USE CASE - CONSTRUCTION
Construction
A quantity surveyor sees which subcontracts carried the retention term the firm rejected last year, and screens the next one before it is signed.
THE PAIN
Terms that stop flowing down the chain
A commercial director or head of commercial at a main contractor runs many live projects at once, each with its own package of subcontracts. The same subcontract template, groundworks, mechanical and electrical, and others, are signed with many subcontractors across many sites, and main contract terms are supposed to flow down into each one and often do not. Retention percentages, payment terms, and liability positions vary between subcontractors in ways nobody tracked.
What they fear is the reconstruction: a dispute that forces the team to rebuild who agreed to what, at what cost, under time pressure, while a bad clause signed on one side is being signed again on the next. Construction carries the highest arbitration case load share of any sector, at 28% (ICC, 2025).
Do you know what every subcontract on every site says?
Three yes or no questions. About 30 seconds.
Question one of three
Do retention, payment, or liability terms vary between your subcontractors in ways nobody has tracked?
Question two of three
Could a clause you rejected on one site be signed again on the next?
Question three of three
In a variation dispute, would your team have to rebuild who agreed to what from the paperwork?
Your results
If you answered yes to any of these questions, book a call with Consolidocs today.
Book a callTHE PREVENTION
Open with CD Truth, scale into CD Playbook
CD Truth holds the flow down chain current from the main contract to every subcontract. CD Playbook then compares one subcontract template across every subcontractor and site, ranks the outliers, and screens new subcontracts before signature. Later, CD Performance tracks variation and delay claims against contracted terms, in both directions.
The consolidated database. What you actually have, and whether it holds together.
Your own contracts compared against each other, then future drafts screened against the result.
ACROSS THE BUSINESS
Margin protected at the top, time saved on every site
The commercial director or head of commercial protects margin across the whole portfolio. Quantity surveyors and commercial managers on each project rate variances and screen drops day to day. Procurement and legal get a standard the estate can be measured against.
COMMON QUESTIONS
Answers directly
How do we check that subcontracts carry the terms of the main contract?
CD Truth holds the flow-down chain from main contract to every subcontract, current to the last variation, so you can see where a term failed to pass down.
How do we stop a bad retention or liability clause being signed again on the next site?
CD Playbook compares subcontracts across sites and subcontractors, and screens new drafts against your own standard before signature.