How do you value payments on a low bid in Qardho?

Payment valuation underbidding risks in Qardho turn on one rule: a certificate pays for work already built, not for the money the contractor needs to keep going. When a bid is set low to win the job, the tender allowances still have to cover the real work, and the gap is discovered on site, not in the tender review. A valuation built on progress, not on plea, is what protects the client.

What does the bid omit before the gap appears?

The gap starts in the estimate, where the tenderer leaves out whole activities so the total looks affordable. In a Qardho building job the omissions are usually ordinary and checkable: cartage of aggregate over long dry hauls, water for curing and compaction, formwork and propping for repeated uses, curing time built into the programme, dewatering if the excavation meets water, and site supervision. Ask for the priced bill of quantities and mark every item that appears as materials only with no labour, plant or curing line. Compare the priced schedule of rates with the drawings and the specification clause by clause. If an activity is in the drawings and absent from the bill, the tender is low because the work is not in it. Treat that as a question to put in writing before award, not an accusation.

How do low tender allowances show up in progress?

On site the shortfall appears as slowness in the first activities that need cash out of the contractor's pocket. Look for excavation and hardcore buying slowing while labour stays busy, or aggregates and water arriving in part loads. Cement and steel may sit short while the work front stays wide. Ask the contractor for the programme, the delivery records and the site diary for the last two weeks, and walk the works to confirm measured quantities against the valuation lines. Payment ahead of actual progress hides this. A valuation line should be backed by a measured quantity at a stated date, with photographs, levels or dimensions recorded. If the contractor claims mobilisation or materials on site, check the materials are actually stored, counted and protected, and that the contract allows payment for them. Where a line cannot be measured, hold it to the next valuation.

How do you keep valuation and progress in step?

Build the valuation from a cost-loaded programme, so each line carries the value of work completed at that date rather than a guessed percentage. Value measured trades on actual quantities, not on the accepted contract sum divided by the calendar. Reconcile weekly: quantities built, quantities valued, payments certified. When the contractor asks for more than measured progress, that is the moment to review the priced bill against the drawings again and agree how the omitted work will be treated, whether through a variation, a re-measure or a revised schedule of rates. Check what the contract says about rates, re-measurement and interim certificates, and get the client's written instruction before signing. Keep the same method for every certificate.

What to do next

Take the priced bill and schedule of rates, and mark every drawing or specification item that is missing, materials-only or unpriced for plant and curing. Put those questions to the tenderer in writing before award and keep the replies in the tender file. Then set the first valuation from measured quantities, with dates and photographs, and agree the valuation method in the contract.