The payment certificate: the quantity that was approved, and the money that left

01What does a payment certificate consist of?

On a contracting project the contractor claims the work done in a period, item by item. What the claim becomes after review is the certificate, and it is always the same five lines:

The arguments on site are almost never about the arithmetic. They are about which quantity was approved, and whether the certified value and the money that left the treasury point at the same item.

02How is a certificate made in Revora?

• The contract is entered with its value, its retention percentage, its advance payment and its tax
• The bill of quantities carries the code, the unit, the quantity and the rate — imported from Excel through a review that shows what is new, what changed in quantity or in rate, and what is locked
• The certificate is written per item: the submitted quantity first, then the technical office review, then approval with the approved quantity
• Each certificate calculates its own gross, retention, advance recovery, tax and net
• The approved quantity locks onto the item, so the next certificate starts from what is left of it, not from the claim

03Who approves it, and how does the money leave?

Approval and payment are two separate steps, and the second one can be refused.

• Payment is made from a treasury, with an accounting entry written behind it — the entry is not typed a second time
• The payment is refused when the treasury does not cover it, rather than being recorded and left to be discovered later
• The contractor's account shows earned, paid, retained and outstanding, per contract
• Expected cash flow is built from the quantities, the schedule and the payment terms, so the certificate that is coming is visible before it arrives

04What about subcontractors?

Subcontractors have their own certificates, with their own retention, under the same project. A contractor portal lets the contractor submit the claim by item and follow their own certificates and payments, instead of sending a spreadsheet and waiting for an answer.

05What does a spreadsheet not do?

• A cut quantity in this month's sheet does not travel back to the item, so the next certificate is claimed against the original quantity again
• Retention and advance recovery are recalculated by hand each month, and a certificate paid twice is found at the end of the project rather than in the month it happened
• The certified value and the accounting entry live in two files, so the contractor's outstanding balance depends on which file is open
• Measured progress on site is not the same number as the certified value, and nothing forces them to be compared

Revora keeps all of these on one item: the approved quantity, the certified value, the money paid and the measured progress.

06Does it fit a developer who builds for himself?

Yes. A company that builds its own projects runs the contracting side for itself — its own contract, its own bill of quantities, its own certificates — without warehouses or purchasing. And because sales and construction are in one database, the project shows what was built against what was sold.

07How do I see it?

Ask for a demonstration on your own bill of quantities: info@mbsyss.com, or Vienna +43 681 8411 0547, Cairo +20 100 520 5900, Muscat +968 7277 7269. The price is given as a quote for your company. Revora is built by mbsystems, founded 2013 in Vienna, with offices in Vienna, Cairo and Muscat.