Contractor guide · No 6 of 8

What you owe

Your payment tracker watches the money coming in. The payables register watches the money going out — the subcontractor invoices, the supplier statements, the retention you hold on their work. Most contractors know what they're owed to the rand but only roughly what they owe — and the gap is where cash flow gets squeezed: the certificate lands late, but the wages don't wait.

What YPA does

Reads every invoice out of your inbox and WhatsApp — subcontractor and supplier invoices, forwarded, emailed or photographed — and files each as a dated row on the Payables Register: the amount, the due date and what it's for. A paper claim handed over on site is captured the same day from a photo.
Runs the register alongside the Payment Tracker so both numbers are visible at any moment — the certified money waiting on the client, and the commitments waiting on you. Their difference is your real cash position.
Checks the dates each morning and tells you what falls due this week — and anything already past it — on WhatsApp or email, before the subbie phones to ask, not after.
Watches the retention you hold on each subcontractor — its release dates are tracked like your own, at practical completion and the end of the defects period, and flagged in the brief before they pass. Retention you hold is money you owe, with a date on it.
Keeps the provable trail on each row — invoice number, amount, due date, paid date and outstanding balance. When a supplier says the statement doesn't match, the answer is the register — and when the client's late payment squeezes you, you can see exactly what's waiting on what.
Files every invoice in your project folder and answers on demand — ask "what falls due this week?" or "send me the outstanding invoices" any time, on WhatsApp or email, and YPA answers from the register and sends the documents to the channel you name.

YPA never pays anyone. It watches the dates and keeps the record, so you pay on your terms — never late by accident, never early by forgetfulness.

How it actually runs

Every week brings invoices: subcontractor claims, supplier statements, plant, materials — each with an amount, a due date and a story.
Invoices arrive in different places — email, WhatsApp, a hand-delivered claim on site — and each one quietly joins the queue for your cash.
When you hold retention on a subcontractor — the usual practice, mirroring the main contract — you owe that money too, at the release dates: typically half at practical completion and the balance at the end of the defects period.
At any moment, two numbers decide whether the job is safe: what you're owed (and when it lands) and what you owe (and when it's due).

Where it usually goes wrong

Why "roughly" is the expensive word:

The due date nobody saw — a subbie's invoice falls due the same week the client's certificate is late. The subbie doesn't care whose certificate is late; the wages are Friday.
The invoice that arrived and vanished — handed over on site or photographed on a phone, then lost in the shuffle until the supplier phones about it.
The supplier statement that "doesn't match" — and there's no single record of what was invoiced, paid and still open to check it against.
Retention held, forgotten — months after the subcontractor's work was released, their retention still sits unpaid because the release date passed unmarked.

What a YPA sheet looks like

Every invoice goes onto the YPA Payables Register — one row per invoice, with the due date, the paid date and the balance.

YPA — Your Project Assistant · Payables Register Example project · generated sheet format

Invoice No	Supplier	Description	Amount	Due Date	Paid Date	Paid Amount	Outstanding	Status	Verified By	Source Tag
INV-2204	STEEL-SA	Steel fixings – Block A	124,500	2026-08-05	2026-08-04	124,500	—	Paid	—	Email
INV-2208	CON-SUP	Ready-mix – Block B slab	312,000	2026-08-19	2026-08-18	312,000	—	Paid	—	WhatsApp
INV-2211	PLUM-SUP	Sanitary ware – Block A	78,000	2026-08-26	2026-08-25	78,000	—	Paid	—	Email
INV-2214	STEEL-SA	Structural steel – Block B frame	412,000	2026-09-08	—	—	412,000	Due	—	Email
INV-2216	TILE-HOUSE	Porcelain tiles – communal	96,000	2026-09-12	—	—	96,000	Due	—	Email
INV-2217	ELEC-PRO	Switchgear – main DB deposit	25,800	2026-09-15	—	—	25,800	Due	—	Email
INV-2219	JOIN-WORKS	Timber doors – Block A	142,000	2026-09-19	—	—	142,000	Due	—	Email
INV-2220	ALU-SUP	Windows – Block A deposit	85,800	2026-09-22	—	—	85,800	Due	—	WhatsApp
INV-2221	Subbie – Tiling	Tiling labour – communal (retention held)	156,000	2026-10-02	—	—	156,000	Due	—	Email
INV-2222	Subbie – Steel erectors	Erection – Block B frame	98,000	2026-10-05	—	—	98,000	Due	—	Email

Open: R1,015,600 · next due 2026-09-08YPA tells you each morning what falls due →

Example only — illustrative rows in the real YPA Payables Register sheet format.

What you can do today

Forward or photograph every invoice the day it arrives — an undated invoice is an unmanaged one.
Keep the two numbers visible — what you're owed and what you owe. The gap between them is the job's real cash position.
Know your own due dates — the commitments heading this way before the month starts, not after they land.
Diary the retention you hold — their release dates are your obligations, with the same teeth as your own retention.

Want the full picture?

We've built YPA for the way African construction projects actually work. YPA is the site file with a memory. YPA is onboarding its first live builds in small, limited cohorts. Pilot places are free for a defined period — and if we ever charge, the plan and its price will be shown to you before anything is billed.

← Back to Contractor Guides Get on the list for a pilot place

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Payment terms, retention and release triggers for your subcontractors come from your signed subcontracts and the main contract — always check the contract before acting. YPA helps you track; it doesn't give legal or tax opinions.