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Tracking your money

Being certified is not being paid. Between the certificate and the money in your account sit payment cycles, approvals and someone else's priorities — and when that chain stalls, your cash carries the job while theirs doesn't.

What YPA does

How the money is supposed to move

In a standard South African building contract, payment is a chain — each link depends on the one before it:

1
You applyYour payment application — the work done and the money you're asking for.
2
The QS values itThe quantity surveyor measures and prices the work in the application.
3
The certificate is issuedThe principal agent issues a payment certificate for what's been valued.
4
The due date arrivesYour contract sets how many days after the certificate the client must pay.
5
The money landsProof of payment — the link most contractors forget to keep.

Where the money actually gets stuck

  • Applied but not certified — you asked, the QS hasn't valued it, or the agent hasn't certified. Your application is a request, not an entitlement.
  • Certified but unpaid — the strongest position you can be in. A certificate is the agent's written confirmation the work is valued and payable. If the due date has passed and it's still unpaid, you have something real to chase.
  • Certified, paid, but wrong — the QS valued lower than you applied, or deductions, contra-charges and retention have quietly nibbled it down. Most contractors can't see the arithmetic.

The difference that matters

There's a world of difference between applied, certified and paid:

If you chase before certification, you're asking. If you chase after the due date on a certified amount, you're collecting what's owed. The paperwork decides which one you're doing.

What a YPA sheet looks like

Every application goes onto the YPA Payment Tracker — one row per certificate, from application to cash. This is the actual sheet format YPA generates (filled with example rows):

YPA
YPA — Your Project Assistant · Payment Tracker Example project · generated sheet format
Cert NoPeriod EndApp DateApp AmountCertifiedRetentionAmount DueCert DatePayment DuePaid DatePaid AmountOutstandingDays OverdueStatusInterest ClaimableVerified BySource Tag
Cert 12025-10-312025-11-05850000807500425008075002025-11-252025-12-082025-12-02807500——Paid—QSManual
Cert 22025-11-302025-12-05920000874000460008740002025-12-242026-01-062026-01-05874000——Paid—QSManual
Cert 32025-12-312026-01-06980000931000490009310002026-01-262026-02-072026-02-03931000——Paid—QSManual
Cert 42026-01-312026-02-051050000997500525009975002026-02-252026-03-092026-03-04997500——Paid—QSManual
Cert 52026-02-282026-03-05120000011400006000011400002026-03-272026-04-082026-04-021140000——Paid—QSManual
Cert 62026-03-312026-04-05316000300200158003000002026-04-252026-05-082026-05-02300000——Paid—QSManual
Cert 72026-04-302026-05-05357000339150178503391502026-05-252026-06-08——339150118DueYesQSManual
Cert 82026-05-312026-06-05357000339150178503391502026-06-252026-07-08——33915055DueYesQSManual
Cert 92026-06-302026-07-05410000389500205003895002026-07-272026-08-082026-08-02389500——Paid—QSManual
Cert 102026-07-312026-08-05445000422750222504227502026-08-252026-09-07——42275024DueYesQSManual
Cert 112026-08-312026-09-05470000446500235004465002026-09-252026-10-08————Applied—QSManual
Cert 122026-09-302026-10-05500000—————————Applied—QSManual
3 due · 2 applied · interest flaggedYPA sorts overdue amounts to the top →
Example only — illustrative rows in the real YPA Payment Tracker sheet format (application → certified → paid, with retention and interest tracked).

What to do about it

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 timing, interest and suspension rights come from your signed contract — always check the contract before acting. YPA helps you track and draft; it doesn't give legal opinions.