In this guide 6 sections
Long project accounts turn unreadable when agreed rates sit in forwarded emails, delivery notes sit in a drawer and retention hides inside one lump balance. Give each its own record. Hold one agreed rate sheet per project, link every delivery note to it, track retention as a separate balance and age each stage invoice on its own clock.
Why project accounts become unreadable
A walk-in customer pays and leaves. A contractor project runs fourteen months across three sites, with rates agreed once, deliveries arriving every week and payment released against stage certificates signed by the builder’s engineer.
Soon nobody can answer three plain questions. How many lorry loads have gone out, what is still unbilled and how much is held back until the defect liability period ends?
The cause is rarely effort. The rate agreement lives in a forwarded email, the signed gate passes sit in a drawer and the ledger shows one balance nobody can split by tower.
- Cement and steel rates revised mid project while old quotations stay in circulation
- Part loads of blocks, pavers and lintels billed in lots that match no stage
- Retention deducted from running account bills but never tracked
- Short-supply and breakage claims stuck inside the main balance
- Towers and blocks sharing one account but needing separate statements
Hold the rate agreement as a record, not an email
Mirror the bill of quantities. For each item record the agreed rate, the validity dates and the quantity covered, which for a supplier of tiles, blocks, doors or pipes can run to dozens.
Dispatch picks its rate from the sheet. If a billing clerk types a rate by hand, the system should flag the gap against the approved line and hold the invoice until a supervisor clears it.
When the builder asks for a revised rate, add a new version with a start date and the approving engineer’s name while older invoices keep their old rate. That ends arguments.
Link deliveries to stages and keep the balance by stage
Every delivery note should carry the project, the tower and the stage, so that plinth, superstructure, plastering, flooring and handover each collect their own bucket of loads.
When a stage closes, raise one bill against the deliveries inside it, and let that bill age on its own clock from the certificate date. Late stages stay visible.
Each fortnight, compare delivered quantity with agreed quantity for every line of the bill of quantities, because the gap tells sales and purchase what to expect next. Running over is a sales conversation. Running under is a forecast problem.
- Agreed, dispatched and balance quantity for each line of the bill of quantities
- Delivery notes still unbilled, with weighbridge or gate pass numbers
- Running account bills raised and the engineer’s certificate number
- Breakage, returns and credit notes tied back to the original lorry load
Treat retention and aged balances as separate numbers
Retention is money the builder holds back until the defect liability period ends, so it is not overdue and cannot be collected today. Dropping it into the aged list makes a healthy account look bad and sends your collection team chasing money that is not yet due.
Give retention its own ledger line. Record the release date and the condition, such as a site inspection or the end of the defect period, and name one person who owns that date. Unowned dates get lost.
Age the rest by stage invoice. A table with current, thirty, sixty and ninety day columns for each project tells the accounts head which site accountant to ring first.
Make the account readable for the people who call
The caller needs one screen. It should show agreed quantity, delivered quantity, billed amount, retention held, disputed items and the next stage due, with the site engineer’s name beside each stage.
Send the builder a statement by tower and stage rather than one running total, so their site accountant can match each line to the measurement book and stage certificates.
Pick three old accounts. Rebuild each one with a rate sheet, stage buckets and a retention line, and the gaps in your delivery notes and certificates will show at once.
Project account tracker
One page per project. The top block holds the rate sheet with validity and agreed quantity, while the middle block lists stages with delivered quantity, billed amount, certificate number and invoice age. Retention sits at the foot. Disputes and call dates follow.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
How do I track retention on a contractor project?
Keep it as a separate balance that records the project, the amount held, the release condition and the release date, so it never enters the overdue ageing list. Treat it as not yet due.
What if the builder changes rates halfway through?
Add a new rate version with a start date, attach the written approval and let deliveries before that date keep the old rate while later ones take the new. Old invoices stay untouched.
Should each site have its own account?
Give each site its own deliveries, statements and stage invoices, while the credit limit and main contact stay on the parent account. One parent account works best.
How do I handle disputed delivery items?
Move each disputed line into a bucket with a reason, a responsible person and a date to revisit it so the undisputed balance stays clean and follow-up stays visible.