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During the build

The money side of the build run month by month while the work happens: payments checked before they are made, changes priced before they are built, and the record kept as it grows.

The builder asksAn application or invoice, usually monthlyThe work is checkedMeasured against the contract, before any money movesYou pay what is dueThe checked figure, not the asked figureThe record growsDiary, photos, register, the final account started earlythe same loop, every month of the build

You pay for what exists, every payment checked against the work before it leaves your account, every change priced before it is built, and the record growing month by month until the final account is already half written.

Hover or tap any object for what happens there. The month runs left to right along the ground, and the return arrow runs it again.

During the build: the same loop every month - asked, checked, paid, recorded.

Problems

Find the one that reads like your problem. Each page explains what is actually happening and the way out of it.

I don't know whether this payment request is fair

The builder's figure has arrived, but you cannot see how it relates to the work now standing on site.

I have this problem

Changes are happening before their price is agreed

A conversation on site is turning into work before anyone has put its cost in writing.

I have this problem

I can't prove what happened on site

Days move quickly, and the facts are being left to memory, messages and photographs with no shared order.

I have this problem

I'm making every commercial decision myself and falling behind

Payments, changes, records and the budget are each asking for attention while you are also trying to build a house.

I have this problem

Services

The money side held month by month while the work happens: payments checked before they are made, changes priced before they are built, and the flagship arrangement that runs the whole commercial side for you from the first payment to the settled final account.

Payment Assessment & Checking

Risk mitigationFixed FeeOngoingFor Self Builders

Every payment request checked against the work actually done before you pay it: measured on site or from photographs and records, valued against the contract, and returned to you as a figure to pay with the reasons in writing.

See how it works

Variation Control & Registers

Risk mitigationFixed FeeOngoingFor Self Builders

Changes priced and agreed in writing before they are built, and a register that keeps the running total of your build honest: what changed, who asked for it, what it costs and what it does to the money left.

See how it works

Commercial Management

Risk mitigationOngoingFor Self Builders

The whole money side of your build run for you, month by month, by a quantity surveyor who acts only for you: the budget tracked, every payment checked before it is made, every change priced before it is built, the records kept, and the final account being assembled from day one.

See how it works

Products

The three free templates that keep a running build honest: payment held to value, changes priced before they start, and the diary that remembers.

Free templates

Payment and Valuation Tracker

Never pay ahead of value.

See the template

Free templates

Variation Register and Instruction Form

No change starts until its price is agreed in writing.

See the template

Free templates

Site Diary and Photo Log

What happened, the day it happened, with dated photographs.

See the template

Tips

Plain-English tips for keeping the money side straight while the build runs: payments checked, changes priced first, the record kept.

Payments

The monthly discipline that keeps your money level with the builder's work.

Pay for what is standing, not what is promised

Read the tip

Payments

The monthly discipline that keeps your money level with the builder's work.

Keep your own record of every payment

Read the tip

Changes and the record

Changes are where self build budgets actually break, and the record is what stops them.

Get the price before the change is built

Read the tip

Changes and the record

Changes are where self build budgets actually break, and the record is what stops them.

Write the day down while it is still today

Read the tip

Frequently asked questions

Straight answers to the questions self builders ask about paying the builder, valuations and changes while the build runs, one question per page.

While the build runs

Should I pay my builder a deposit or money up front?

As little as possible, and never bare: money paid ahead of work is protection given away, so any advance needs a written reason and something standing behind it.

Read the answer

While the build runs

What is a valuation on a self build?

A count of what the work done so far is actually worth, made before you pay, so each payment matches the build rather than the request.

Read the answer

While the build runs

The builder says it is an extra. Do I have to pay for it?

Only if it genuinely sits outside what was priced - and that is a question the paperwork answers, not the person asking for the money.

Read the answer

While the build runs

How do I keep changes from wrecking the budget?

Three habits: no change built before it is priced in writing, every change on one running register, and the new total in front of you before each yes.

Read the answer