Overpayments
A large residential building refurbishment can entail payments totaling in the six figures for works performed incrementally. It is extremely challenging to monitor this type of payment process to ensure that monies are only being paid for works performed.
You may be aware that there are professional courses of study in quantity surveying and project management to train dedicated professionals to perform precisely this oftentimes messy task of determining the value of works performed and disentangling the value of labour invested and costs of materials. Due to its complexity the professionals sometimes mistakes. So there is nothing to be ashamed about if you are a lay homeowner struggling to get your heard around it. A build is not always linear. With so many moving parts, changing plans, finished, unfinished and semi-finished works your builder can be lost as well.
But the implications of getting this topic wrong are severe. When a builder is overpaid, and the discrepancy between what’s been paid and what’s been implemented balloons, the homeowner is in a week and vulnerable position. Your builder may be unwilling to make up the difference, as this would mean working for weeks and sometimes months without further payments or with drastically reduced payments. If your general contractor is juggling numerous projects, he may have spent the money on other projects that are having cash flow issues. He may be telling the truth when he says he simply can’t afford to work and pay his subcontractors without further payments. To avoid painful scenarios, or to mitigate one that is already painful, the best suggestion is to order a mid-build survey today.