How to check your contractor's bills — and spot overbilling before you pay.
Most overbilling isn't one big number. It is many small ones — a quantity rounded up here, a rate slightly above market there, material billed that never arrived. No single line looks wrong, which is exactly why bills should be checked line by line before they are paid.
Common ways a bill drifts up
- Quantities rounded up, or measured from the drawing instead of what was built
- Rates above the agreed BOQ or the market, especially for extra items
- Material billed but never delivered, or a cheaper grade delivered
- The same work billed twice — once as labour, once inside a material rate
- Advances for stages that haven't started
How to check a running bill
- Compare every line with the agreed BOQ — item, unit, rate
- Re-measure the work actually done on site before accepting a quantity
- Match material lines with delivery records and invoices
- Check that the stage being billed has passed inspection
- Ask for the measurement sheet behind the bill, not just the total
Pay against stages, not dates
The simplest protection is a payment schedule tied to inspected stages: the contractor is paid for a stage once it has been checked and measured, not because a date has arrived. No advance should go out ahead of the work it pays for.
Having it done for you
Re-measuring work and benchmarking rates takes time and training. Our engineers re-measure every contractor bill on site and check it line by line against the BOQ, then send you the audited figure to approve. You still pay your contractor directly — no money passes through us.
What owners ask us about checking contractor bills.
How do I know if my contractor is overbilling?
Re-measure the work actually done and compare each line of the bill with the agreed BOQ and the delivery records. Small differences across many lines are the usual sign.
Can you check bills I have already paid?
Yes. On a running site we measure the work already done and check it against the bills you have paid, and give you a written report of what we found.
Do you handle payments to my contractor?
Never. You pay your contractor directly. We only check the bill and tell you the audited figure.
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