Where the lump sum ends

Anyone running a maintenance contract knows the month-end question: lump sum, unit price or extra work. The answer is spread over a classification, an exceptions list and an allowance that quietly ran out. Bill what's included and you lose trust. Miss what's billable and you've paid for it.

One case on our Try page: a month's replacements on a maintenance-of-way contract. Yesper sorted every one, clause by clause, and found 84 of October's crossties past the annual allowance: billable at unit price, $23,940 more on the invoice. Where the contract is silent, a question for the Authority, not a guess.

You know what's billable before the invoice goes out; the unsettled lines go to the client as questions now, not disputes later. And the rest of the Try page: claims out of site diaries, a final pay application check, the change orders nobody raised.

Try it yourself →