quantity surveyor recognises instantly
- The outstanding position stays true
- Remittance advice attached to the receipt
- Rather than drifting within two months
Split at the point of entryLive
Retention
that adds up
Retention withheld is captured against the receipt it came off, so the cumulative figure held is arithmetic rather than archaeology.
- Released through a dedicated retention application
- Which then drops out of the running total
- So the same retention cannot be claimed twice
- Shown separately in the ageing
Recorded, and accumulatedLive
The position
at any date
Gross applied and gross balance are calculated as at each entry's own date rather than only as at today.
- Read where the project stood in March
- Without rebuilding it
- Applications and receipts interleaved
- Which is the statement a client's QS asks for
History, not just todayLive
Ageing with
names on it
Outstanding application value bucketed into current, 30, 60, 90 and 120-plus days, grouped by the manager responsible.
- Chasing becomes a list rather than a feeling
- Turnover by manager over any period
- Correspondence logged against the project
- The next conversation starts from the last one
Directed, not undirectedLive
The most important thing on this page
The Construction Act payment
The Construction Act payment
mechanism, printed into
every order you issue.
This is the question a main contractor should ask about any system claiming to handle applications. Here is the answer.
- The payment mechanism on every subcontract order
- The subcontract order the platform issues carries its payment terms in print. The application date is the due date, and the final date for payment is 35 days after it. A Payment Notice is required within 10 days of an application, and a Pay Less Notice is permitted not less than 2 days before the final date. Late payment carries interest at 4% over Bank of England base rate, and there is an adjudication route.
- A trail that reconstructs itself
- Because the order, the variation, the invoice and the payment are dated records against one order number, the trail behind those notices is reconstructable months later without an email search.
- The receivable side, set up for your contracts
- The same mechanism runs up to your own client, set up for each firm's contracts. It covers the due date, the final date for payment, notice records against the application and the notified sum. It uses the framework already written into the deed the platform issues to your supply chain.
The month end, in order
Six steps, and nobody rebuilds anything.
The steps run to your own cycle: your numbering, your document, your client's quantity surveyor on the face. Anything else your process needs is built for you, and changes asked for after go-live are included in the monthly fee. That is how bespoke construction software works here.
Already measured
Weekly, on siteClient signedPhotographedAssembled
Tendered sectionsApproved variationsMarked as billedIssued
Branded A4Client QS namedTheir order number on itRetained
Withheld against the receiptCumulative balanceReleased with a flagReceived
One paymentSeveral applicationsUnallocated shown liveChased
Aged in bandsGrouped by managerCorrespondence logged
Spreadsheet against ledger
The month end, done two ways.
| The job | Spreadsheet and email | Unibuild |
|---|---|---|
| The measure | Rebuilt at month end from the tender, the diary and last month's file | Measured weekly on site in your own branded staff app and signed by the client |
| Variations | Agreed verbally, then missed or claimed twice | Pulled in once from signed valuations, then marked as billed |
| One payment, several applications | Applied to the oldest, so the aged position drifts | Split across the applications it covers, with the unallocated figure on screen |
| Retention | A figure somebody remembers, chased late or never | A running balance, released once through its own application |
Questions
The two a fit-out firm
The two a fit-out firm
always asks, and four more.
What software should a UK contractor use for applications for payment?
Software that builds the application from records you already hold. Unibuild draws the contract lines from the priced sections of the tender and the variation lines from valuations your client signed on site. Anything already billed is marked so it cannot be claimed twice. Receipts are split across the applications they cover, retention is held as a running balance until its own release application, and outstanding value is aged by the manager responsible. The subcontract orders you issue carry the Construction Act payment mechanism as printed terms.
Does it handle retention?
Yes, and you should know exactly how. Unibuild records the retention your client actually withheld against each payment, accumulates it into a running balance and shows it separately in the aged debt report. You claim it back through a dedicated retention application, which is then excluded from the running figure so it cannot be claimed twice. If you carry meaningful retention, bring a live project to the demonstration and we will run your own figures through it.
How does the application actually get built?
From work that already exists in the system. Where the project was quoted through the platform, the works schedule draws on the priced sections of that quotation with their tendered values. The client sees a billing structure matching the tender. The measured element comes from valuations your site captured and your client signed. The commercial team is assembling rather than reconstructing, which is the difference between three days and an afternoon.
One payment arrives covering four applications. What happens?
The allocation screen shows every open application with its live balance and lets you type an allocation against each, with the unallocated figure updating as you go. This is the specific mechanism that keeps the outstanding position true when a client pays in lumps, which they always do. Without it, cash gets applied to whichever application is oldest and the aged position becomes guesswork within two months.
Will it tell us when an application is overdue?
Yes. Unibuild watches the dates on the application and raises what is overdue rather than waiting for somebody to open a report. The ageing report shows what is old, bucketed and grouped by the manager responsible, so the chase starts from a list.
How long has this been in use?
Since 2016. The full engine, including retention, aged debt by manager, turnover and statements of account, has run every month in the site services deployment for a decade. We demonstrate it there, on real applications and real receipts.
By trade
Who leans on this hardest?
Trades that get paid on what somebody agrees was done, where the measure is either captured in the week it happened or argued down a month later.
The commercial modules
The rest of the money side.
Same platform, same login. These are the modules that price the work, buy for it, measure it, claim it and collect it.
Further reading
The application is the easy half. Retention is withheld on every one of them and released long after anybody is still watching.
- Retention, and the money that goes missing after practical completion Where cash quietly disappears between the last valuation and the release of the second half of retention, and the four dates that decide whether you ever see it.
One level down
The application is the easy part.
The application is the easy part.
The timetable is not.
What the Construction Act gives you, what the dates do to it, and what happens when the notice never arrives.
An application for payment that does not come back rejectedWhat has to be in it, what gets it rejected, and the detail that decides whether it is a valid application at all.
→
What the Construction Act actually gives youWhat the Act gives most construction contracts, whether or not anybody wrote it down.
→
Pay less notices, and the timetable behind themThe four dates, what a valid notice has to say, and what happens when it is late or never comes.
→
When the contractor above you will not payThe order to work through when the money stops, from the notice trail to adjudication.
→
When a missing notice hands you the moneyWhen a missing notice hands you the sum you applied for, and what the payer can do about it afterwards.
→
Next step
Bring us your
Bring us your
worst month end.
A 30-minute live demo of a month end, from the measure signed on site to the retention still held.
All elevenSolved
- Cut without a pay less notice
- Applications sent on the wrong date
- Applications with no build-up
- Retention never asked for
- Variations never applied for
- Measure argued down
- Debt nobody chases
- VAT paid on unpaid applications
- Variations claimed twice
- No position at a past date
- Payments booked to the oldest
Ask for a quote
Tell us a little about the firm.
Tell us a little about the firm.
We do the rest.
Two minutes. A written figure by email, usually the same working day. One flat monthly fee, fixed for three years.