IndustriesSubcontracting and specialist trades
A subcontractor runs the contracting problem from the weaker side of the table. You certify nothing, you hold no retention, and the money arrives when the main contractor has been paid — which is not the same as when you have done the work.
Last reviewed
The accounting problem
01
The main contractor withholds a percentage of every claim and releases it against milestones you do not control, often long after your work is complete and the site has moved on. It is earned revenue sitting on someone else's balance sheet, and for a specialist trade finishing early in a programme the release can be two years after the last man left.
02
A progress claim is submitted, assessed and certified by the main contractor, who has an interest in the number being lower. The gap between claimed and certified is routine, has to be tracked per claim, and becomes the basis of a dispute that will be settled long after the revenue was recognised.
03
Payment terms frequently depend on the main contractor being paid by the employer, so a dispute two levels up stops your cash without stopping your obligations. Wages, plant hire and material suppliers do not wait for a certificate upstream.
04
A trade package is quoted as one rate but consumes labour that is fixed weekly and materials that are bought at market. Labour productivity against the allowance and material usage against the take-off are separate performance questions, and a single package margin cannot distinguish a crew running slow from a price that moved.
What NetSuite does about it
Retention withheld from you is carried as a receivable with the milestone and expected release date attached, out of the ordinary debtor ageing where it makes collections unreadable, and into a schedule somebody can chase.
Each claim carries what was submitted and what was certified, so the shortfall is visible per application and in aggregate, and the variation and dispute position is evidenced rather than remembered.
Expected receipts are driven by certification and payment terms rather than by invoice date, so the forecast shows the gap between what has been earned and what will arrive — which is the number that decides whether next month's payroll is funded.
Cost is captured against the package by type, so productivity against the labour allowance and usage against the material take-off report separately and the reason a package is losing money is identifiable while it is still running.
Compliance · the UAE
Claims and their certification adjustments both become structured electronic documents, which means a downward certification produces a credit note referencing the original — formalising an adjustment that is currently often handled by reissuing an invoice. Site labour runs through WPS.
UAE e-invoicing in NetSuite →A scoping call, not a sales qualifier. Bring the report you cannot produce today and we will tell you what it takes — and which of our builds is closest to it.