Progress claims out on time: how contractors turn site measurements into RA bills and claims 

Progress claims go out on time when site measurements are recorded against the same item list you bill from, draft claims and deduction sheets are prepared in the client's format, and your billing engineer approves each one. The same figures set subcontractor bills against client billing and give a weekly profit view for every project.

A progress claim, called a running account bill or RA bill in India, is the document a contractor sends to ask for payment for the work completed so far on a project.

Why do you find out a project lost money at handover?

On most small and mid-sized sites, the numbers live in three places. The site engineer keeps measurements in a notebook or on a phone. The billing engineer holds the item list and the client's format. The accounts person has the payments and subcontractor bills. Nobody sees all three together.

So a claim waits until someone collects the measurements, types the quantities into a sheet and checks them against the last bill. That takes days, and every one of those days is a day your cash sits in work already done. You pay labour and material bills on time, while your own payment arrives late.

The second cost is quieter. Because costs and claims never sit in one view, the owner learns that a project ran over only when the final account is closed. By then there is nothing left to change.

Consider a contractor with four live sites and one billing engineer. At month end, all four need claims at the same time. The engineer works through them one by one, so the last claim goes out a week after the first, for work that was finished weeks earlier. Nothing about the work was slow. The paperwork was.

The answer is not a bigger billing team. It is to stop the measurement, the claim and the cost living in separate files.

How are measurements captured against the item list you bill?

The first fix is straightforward. Record measurements against the same item numbers and descriptions that appear in your contract and your bill. If the site engineer measures against one list and the billing engineer bills against another, every claim needs a translation step, and that step is where errors and delays creep in.

In practice, the site engineer enters quantities on a phone against the billing item list, adding a photo or a short note where it helps. Each entry carries the date, the location and the name of whoever recorded it. The quantity from the last bill is already there, so the engineer can see what is new this period.

• One item list per contract, loaded once from the signed bill of quantities.
• Measurements entered on site, not copied over from paper later.
• Previous quantity, this period and total to date shown side by side.
• Photos and notes attached to the item they support.

How are draft claims prepared in your client's format?

Once the measurements are in, the draft claim is largely a matter of arranging them. It pulls quantities, rates and previous billing, works out this period's value, applies the agreed deductions and sets everything out in the client's format. Your billing engineer opens a finished draft to review, rather than building one from a blank sheet.

RA bills in India

For an Indian contractor, the draft covers the RA bill, the measurement sheet behind it and the deduction sheet the client expects. Many clients, particularly government departments and large private firms, have their own layouts. Each layout is saved once and reused. The values that feed your tax and accounts records, such as the bill amount and party details, are prepared so the accounts person does not have to key them into Tally again.

Variations and claims in Australia and New Zealand

For a builder in Australia or New Zealand, the same idea applies to the payment claim. Each variation is logged when it is instructed, with the date, the description, the value and whether the client has approved it. When the claim is drafted, approved variations are listed with it. Those still awaiting approval are flagged, so you decide with full knowledge whether to include them.

The format and time limits for a claim depend on your contract, so the draft follows the terms set up for that job. Your builder or estimator remains the person who decides what is claimed.

How do you check subcontractor bills against client billing?

A subcontractor bill is a commitment to pay for work. The risk is paying for more work than you have been able to bill the client for, or paying twice for the same item.

Once subcontractor bills are held against the same item list, a simple check becomes possible. For each item, the quantity the subcontractor claims sits next to the quantity measured on site and the quantity billed to the client. Where the subcontractor is ahead of both, the bill is queried before it is paid.

The check does not replace judgement. It puts the mismatch in front of your project manager early, while the site is still open and the facts are fresh.

How do you track retention and guarantee dates?

Retention is money a client holds back from your payments until a later date, often the end of a defects period. It is easy to forget, because it sits quietly in a ledger for months or even years. Guarantee and bond dates have the same problem.

Record the amount held, the release condition and the date for each project. A reminder then goes to the person responsible ahead of that date. The same record covers retention you hold from your own subcontractors, so you can see both sides of the position.

• Retention held by the client, with the expected release date.
• Retention you hold from subcontractors, with the release date.
• Bank guarantees and bonds, with expiry and renewal dates.
• A reminder to a named person before each date.

What does a weekly project profit view show?

When measurements, claims, subcontractor bills and costs share one set of figures, a weekly view of each project comes almost for free. It no longer needs a separate exercise at month end.

The view shows the value of work done, the amount claimed, the amount received, costs booked and costs committed through subcontractors. It also lists overdue claims and variations not yet approved. The owner reads one page per project and can see early when a project starts to drift.

The figures are only as good as what goes in on site. That is why the measurement step comes first, and why we keep it as light as possible for the engineer.

How does this start in practice?

1. Pick one live project. Load its item list and the client's claim format.
2. Have the site engineer enter measurements for one period alongside the usual process.
3. Compare the draft claim with the one your billing engineer prepares by hand.
4. Fix any differences in layout and deductions, then run the next period on the draft.
5. Add subcontractor bills and retention once claims are running well.

We do this for you. We scope it, build it, connect it to the accounts software you already run, train your people and keep it running. Your billing engineer approves every claim.

Rules, rates and dates change. Check the current position with your Chartered Accountant before you act.