The builder says the stage is complete. What are you actually being asked to decide?

Submission is the beginning of your review

When the contractor submits a milestone, they are making a completion claim. In plain English, they are saying:

The work included in this stage has reached its agreed completion point. Here is the record supporting that claim. Please review it.

They are not approving the stage on your behalf. Assurr is not certifying it. A payment should not be described as released merely because the contractor pressed submit.

Those are separate events.

Start with the stage, not the whole room

The project should show:

• the stage name and amount;
• the work included;
• the agreed completion criteria;
• the evidence expected;
• accepted changes affecting the stage;
• any professional inspection, certificate or decision required;
• the contractor's submission note;
• the options available to you.

For an electrical first-fix stage, completion may mean agreed cables, routes and back boxes are in position before the walls are closed. It does not mean sockets are fitted, walls are decorated and the room is ready to use.

For a groundwork stage, it may mean the agreed excavation, drainage and foundation work has reached a specified point. It does not automatically mean every external surface has been reinstated.

The actual project documents and criteria matter. A generic example cannot decide your stage.

What should you look at?

Ask five questions.

1. 1What was included? Read the scope linked to this milestone.
2. 2What marked completion? Compare the submission with the agreed criteria.
3. 3What changed? Check accepted variations or amendments.
4. 4What evidence was required? Look at photographs, documents, inspections or certificates in context.
5. 5Is technical judgement needed? Identify any architect, engineer, contract administrator, Building Control or specialist role the agreement requires.

You are not expected to become an electrician, structural engineer or surveyor because a payment decision has arrived. If a stage depends on technical certification, that requirement and responsible professional should have been identified in advance.

Evidence helps, but it has limits

A photograph may show insulation before it was boarded. A certificate may record the result of a particular test. An inspection record may show what an identified person observed.

None automatically proves every aspect of quality or compliance.

The useful question is: what does this evidence support?

The presence of the configured evidence may allow the contractor to submit the stage in Assurr. That is a process control, not a technical judgement by Assurr.

Your choices should remain specific

If the stage matches the agreed basis, you can approve it for payment through the applicable process.

If you need a simple explanation, ask a question.

If a defined matter needs evidence, explanation or action, raise a query and identify the relevant work.

If listed work needs to be put right before approval, describe it precisely. The stage can return to the contractor for rework and later resubmission.

Where a distinct part is complete and can be valued separately, partial approval may be available. It should identify the approved work, remaining work and amount. It should not be used to guess at an arbitrary deduction.

What happens to the payment?

Keep the work state and money state separate.

‘Submitted for review’ does not mean payment has been released. If you approve the stage for payment, the release process can proceed. Provider processing and settlement remain separate facts.

Assurr records the work state, your decision and the related money state. It does not hold itself out as the person inspecting the work or deciding that a contractually disputed payment is legally due.

What if another stage is ready to start?

A query should stay connected to the stage and matter it concerns. Unrelated work may be able to continue. Work that depends on the unresolved matter may need to wait.

Do not assume that raising one query automatically stops the whole project. Do not assume that every later stage can continue regardless of it. Look at the actual dependency.

The practical principle

A contractor's submission should replace an unexplained invoice with a reviewable completion claim.

You should be able to see what they say is complete, what was agreed, what evidence supports it, what you are being asked to decide and what happens next.

That is a much narrower and safer decision than deciding whether the whole unfinished project “looks complete”.