How do you check a project reference in Qardho?

A project reference is only as strong as the check behind it. A client or supervisor reads a list of past jobs, sees a familiar name, and treats the reference as proof of competence. That list still needs verification of delivery history, scope and workmanship on site before it tells you anything about the crew on your plot. Weak reference checks create the same supervision gaps whatever the town.

What does a weak project reference check miss in Qardho?

It misses the difference between a completed job and a job this contractor actually built. A reference can point to projects of very different kinds: one where the contractor supplied labour only, one where the work was done under another firm's supervision, or one the contractor left before defects were fixed. If the check never asks who held the contract, who supervised the trades and who signed off the handover, the reference says nothing about the crew now standing on your plot.

Supervision gaps compound this. When a site supervisor is absent during critical stages, or reviews work after the fact, there is no record showing where the crew struggled. The same weakness that went unnoticed on the last job travels quietly to the next one. Ask the contractor which towns the crew has worked in and whether the same foreman will run your site, then confirm those answers with the named client and engineer.

Ask the contractor to name the client, the engineer and the dates for each reference. Then decide how many of those contacts you can actually reach.

How does an unverified delivery history reach your site?

An unverified delivery history reaches your site through the bid and the contract. A contractor who lists a project but cannot produce pour records, test certificates, handover notes or client contacts is asking you to accept the claim on trust. Once that claim sits in the contract as experience, the same person supervises the same trades the same way.

The result shows up later as defects that a proper inspection routine would have caught at the time: a footing poured without the reinforcement being checked against the drawing, a wall built off line and corrected only at plaster stage, a flat roof that holds water because the fall ran the wrong way. None of these prove bad faith, and a list cannot tell you where they appear. They are what happens when a supervision routine built on shortcuts meets a new site, and the only way to see them is on a site rather than on paper.

To test the history, ask for one recent project and walk it. Look at how the concrete was finished, how joints were set, how the site was left. Ask the owner what went wrong during the build and how the contractor handled it. That conversation tells you more than a reference list.

Who should verify references before work starts?

The person who verifies references should be the one who will supervise the work, or someone reporting to them, not a clerk filing paperwork. That person can compare what the contractor claims against what the site shows, and can write the verified scope into the contract before mobilisation.

A workable check has three parts:

• Speak to at least one named client and one named engineer from a recent project.
• Visit a completed site and a live site, and look at the same trade you are hiring for.
• Ask for records that match the claim: pour logs, test results, inspection notes, or a handover document.

Where records are missing, say so in the contract. Ask the municipal engineer's office whether it holds any record for the plots you visit. Where the contract allows it, agree in writing what happens if the verified scope turns out to be different from what was claimed. Check what your contract permits before you decide how to proceed.

What to do next

Pick the contractor's strongest reference and call the client this week. Ask three things: who supervised the trades, what defects appeared after handover, and whether they would hire the same crew again. Write the answers down and compare them with the scope in the bid. If the answers do not match, ask the contractor to explain the difference before you sign anything.