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Work is ready · Guide · For builders

When should you submit a milestone for review?

You know the stage is complete. The team has moved on, labour has been paid and the next part of the programme depends on cash moving as agreed.

Your customer may see something different. They see an unfinished home, a folder of photographs and a request involving thousands of pounds.

The solution is not to tell them they should trust your judgement. It is to submit a stage that is easy to understand and review.

Submit the agreed stage, not “most of it”

Do not submit because:

  • the calendar says the payment is due;
  • you need money for an unrelated cost;
  • the stage is nearly complete;
  • the missing work seems minor to you;
  • a certificate will probably arrive later;
  • the customer has already seen the work informally.

Submit when the work has reached the completion point defined for that milestone, subject to any clearly agreed exception or partial route.

If the completion basis has changed, record the variation or amendment first. Do not move the finish line inside the submission note.

Run a pre-submission check

Before you press submit, confirm:

  • the correct milestone and version;
  • all included work has reached the agreed state;
  • completion criteria are addressed;
  • required evidence is present and clearly labelled;
  • accepted changes are reflected;
  • known incomplete items are disclosed;
  • required professional inputs are attached or correctly shown as a separate later condition;
  • the person submitting is authorised for the contracting business;
  • the note tells the customer what they are reviewing.

The current Assurr workflow requires configured evidence before an ordinary submission can proceed. That is useful discipline. It does not mean any file count proves the work is compliant.

Write a completion note, not a sales message

A good note is short and factual.

Ground-floor electrical first fix submitted for review. Agreed cable routes and back boxes are complete. Photographs are linked by room. The kitchen island outlets were moved under accepted variation V-004. The installation certificate belongs to the later testing stage.

That note does four things:

  • names the stage;
  • summarises the completed work;
  • points to the evidence;
  • explains an expected document without pretending it is missing.

A weak note says:

All done. Please pay today.

That leaves the customer to reconstruct the claim and sounds as though submission itself settles the payment question.

Make known exceptions visible

Hiding a small unfinished item makes the whole claim look less dependable when the customer finds it.

If the item prevents the milestone reaching its agreed outcome, finish it before submitting or agree a proper change.

If it is genuinely separable, identify:

  • what is complete;
  • what remains;
  • why it remains;
  • whether partial approval is appropriate;
  • the value basis;
  • when the remainder will be resubmitted.

Do not invite the customer to invent a deduction. Give them a structured decision.

Remember what submission means

Submission is your attributable completion claim. It starts the customer review. It is not:

  • your own approval of the stage;
  • a certificate from Assurr;
  • a statement that Building Control approved every contractual item;
  • confirmation that payment has been released;
  • proof that no later defect can exist.

This separation protects you as well as the customer. The record shows exactly when you said the stage was ready, which evidence you relied on and what happened after it.

Help the customer review promptly

The customer should not have to search through the whole project to understand the claim.

Make these facts easy to find:

  • milestone amount;
  • agreed work and criteria;
  • submitted evidence;
  • variations;
  • exceptions;
  • professional decisions;
  • next action.

If they ask a question, answer the question. If they raise a query, respond against the relevant criterion. If rework is requested, identify the listed items and return through the recorded route.

The language matters. A request for clarification is not automatically a payment refusal. A request to put something right is not automatically a formal dispute.

Keep dependencies honest

Do not promise that the rest of the project is unaffected without checking the programme.

If the queried work is unrelated to a later activity, explain that relationship. If the next stage would conceal, rely on or be unsafe without the questioned work, record the dependency and the programme effect.

A credible contractor does not minimise every query. They contain it accurately.

How Assurr helps

Assurr connects the accepted milestone, evidence, completion claim, customer response and money state in one shared record. It separates your submission from the customer's approval and the provider's later processing.

That creates a clearer basis for getting paid as agreed. It does not guarantee payment regardless of the work or remove the need to respond properly.

The test

Imagine the customer has never heard your trade terminology.

Can they see what you say is complete, why it counts as complete, what evidence supports it, what has changed and what you want them to do next?

If not, the stage may be physically ready, but the completion claim is not.

General guidance, not legal advice
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