Building contracts – prevent debt by good record keeping…

Maintaining good records is key to preventing debts or disputes.

• You need to ensure that you keep a copy of the contract at the building site at all times. 
  
  
• You also need to ensure that you comply with all of your obligations under the building contract, including before, during, and on completion of the building work.  Make sure you know what you are required to do.
  
  
• You should ensure that you record any agreed variation to the contract in writing, and have it signed by both parties.

From a practical point of view, it is also important to ensure you have good, up-to-date records of:

• Your client and any subcontractors.  So that if you need to contact anyone for any reason, you can do so without delay.
  
  
• All invoices issued, received, and paid.  So that if there is any dispute you are able to respond to it quickly and confidently.
  
  
• Any quotes or estimates.  So that you can ensure your invoicing matches and so that you can identify at an early stage if you think the quote or estimate is going to be exceeded and discuss that with the client.
  
  
• Any deposit received and how your actual costs are tracking against that deposit, so that you can require a top-up before the deposit runs out.

The key thing to do, is to ensure that you have a good record-keeping system in place and that, whatever it is, you implement and maintain it for all building work.