CERTIFICATES AND PAYMENT 145 



In connection with a contract for large works it is not 

 unusual to set out a schedule of the various kinds of work to 

 be done. Opposite this are three columns showing (a) the 

 value of work agreed and estimated ; (b) the value of the 

 work executed to date ; and (c) the value of the estimated 

 balance of work to be executed. The value of the estimated 

 amount of work done, less the retention money will then be 

 the amount payable under the certificate. (A form of this 

 kind of certificate will be found in Hudson's Building Con- 

 tracts, Vol. II., p. 673.) 



5. " Final " certificate. The contract usually provides 

 that the balance of all sums due shall be paid to the con- 

 tractor when the engineer certifies that the works are finally 

 completed to his satisfaction. The document which embodies 

 this opinion is what is known as the final certificate. It is 

 usually provided, in the clause relating to certificates, that 

 the certificate is not to affect the contractor's liability to make 

 good defects appearing within a certain time after completion. 

 Unless some such clause appears it is manifest that the 

 engineer should exercise the greatest care, for the final cer- 

 tificate implies satisfaction ; otherwise the employer may 

 have to bear a heavy burden at some future time. 



In Wallace v. Brandon and Byshottles U. D. C., 1903, 

 2 H. B. C. 392, a contract provided that : " (1) The works 

 shall be completed in all respects ... on or before the 

 16th day of December, 1901, to the satisfaction of the sur- 

 veyor ... to be testified by a certificate under his hand, and 

 in default of such completion the contractor shall forfeit and 

 pay to the District Council the sum of one pound for each day 

 during which the works shall be incomplete after the said 

 time ... as and for liquidated damages ; (4) . . . the con- 

 tractor shall be paid by the Council at the rate of 80 per cent, 

 of the value of the work done in each month, and the balance 

 one month after completion of the contract. Provided that 

 the District Council shall not be required to pay to the con- 

 tractor any sum exceeding the value as valued by the said 

 surveyor or other officer, of so much of the works as shall 

 have been executed by the contractor during the preceding 

 month." 



The contractor commenced the work, and from time to 

 time sent n accounts which were initialed by the surveyor. 



L.A.E. L 



