A contractor's application, a valuation, an interim certificate and a payment notice may relate to the same payment cycle, but their labels do not make them interchangeable. Start by identifying which document performs which function under the executed contract. This guide helps clients assemble a payment record and ask the right questions before a deadline. It is not a template notice or a calendar for a live dispute. The form, edition, amendments and applicable legislation must be checked for the particular project.
Check whether the statutory payment regime applies
Part II of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 contains the construction payment regime. Section 106 excludes contracts with a residential occupier as defined there: broadly, works principally relating to a dwelling that a contracting party occupies or intends to occupy as their residence. Do not assume that every domestic building contract is governed by the statutory regime, or that every project involving housing is excluded.
An excluded contract can still contain its own payment and notice obligations. Assemble the signed terms and ask the adviser to confirm the applicable mechanism before relying on an online explanation. Identify the contracting parties and the intended use of the premises, rather than deciding applicability from the project address or the word residential alone. Record the basis of that advice with the payment schedule.
Separate the application from its assessment
Treat the contractor's application as the contractor's submission for the relevant cycle. Alongside it, keep the documents used to assess the amount: the pricing schedule, progress evidence, instructions, agreed changes and any supporting calculations. Ask the person responsible for valuation to explain differences between the application and their assessment, with references that the client and contractor can follow. For a separate cost-reporting brief, see quantity surveying and cost consultancy.
Avoid replacing the original application with an edited spreadsheet that obscures what was submitted. Store the original, the assessment and the issued document as distinct records. Give each a cycle identifier and date. Where an amount remains disputed, record the reason and the evidence still requested; do not assume that an unresolved valuation discussion postpones the contractual steps for that payment.
Establish what the interim certificate does
JCT's Minor Works 2024 administration pack includes an interim certificate, a pay less notice and a valuation form. The availability of separate forms illustrates why the correct document must be selected for its purpose. Whether a particular certificate also operates as the payment notice depends on the contract and its requirements; a document's heading alone is not a safe answer.
Ask who is authorised to issue the certificate, who must receive it and which contractual provisions it is intended to satisfy. Keep the signed or issued version with its calculation and transmission record. If a consultant provides a recommendation for someone else to issue, identify that further step explicitly. A draft awaiting approval should not be recorded in the register as a document already served.
Understand the payment notice's function
Where section 110A applies, the payment-notice mechanism identifies a sum considered due at the payment due date and the basis of its calculation. The statute accommodates notices by the payer, a specified person or the payee according to the contractual arrangement. It also addresses a zero sum. That makes the sender, amount, calculation and timing substantive checks, rather than optional administrative details.
For each cycle, identify the due date and the separate final date for payment, then have the responsible adviser confirm the notice timetable. Put the verified dates in a shared diary with an allocated sender and backup contact. Do not copy dates from another JCT edition or an earlier project. Use reminders early enough to gather valuation information before the document needs to be issued.
Keep a pay less notice distinct
Section 111, replaced by section 144 of the 2009 Act, provides for payment of the notified sum, subject to its provisions, and a notice of an intention to pay less. Such a notice must identify the sum considered due when it is served and the calculation basis. Its timing relates to the final date for payment. Check the agreed period and the applicable statutory provisions with the adviser.
A disagreement about workmanship is not by itself a completed notice process. Ask how the proposed adjustment is evidenced, who has authority to give the notice and whether its content and service satisfy the relevant requirements. Keep the notice and proof of service together. Do not assume that a valuation email, an informal complaint or simply paying a lower amount necessarily achieves the same contractual result.
Escalate missing documents promptly
Section 110B deals with a payee's notice where a required payer or specified-person notice has not been given. It includes circumstances in which a prior compliant payee notification performs that function and circumstances affecting the final date for payment. A missing certificate therefore requires analysis of the whole sequence, not an assumption that nothing is payable until a certificate appears.
If a deadline may have been missed, collect the contract, every application and response, attachments, delivery records and payment history immediately. Make a chronology separating when each document was created, sent and received. Ask a construction-law adviser to assess the position before withholding payment or taking another disputed step. Do not backdate a notice or silently substitute a revised document for the original record.
Create a payment register that can be checked
Use one entry for each payment cycle. Record the application reference, relevant valuation date, verified due date, notice sender, issue status, final payment date and amount actually paid. Add links to the source documents instead of relying on a summary total. Distinguish amounts applied for, assessed, notified and paid so that a later reader can reconstruct what happened without interpreting colour codes or overwritten cells.
Give each open action an owner: obtaining missing information, completing the assessment, issuing a document or arranging the bank payment. Record a handover if someone is absent. Before closing the entry, reconcile the remittance against the issued documents and preserve any explanation of the difference. The register supports the process; it does not replace a certificate, notice or the required method of service.
Brief the administrator before the first cycle
At mobilisation, ask the professional team to walk through one payment cycle using the actual contract. Confirm the communication addresses, document names, delegated authority and responsibility for client funding. Identify who will advise on a disputed notice and how urgent correspondence is escalated. Keep the resulting procedure with the contract, and revisit it if the appointment or contact arrangements change.
Our contract administration service describes the professional scope; the agreed appointment and building contract determine the individual duties. For the later stages, read the practical completion and final-account guide. HCS cannot act as independent contract administrator where HCS is the contractor. This guide provides no deadline calculation for an individual contract and should not be used to decide a live payment dispute.