Builder payment disagreements: a calmer route
Most payment disagreements on domestic projects are not about dishonesty. They are about two people describing the same work differently.
Once each side is defending a position, evidence becomes harder to exchange, not easier.
Separate the two questions
There are usually two different questions tangled together: has the agreed stage been reached, and is the overall standard of work acceptable? They are not the same question, and they are best handled separately.
Builder Standard answers only the first: has the agreed milestone been achieved, on the evidence reviewed?
Write the criteria down, even now
If the criteria were never defined, they can still be defined for the stages that remain. Agreeing objective criteria in advance removes most of the ambiguity from future stages.
What independent verification is, and is not
Verification is an independent assessment of whether pre-agreed criteria appear to have been satisfied, based on the defined scope and evidence reviewed.
It is not Building Control approval, structural certification, a building survey, a warranty, a guarantee of workmanship, legal adjudication, or an instruction that payment must be made. Who pays for the verification does not affect the outcome.
Important
This page is general information about how construction stage payments and independent milestone verification usually work. It is not legal advice, and it is not a statement about your own contract.
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