A hold point is set out in the Inspection and Test Plan (ITP). Its a 'stop work' order beyond which work must not proceed until the nominated party has inspected it and released it. On AU/NZ civil contracts that party is the Nominated Authority – both the role and the contract expected to inspect and release the work. The contractor gives notice, the inspection happens, the release is recorded, and only then does the next activity start. Proceeding past a hold point without release is a breach of contract. The work can be rejected or ordered out at the contractor's cost, even if it turns out to be fine.
That is the definition. What follows is how it plays out on a job, and why it decides when you get paid.
Every ITP lists the checks for a work activity, and against each check it names an intervention level. There are three, and the order matters.
Surveillance is the lowest. The Nominated Authority monitors the process as it happens, with no mandatory stop. A witness point sits above it. You notify the nominated party, they have the option to attend within the notice period, and if they choose not to, the work keeps moving. The notice and the record of it are what count. A hold point is the top of the hierarchy. Nothing proceeds until the release is signed.
Where hold points land depends on the contract and the specification, but the pattern on civil work is consistent. They sit where the next step buries the evidence: the formwork and reinforcement before a pour, the subgrade before the basecourse goes down, the bedding before the pipe is laid, the compaction test on a layer before the next layer covers it. Once the concrete is placed, nobody can inspect what is underneath. The hold point is the last chance to look.
The release comes from the Nominated Authority. The contract defines who holds that role and each ITP names that contact against each hold point, and the contract sets the notice period the contractor has to give before the inspection.
The release is not a signature on its own. The person releasing it is confirming that the check was done and that the evidence supports it. On a typical civil ITP that evidence is the completed inspection checklist for the lot, survey conformance for level and alignment, the test results (compaction, slump and cylinders, weld or coating tests), the material and delivery certificates, and photos tied to the lot and the date.
The evidence has to belong to that lot. A job folder full of photos with no lot number against them does not do the job. The terms are all in the construction QA glossary if you want them defined one at a time.
Two things go wrong here. The first is proceeding without release. The crew is ready to pour, the Nominated Authority can't get to site until tomorrow, and the concrete is booked. Pouring anyway is a breach, and the principal can reject the lot outright. The second is more common and quieter. The hold point is released, but the evidence behind it isn't there or isn't attached. A signed sheet in the ute, photos on someone's phone, a test result that arrives by email the following week. The release exists. The proof of what was released does not. When the lot is questioned, at claim time or two years later in a dispute, that gap belongs to the contractor.
"Our site teams are focussed on delivering the works to programme and to succeed, we must complete our quality documentation as the work proceeds."
Cameron Hyndman, National Lead for Digital Engineering, Downer
On most civil contracts the work is measured and claimed lot by lot. A lot is considered conforming when its checks are complete, its tests pass, its non-conformances are closed and its hold points are released with the evidence in place. Where the contract makes the progress claim QA-gated, the Nominated Authority certifies each claim line against that conformance record. An unreleased hold point, or a released one with nothing behind it, means the lot is not conformed and the line does not get certified.
The work is done. The money sits on the principal's ledger until the record catches up. An unevidenced hold point is one of the most common reasons progress claims get held, and it is why the hold point record carries more weight than most contractors give it. It is a quality record and a commercial record at the same time.
The time cost is real too. In a CONQA survey of Civil Contractors Federation members, 86% of engineers and supervisors said they spend five hours a week or more on QA and ITP admin. A good part of that is chasing releases and rebuilding lot records after the fact.
Not every contract works this way. At the small end payment is often invoiced on completion and the QA pack is a handover deliverable rather than a monthly gate. From the mid-market up, on principal-let civil and infrastructure work, the gate is real and the hold point is where it bites. The cash side of that is in No proof, no payment.
CONQA's sign-offs record the hold point against the specific lot in the ITP. The crew completes the checklist and attaches photos and test results at the work face, on a phone, offline if there is no coverage. The release request goes to the nominated person. When they release it, the sign-off is timestamped and carries their name, so the audit trail shows who approved what, when and in what sequence. The evidence is attached to the release rather than to a job folder, and the full record exports for the claim or the handover pack.
The Nominated Authority can review and release from their own device without changing their systems. The record stays contractor-side.
If your hold points are being chased by phone and email and the evidence is being rebuilt at month-end, bring us an ITP from a current job. We will show you the same hold point captured, released and claim-ready.
A hold point is a point defined in the ITP beyond which work must not proceed until the Nominated Authority has inspected the work and released it. It sits at the stage where the next activity would cover the evidence, such as reinforcement before a pour. Proceeding without release is a breach of contract and the work can be rejected at the contractor's cost.
What is the difference between a hold point and a witness point?Both are set in the ITP. A hold point stops work until it is released by the nominated party. A witness point requires the contractor to notify that party and give them the opportunity to attend, but if they choose not to within the notice period, work can proceed. At a witness point the notification record is what matters. At a hold point it is the release record and the evidence behind it.
Who can release a hold point?The Nominated Authority – the role the contract defines and the ITP names against each hold point. Who fills it varies by contract form and by client, which is why the ITP has to say so in writing. The contractor's own supervisor cannot release a hold point unless the ITP and the contract say so, and the release should be recorded with a name and a time.
What happens if a hold point is released without evidence?The release stands but the lot is exposed. Its conformance record is incomplete, so the Nominated Authority can hold the claim line for that lot until the evidence is produced. If the work is questioned later, in a defects claim or a dispute, the contractor is holding a signature with nothing behind it. A release should carry the checklist and photos it was based on, and the test results that supported it.