Progress claims get held on civil projects because the quality record behind a claim line does not support it when the Nominated Authority assesses the claim. The work is usually done, and usually fine. What is missing is the evidence the contract says must exist before that work counts as conformed: completed ITP checks, released hold points, closed lot records, test results included, and closed NCRs. Where the claim is QA-gated, nothing gets certified without that record. The Nominated Authority will not certify a line they cannot verify, so the line is carried to the next claim while the record catches up. The six reasons below are ranked by how often they come up in our conversations with AU and NZ civil contractors.
Why progress claims get held: six reasons, ranked
1. QA records missing or incomplete against the ITP. The ITP names every check the lot needs and who signs it. A line item that is unsigned, or has nothing attached (no test result, no photo, no measurement) leaves the lot unconforming. It is the most common cause, usually as twenty small gaps across a month rather than one big one.
2. Hold points not released, or released but not evidenced. A hold point is a stop in the ITP that only the Nominated Authority can lift. The crew went through without a release, which is a breach. Or the release happened on site, by phone or text, and there is no signed record of who released what and when. From the Nominated Authority's desk those two look identical. Its tough for them to remember which ones they signed and which they didn't without the clear evidence in front of them.
3. Lot records not closed. Payment on most civil contracts is claimed lot by lot. A lot with an open check, an outstanding test result or an unresolved query stays open. Contractors claim it anyway because the physical work is finished, and the payment waits until the lot closes.
4. Quantities the record can't support. Say the claim shows 1,400 m³ of fill placed and compacted, and the survey and the lot register support 1,150 m³ conforming. The Nominated Authority assesses to the quantity the record supports, and the balance waits.
5. Open NCRs. An NCR raised on a lot blocks the close out of that lot. Well-run jobs raise plenty of NCRs. The problem is the lag between the ones that are actually fixed and the record of them being closed.
6. The paperwork arrived weeks after the work. A record rebuilt at month-end from a camera roll and memory carries dates that don't match the pour, photos that don't tie to a chainage, and a page of signatures collected in one sitting. An experienced Nominated Authority recognises a reconstruction and checks it harder.
"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
What the Nominated Authority is actually checking
The person certifying the claim is the Nominated Authority, the role the contract names to assess the claim and certify the value of work done conforms to the contract. The title on the door changes with the contract form and the client. The job does not.
For each line, that means asking whether the quantity claimed matches what was measured, whether the lots making up that quantity are conformed, whether every hold point in those lots was released by the right person in the right sequence, whether the test results sit inside the specification limits, and whether any NCR on the lot is still open. Each answer is a document. If the document isn't there, the answer is no.
A line the Nominated Authority can't verify is left out of this month's certificate, and the payment schedule issued under the security-of-payment legislation (the SOP Acts in Australia, the Construction Contracts Act in New Zealand) has to state why. Those reasons tell you which of the six gaps is open, lot by lot.
What changes when the record is claim-ready
Claim-ready means the lot register, the ITP checks, the hold-point releases, the test results and the closed NCRs already exist against each lot on the day the claim is prepared. Nobody rebuilds them. The claim goes in with the evidence attached, the Nominated Authority verifies instead of querying, and the line clears in the month the work was done.
"They know exactly how we're tracking and if we're on programme. Our last progress claim was 900 pages long, because it had a copy of every single trench we worked on, with photos and comments attached."
Jeff Wright, Operations Manager, AE Smith
The cash argument for closing this gap, and the sequence for stopping a held claim, are in No proof, no payment. This post is the diagnostic side of it.
How CONQA closes the gaps
CONQA is construction QA software built so the record keeps pace with the build. Checks are completed at the work face on a phone or tablet, against the specific ITP item and lot, with photos and measurements attached to the check they belong to. Hold points are released digitally with an audit trail of who approved what and when. NCRs are raised and closed against the lot. The claim-ready record assembles from what was captured, and it stays yours, exportable in full.
Bring us a claim that got held last month. We'll show you which lot record the Nominated Authority couldn't find, and what that lot looks like captured as the work happened.
Held claims: the questions people ask
What is the difference between a held claim and a rejected claim?
A rejected line means the Nominated Authority has decided the work does not conform or is not payable under the contract. A held line means they cannot verify it yet, usually because a QA record is missing or incomplete. Held lines come back onto the next claim once the record is supplied. Most civil contractors lose far more cash flow to held lines than to rejected ones.
Why do progress claims get held when the work is complete?
Because the Nominated Authority certifies conformed work, and conformance is established by the record. Finished fill, laid pipe or placed concrete cannot be certified until the lot's ITP checks, hold-point releases, test results and NCR closures exist in the format the contract requires. If the record is still being assembled at month-end, the work is complete and the line is held.
Can the Nominated Authority hold the whole claim for one missing record?
Claims are normally assessed line by line, so one missing record holds the lot or line it belongs to rather than the whole claim. In practice the same gap tends to repeat across every lot worked that month, so a single habit, such as hold-point releases by text, can hold most of a claim. Check your contract, as principals differ in how they treat retention and documentation.
What should I do when a claim line is held for missing QA?
Read the reason on the payment schedule, find the lot it names, and close the specific gap: supply the test result, get the hold-point release signed, disposition the NCR, close the lot. Resubmit the line on the next claim. Then fix the capture habit that left the gap, because the same lot type will be claimed again next month.