Rate valuations

Measured work, valued on site
and signed before anyone leaves.

Your supervisor records the week's labour, plant and materials. The platform prices it from that contract's rate card. The client signs on the screen before anyone leaves site.

See rate valuations in a demo → Ask for a quote

Supervisor recording measured work on site for a rate valuation

In plain terms

Rate valuation software values measured work at that contract’s own rates: labour, plant and materials recorded on site in the week they were used, then carried into the application.

Unibuild’s rate valuations 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.

Where measured work leaks

The work was done.
Getting paid for it is
a separate problem.

If your business is won on measured rates, this is where the margin actually goes, and none of it is visible until it is too late to act.

Wednesday

Hours written on a scrap of paper in a van, and lost before Friday.

Never claimed

Materials

Used on site, never written down, so they never make it onto a claim at all.

Absorbed

The extra

Done on a nod, remembered by two people differently, disputed three months later.

Argued down

Month end

The measure is rebuilt from memory and a diary, then argued over line by line.

≈ 3 days

Worse

Over claiming discovered by the client's surveyor rather than caught internally.

Credibility

In a folder

Approved work sitting unbilled, because nobody knows which valuations have been claimed.

Cash stuck

The mechanism that fixes it Capture the measure where and when the work happened Everything downstream follows

Measured workRate valuation contractsVariationsJob rate cardsAssigned price listsEstimated allowanceCapped claimsClient signaturePhotographic evidenceBilled and unbilledLifecycle logApproved work queueApplications for paymentRetention Measured workRate valuation contractsVariationsJob rate cardsAssigned price listsEstimated allowanceCapped claimsClient signaturePhotographic evidenceBilled and unbilledLifecycle logApproved work queueApplications for paymentRetention

See a week measured on the phone, priced from the rate card and signed.

Thirty minutes, live, with you driving. Or a written monthly figure by email, usually the same working day.

Book a 30-minute demo Ask for a quote

What is in the module

Six capabilities, built by a business whose income depends on all of them.

This is the operational core of Electrical & Mechanical Services (UK) Ltd, a temporary site services provider that has run on it since 2016.

Priced from the
job's own rates

Labour, plant and materials value themselves from that contract's rate card and its assigned price list, with the job's markup applied.

Every job carries its own rate card across all rate types
Its own markup and its own price list
Two jobs the same week value the same hours differently
Correctly, without anybody remembering which is which

The deal you actually wonLive

Capped against
the estimate

On estimate driven jobs, claimable hours for a section are capped at the estimated allowance less whatever has already been approved.

The cap applies in the app, at the point of entry
A claim inside the allowance can approve automatically
One that exceeds it is refused before it is submitted
Over claiming prevented rather than corrected

Before it becomes an argumentLive

Signed on site,
while it is fresh

The client signs on the device, with their typed name, the date and space for a remark, for work they have just watched being done.

Captured before anyone leaves site
A considered acceptance rather than a scrawl
The month end argument becomes a reference
The valuation still works without one

Agreement while it is freshLive

Evidence attached
to the claim

Photographs with descriptions, delivery notes and certificates, so the valuation is a documented record rather than a number.

A photograph only evidence pack you can send on its own
Attached to the claim, not to somebody's phone
Retrievable when the final account is argued
Attendance data alongside it

Documented, not assertedLive

Nothing left
unclaimed

The platform separates billed from unbilled and lists approved work that has never reached an application, as a queue rather than a hope.

Approved but not applied for, in one list
It cannot be billed twice
Unsigned variations flagged separately
Worked through rather than noticed

Work in progress, visibleLive

A full
lifecycle log

Added, edited, submitted, signed, approved, rejected. Every step carries the person, the time and whether it came from the app or the web.

A rejection requires a written reason
The reason reaches the person who raised it
Resubmission alerts the office
A correction is visible rather than silent

Attributable throughoutLive

From the measure to the money

Six steps, and the office
does not rebuild any of them.

