Appearance
6. Subcontractor claims and certification
Back to the case study · Previous: 5. Design approval
Subcontractors are paid for work done. The question every month is: how much work is really done? A subcontractor's invoice answers it from their side. In OSERP the subcontractor claims quantities against their work order, the company certifies what its site team measured, and only the certified quantities become a bill.
6.1 The subcontractor claims (on the company's website)
On 21 June, Rohit Varma at Emirates Flooring opened his project page, expanded Claim work done under the marble and timber flooring order, and entered the quantity done since his last claim on each line:
- Italian Calacatta marble: 2,760 sq ft (60% of the 4,600 ordered)
- Engineered oak: nothing yet
He gave the date the work was up to (20 June), his name, and a note, then chose Submit claim.
The claim is valued at the order's rates: 2,760 x 62 = AED 171,120. It cannot exceed what is left on the order: a line shows what was ordered, what was billed before, and what is left.
The claim waits for the company with status Waiting to be certified. Until it is decided, Rohit can withdraw it, but cannot make a second claim on the same order. The company is told by email.
6.2 The company certifies what was measured
In OSERP the Suppliers tab shows 1 claim to certify, and the supplier's To certify column shows the count:
Omar, the site supervisor, measured the marble with the subcontractor on 24 June: 2,300 sq ft laid and grouted, the remainder laid but not yet grouted. Priya opened the claim and entered the certified quantity per line:
| Field | What she entered | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Certified (per line) | 2,300 | What was measured in place. It cannot exceed what was claimed or what is left on the order. |
| Note to the supplier | Joint measurement 24 June: 2,300 sq ft laid and grouted. Balance with the next claim once polished. | The supplier sees this note with the decision. |
| Bill date | 25 June 2026 | The valuation date. The bill, its journal and the project's cost belong to June, the month the work was measured, even if the decision is entered a few days later. Leave it blank for today. A date in the future is refused. |
Certify asks for confirmation and then, in one step:
- marks the claim Certified with the certified amount, AED 142,600;
- raises the supplier bill for exactly the certified quantities, through the normal purchase flow (VAT, approvals, the journal);
- releases the matching part of the order's budget commitment and posts the cost to the flooring task;
- tells the subcontractor.
Reject sends the claim back with the note as the reason (a note is required to reject). The subcontractor can then claim again.
AED 28,520 not paid ahead of the work
The claim was for 171,120. The certificate was for 142,600. The 460 sq ft difference (AED 28,520) was paid in July, once it was grouted and polished, not in June. Across a project, certifying on measurement keeps every payment behind the work, never ahead of it. If a subcontractor leaves the job, the company has not paid for work that was never finished.
6.3 Retention on every payment
The flooring order carries 5% retention. When the bill was paid on 25 July, the payment settled the bill's full value but paid out 95%:
| Bill | Total with VAT | Paid out | Retention withheld |
|---|---|---|---|
| BILL-2026-00142 (June claim) | 149,730.00 | 142,243.50 | 7,486.50 |
| BILL-2026-00145 (July balance) | 297,906.00 | 283,010.70 | 14,895.30 |
The withheld amount moves to Retention Payable in the journal. It is released when the defects liability period ends, if the floors have no defects. If a slab cracks in month eight, the company has AED 22,381.80 of the subcontractor's money to pay for the repair.
6.4 What the subcontractor sees
Rohit's own account on the project, at the end of the job: billed, paid to him, retention held, still to be paid, and the trend by month:
His claim, with the certified amount, the bill it became, and the company's note:
His bills and what is left to pay on each:
He never needs to call the company's accounts team to ask what was certified, what was paid, or why a payment was less than the bill. It is all on his page.
6.5 Every subcontractor at a glance
The Suppliers tab at the end of the job: every trade's order, what was billed and paid, the retention held from each, and what is still owed.
| Supplier | Ordered | Billed | Retention held | Owed at month end |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Al Noor Gypsum & Ceilings | 309,225.00 | 309,225.00 | 15,461.25 | 0.00 |
| Bright Line Electromechanical | 117,600.00 | 117,600.00 | 4,116.00 | 35,280.00 |
| Colourcraft Painting Services | 75,600.00 | 75,600.00 | 2,268.00 | 30,240.00 |
| Emirates Flooring Contracting | 447,636.00 | 447,636.00 | 22,381.80 | 0.00 |
| Gulf Joinery Industries | 465,150.00 | 465,150.00 | 23,257.50 | 0.00 |
| SiteServe Logistics | 60,900.00 | 60,900.00 | 0.00 | 15,225.00 |
| Studio Linea Design Consultants | 67,200.00 | 67,200.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| All suppliers | 1,543,311.00 | 1,543,311.00 | 67,484.55 | 80,745.00 |
(Amounts include VAT. The amounts owed are September bills, paid on 30-day terms in October.)
Al Noor Gypsum's quantity surveyor made both of his claims online as well; the gypsum section of the screen above shows them certified in May and June against BILL-2026-00140 and BILL-2026-00143, with the work order now 0% left to bill.
What this chapter means for the business
- Payments stay behind the work. Certification on measurement held back AED 28,520 of flooring until it was finished.
- Bills are not keyed in from paper. The certified claim is the bill, at the order's rates, so pricing errors and duplicate invoices cannot happen.
- Cost lands in the right month. The bill date follows the valuation, so June's cost, and June's revenue (chapter 8), are right.
- AED 67,484.55 of retention stands behind the quality of the work for twelve months.