The project said accepted, but the customer thought it was only a review

The proposal

Carter & Sons prepares a £74,000 loft conversion for Maya and Lewis.

The Assurr plan contains:

• six milestones;
• a £4,500 bathroom allowance;
• planning drawings;
• structural engineer information;
• a start date in three weeks;
• a first milestone of £9,000.

The final screen says:

Everything look right?

Button:

Accept

What Maya believes

Maya clicks the button. She believes she has confirmed that Assurr imported the quotation correctly.

She has not opened the linked terms. She has not seen a cancellation notice. Lewis is also named as a customer but has not logged in.

Maya expects the contractor to call before ordering anything or fixing a start date.

What Carter & Sons believes

The contractor sees the project status change to accepted.

It believes:

• both customers are committed;
• the building agreement exists;
• the first payment is secure;
• work may start during the next three weeks;
• it can pay the non-refundable stair deposit.

It books labour and pays £2,200 to the stair manufacturer.

The disagreement

Lewis notices that the drawings show a rooflight in the wrong room. Maya asks the contractor to wait.

Carter & Sons says the project was accepted and the stair deposit is now non-refundable.

Maya says she never authorised the order and did not know the click created a payment commitment.

Both sides relied on the same status. They attached different meanings to it.

What the acceptance process should have shown

| Layer | Required state or action | | --- | --- | | Project package | Plan v2 with exact scope, drawings, price basis and milestones | | Required parties | Maya, Lewis and Carter & Sons | | Customer decision | Maya and Lewis each accept for their party position | | Contractor decision | Authorised Carter & Sons representative accepts | | Legal package | Identified project rules, contractor document, service terms and consumer notice versions | | Payment obligation | Stated prominently before the acceptance action | | Early start | Separate express request after cancellation information | | Funding | First milestone shown as not yet funded | | Stair order | Separate procurement authority showing non-refundable deposit | | Start readiness | Not ready until required acceptance, funding and design correction are complete |

A better route

Maya raises a question about the rooflight. The plan remains proposed.

The contractor agrees it is wrong and requests a revised drawing. The current proposal is cancelled and preserved. Plan v3 identifies the corrected drawing.

Maya, Lewis and Carter & Sons review and accept v3. The interface confirms that acceptance creates the identified project obligations but does not fund the first milestone or authorise the stair order.

The customers then:

• fund the first milestone;
• review the cancellation information;
• make a separate early-start request if they wish;
• authorise the stair order with the deposit and cancellation terms visible.