The commercial subcontractor tender handover checklist

Before the handover meeting

Confirm the accepted tender revision, client instruction to proceed, contract value, negotiated departures and the document set that forms the agreement. Mark any unresolved qualifications or contract items so they are not mistaken for accepted scope.

Prepare a concise handover pack that links to the underlying records rather than duplicating them. The pack should make risk visible, not hide it inside a large folder.

Commercial baseline

Transfer the detailed cost build-up by work package or cost code, including labour hours, labour rates, materials, waste, plant, subcontractors, preliminaries, escalation assumptions and margin. Identify where supplier pricing is firm, budgetary or expired.

Separate accepted value, provisional allowances and alternates. Record the assumptions that would materially change cost or programme if they prove incorrect.

Scope and interfaces

Review inclusions, exclusions, clarifications, client-supplied items and interfaces with adjacent trades. Pay particular attention to access, protection, substrate condition, services coordination, builders work, temporary works, testing, samples, shop drawings and finishing responsibilities.

Translate ambiguous interfaces into RFIs or early project actions. Do not wait for the issue to appear on site.

Programme and procurement

Confirm key dates, staging, work fronts, lead times, required approvals and labour peaks. Link material and supplier allowances to procurement actions with owners and required-by dates.

Identify items that could consume margin if ordered late, substituted, expedited or installed out of sequence.

Contract and commercial obligations

Record notice periods, variation procedures, extension-of-time requirements, claim dates, payment terms, retention, security, delay damages and required evidence. Assign ownership for each recurring obligation.

The project team should know what must happen when an instruction, delay or access issue occurs—not discover the contract process after the event.

First ten working days

Complete the contract document comparison, raise unresolved RFIs, confirm procurement and shop drawing programmes, establish site record standards, create the first claim calendar and review the forecast with the tender baseline loaded.

A project that starts with commercial clarity is easier to control than one that tries to reconstruct the baseline after mobilisation.

Turn the guidance into a repeatable workflow

SubbieTRAC is designed to keep the tender baseline, project records and commercial actions connected so these controls can happen as part of normal work rather than through another disconnected register.