01
Measured
On siteThat weekBy whoever did it
02
Priced
Job rate cardAssigned price listJob markup
03
Capped
Against the allowanceLess what is approvedRefused at entry
04
Signed
Client name typedDate capturedRemark optional
05
Approved
Or rejected with a reasonLogged either wayResubmission alerts
06
Applied for
Straight into the applicationMarked as billedCannot go twice

The join that matters The measure signed on site is the measure on the application One record, not two

Where it sits commercially

A measured valuation is a commercial instrument before it is a piece of software.

Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996: The signed, measured valuation is what an application for payment is built from. The platform implements the Act's payment mechanism in the deed it issues to your subcontractors, so the valuation, the order and the payment all sit against one order number.
Contractual evidence in delay and disruption: Dated, signed and photographed valuations created in the week the work was done carry more weight than a reconstruction assembled afterwards. The full lifecycle log shows when each step actually happened rather than when somebody wrote it up.
Working Time Regulations 1998: Labour lines carry hours per operative per day. The primary working time record is the timesheet module rather than this one, and the two record different things: the timesheet is attendance, the valuation is chargeable measured work.
On the weight of the signature: What the platform captures is a signature image, the signatory's typed name, the date and any remark, against a dated record of the work, held in a system that logs who wrote it and when. Whether that constitutes agreement to the measure or acknowledgement of attendance is a question for your contract and your own advisers.

Engineer reviewing plans in the office with a laptop

Questions

Asked by commercial managers
and quantity surveyors.

Is this for firms paid on measured rates, schedules of rates or day works?

Yes. It was built for a temporary site services contractor paid on measured rates and has run there every week since 2016. It suits drylining, groundworks, highways, housing repairs and any trade tendered on a schedule of rates, and lump sum work runs through day work sheets and the application for payment. Unibuild is bespoke business software for UK trades and specialist contractors, sized for trade firms of 5 to 300 people, with unlimited users.

Does each job value at its own contract rates?

Yes. Every job carries its own labour rate card across all rate types, its own markup and its own assigned price list. The valuation prices from those, so two jobs in the same week value the same hours differently, correctly, without anybody remembering which contract is which. A client’s schedule of rates is loaded in Advanced Estimating as that contract’s own price list.

How are rate valuations priced?

They are part of Unibuild’s monthly platform fee, quoted in writing, with no separate module fee and no charge per user. The fee covers unlimited users, configuration, training, data migration and support, and is fixed for three years. 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.

What stops a supervisor claiming more than was priced?

On jobs that came from an estimate, the claimable hours for each section are capped at the estimated allowance, less whatever has already been approved. A claim within the allowance can approve automatically. One that exceeds it is refused in the app at the point of entry, before it becomes an argument. The office does not have to check every line to hold the commercial position.

What evidence sits behind a valuation?

Photographs with descriptions, delivery notes and certificates, attached to the claim rather than to somebody’s phone. A photograph-only evidence pack can be sent on its own. The lifecycle log records who added, edited, submitted, signed and approved each valuation, and when. All of it is retrievable when the final account is argued.

What if the client’s representative will not sign on a phone?

The valuation works either way. Most site representatives sign readily when they are shown exactly what is being claimed, for work they have just watched being done. The signature is captured with their typed name, the date and space for a remark, so it reads as a considered acceptance rather than a scrawl on a pad.

What if a valuation is wrong after it has been approved?

It is rejected with a written reason, which reaches the person who raised it by email and push notification. Their resubmission alerts the office. The whole sequence stays in the lifecycle log, so a correction is visible rather than silent.

How does approved work reach the application for payment?

The application for payment draws on approved work directly, so month end is assembly rather than reconstruction. Once a line is pulled into an application it is marked as billed and cannot be claimed again. Everything approved and not yet billed sits in one list you can work through, with unsigned variations flagged separately.

How does it sit alongside our timesheets?

The two record different things. Timesheets are the working time record, captured by QR clock-in and clock-out, and payroll rests on them. The valuation records measured, chargeable work against the contract. On estimate-driven jobs the two are tied together through the clock-in and clock-out times held against the labour lines.

Does it work for lump sum contracts as well as measured rates?

Yes. Lump sum work runs through day work sheets and the application for payment. The scoping conversation establishes the shape of your commercial model, and the platform is set up to match it.

By trade