The final account: steps, statutory time limits and points of vigilance

The final account comes after handover, which starts the statutory time limits running. It should not be confused with the last interim valuation, which is a monthly progress document: the final account is the definitive settlement, encompassing and closing all the valuations that preceded it.

Its structure is cumulative. It restates the original contract sum, adds every signed variation, deducts contractual damages and retention, and arrives at the total due to the contractor over the whole contract. The balance shown is the difference between that total and the sum of the valuations already paid.

ℹ The final account and the statutory warranties: two different horizons Signing the final account settles the contract financially, but it does not end the contractor's obligations. The statutory warranties run independently: the one-year defects liability period, the two-year warranty on equipment, and the ten-year structural liability. Retention itself is released one year after handover, or replaced by an on-demand bank guarantee where the contract so provides.

On public contracts governed by the general conditions, the final account procedure is rigorously framed. Each step carries a time limit whose breach has precise consequences for whoever is responsible.

The most critical steps are the contractor's submission of its statement, the design team's tacit agreement, and payment of the balance. A design team that fails to respond to the draft final statement within 30 days has agreed to it tacitly, even if it contains contestable items. A client slow to authorise the balance generates interest automatically.

ℹ Claims being barred The step most often overlooked is the bar on claims: if the contractor does not object to the general account within 30 days of notification, it permanently loses the right to claim, even where it believes items have been unfairly excluded. The rule cuts both ways: it protects the client against late claims, but it obliges the economist to make sure the account issued to the contractor is complete and correct before notification.

A properly drawn final account contains the following, in this order:

• The original contract: the sum notified at signature, before variations.
• The signed variations: a list and the amount of each, with its number and date of signature. Work carried out without a signed variation does not appear — which is precisely why formalising variations during construction matters so much.
• Price revisions: the contractual revisions calculated on the parametric formula in the administrative conditions, with the reference indices at the date of application.
• Delay damages: the number of days of delay established, the contractual daily rate, the total deducted. The economist checks that they are correctly calculated and that the base contract period, before any extensions granted, is the one used.
• Retention: 5 % of the total excluding VAT, deducted cumulatively from the valuations. It is released one year after handover on production of a signed clearance of defects.
• The net balance: the amount due to the contractor after deducting every valuation paid, the damages and the retention.

How to read it: on this package the client has already paid 189,000 € through the monthly valuations. The final account establishes a balance of 9,660 € payable immediately, plus 10,500 € of retention to be released a year after handover once all defects are cleared.

The economist makes sure every signed variation is included, no more and no less. An omitted variation prejudices the contractor; an unsigned one included in the final statement creates a contractual commitment the client never approved.

Calculating revisions is a frequent source of error and dispute. The economist verifies the indices used — reference date, base index and index at application — the parametric formula applied and the result. In a period of strong material inflation the effect of revisions can be significant, several percentage points on long contracts.

Delay damages are calculated on the real contract period, taking account of every extension granted by written instruction during construction. A calculation that overlooks a legitimate 15-day extension can generate a dispute over a substantial sum.

If the contractor has carried out additional work without a signed variation and includes it in its draft statement, the economist must handle it precisely. On public contracts, work carried out without a written instruction is not payable, though the administrative courts have sometimes allowed exceptions on the basis of unjust enrichment. On private contracts the position is more nuanced according to the evidence available: written exchanges, tacit approval, meeting minutes.

The contractor may contest the general account if it considers that work carried out has not been paid for, that the damages are unjustified or excessive, or that the price revisions have been miscalculated. It has 30 days from notification to record its objections and its claim.

The economist examines those claims: verifying the material the contractor produces, setting its reading of the file against the contractor's, and proposing a settlement to the client. If disagreement persists, litigation or arbitration takes over.

The client may for its part contest items it considers non-compliant or not carried out. The economist helps document those objections precisely: reference to the specification, the handover certificate with its defects, inspection reports. An insufficiently documented objection rarely succeeds.

Quostra produces final accounts for every package of an operation, from the final statement submitted by each contractor and the contract records: valuations paid, signed variations, handover certificate, written instructions. The deliverable is a final account per package in Word and Excel, with the price revision calculations set out in detail and a note on any disputed points. Production time: 5 to 7 working days from receipt of the contractor's draft final statement.

You have better things to do. Submit your project on quostra.com and an economist draws up your final account and manages the financial closure of your site.

The final account is the document that closes a works contract financially. Producing it follows a precise timetable whose breach carries direct contractual consequences: tacit agreement, interest for late payment, claims barred. Its content brings together the original contract, the variations, the price revisions, the damages and the retention to arrive at the net balance due. Rigour in drawing it up — checking the variations included, verifying the revisions, handling work done without a variation — is what guarantees a calm close with no residual dispute.