Paid a third short. No pay less notice.
Solved The notified sum and the notices received, recorded against each application.
Applications for payment
Applications for payment,
Applications for payment,
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. Each one carries its due date, the payment notice and any pay less notice received. Part payments are split across the applications they cover, retention is held until release and the debt is aged by manager.
Problems we solve
Eleven payment problems. All eleven solved.
From the valuation cut without a notice to the retention nobody asked for.
Sent on the wrong date, so it never counted.
Solved Each application carries its valuation date, and anything overdue is flagged.
One total, nothing behind it. Cut to suit.
Solved Every line built from the tendered sections and the signed measure.
Retention due at completion. Nobody asked.
Solved A running retention balance, claimed back through its own application.
Agreed on site in week two. Never applied for.
Solved Signed variations wait in one list until they are applied for.
The measure rebuilt at month end, then argued down.
Solved Measured on site each week and signed by the client.
Ninety days old, and nobody owns the chase.
Solved Debt aged by the manager responsible, with the correspondence on the project.
VAT paid on money that never arrived.
Solved Each application states that it is not a tax invoice.
The same variation, claimed in March and April.
Solved Marked as billed once applied for, so it cannot go twice.
Asked where the account stood in March. Nobody knows.
Solved The position at any date, applications and receipts side by side.
One payment for three applications. Booked to the oldest.
Solved Split across the applications it covers, with the unallocated figure shown.
11/11Solved in one module
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In plain terms
Applications for payment software builds each interim application from work already measured and signed. It carries the Construction Act dates and notices against the application, holds retention to release and shows what is still owed.
Unibuild’s module does this for trade firms of 5 to 300 people. Unlimited users, and a 14-day trial of the full platform, no card.
Last reviewed November 2026.
See an application built from signed work, with every date and notice on it.
Thirty minutes, live, with you driving. Or a written monthly figure by email, usually the same working day.
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 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 |
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.
Questions
Asked by whoever
Asked by whoever
chases the money.
Is this applications for payment software for a subcontractor or a main contractor?
Both. A subcontractor applies up to its client with the dates, the notified sum and the notices on record. A main contractor issues subcontract orders that print the Construction Act payment mechanism and runs the receivable side the same way. Unibuild is bespoke business software for UK trades and specialist contractors: a platform in daily production since 2016, shaped to the way each firm already works. It is sized for trade firms of 5 to 300 people, with unlimited users.
How does each application actually get built?
From work already in the system. Where the job was quoted in Unibuild, the works schedule follows the priced sections of the tender with their tendered values. The measure comes from valuations your client signed on site, and signed variations wait in one list until the next application pulls them in. Once applied for, a line is marked as billed and cannot be claimed twice. Month end becomes an afternoon of assembly.
How is the applications for payment module priced?
One monthly figure, quoted in writing, fixed for three years, unlimited users. No per-user charge. The figure covers every module, configuration, training, data migration and support. How pricing works, or ask for your firm’s quote.
Can we try it before we commit?
Yes, 14 days of the full platform, no card. Every module is switched on, so the trial runs on your own jobs and your own people. Most firms book a 30-minute demo first and start the trial from there.
How long does it take to go live?
Most firms go live in about two weeks, in phases. Configuration, training and data migration are carried out by Unibuild and included in the monthly fee, so nothing waits on your own team building a system.
Does it record the dates and notices the Construction Act turns on?
Yes. Each application carries its valuation date, its due date, its final date for payment, the notified sum and the notices received against it. It is emailed from Unibuild, with the send kept on record. When a payment lands short, the record shows that day whether a pay less notice came in time. The subcontract orders you issue carry the same payment mechanism as printed terms.
What does the client’s QS see, and can we show where the account stood at any date?
A branded A4 application with the structure they priced against, and their name and order number on the face. Gross applied and the gross balance are calculated as at each entry’s own date. Applications and receipts sit together in date order, so the position at the end of March is read off the record rather than rebuilt by hand.
Does it handle retention?
Yes. The retention your client actually withheld is recorded against each payment it came off, so the balance held is a running figure. It shows separately in the aged debt. You claim it back through a dedicated retention application, which then drops out of the running total so it cannot be claimed twice. Bring a live project to the demo and we will run your own figures through it.
One payment arrives covering four applications. What happens?
The receipt is split across the applications it actually covers. Every open application shows its live balance, and the unallocated figure updates as you type. The remittance advice is attached to the receipt, so the outstanding position stays true when a client pays in lumps.
Will it tell us when an application is overdue, and who should chase it?
Yes. An overdue application is flagged without anybody opening a report. Outstanding value is aged in 30-day bands and grouped by the manager responsible for each job. The correspondence sits against the project, so the next call starts from the last one.
Is the application issued as a VAT invoice?
No. The interim application is a formal document following standard UK practice, including the note that it is not a tax invoice. With no VAT invoice issued, the tax point is the payment, so VAT is accounted for on money received rather than money claimed.
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. Receipts are split across the applications they cover, retention is held as a running balance, and outstanding value is aged by manager. The engine has run every month in a site services deployment since 2016.
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
Retention comes off every application and is recovered at the end. Daywork reaches the application intact when the sheet was signed on the day.
- 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.
- Daywork sheets: getting them signed and paid A daywork sheet is the record of instructed work nobody could price in advance. What it should hold, what the signature agrees to, how daywork rates are built, and how it reaches the valuation intact.
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
Start the 14-day trial
UK-built · CDM · CIS · MTD