Approval Workflows for Construction: POs, Progress Claims & Retention
Approval workflows for construction govern high-value, multi-document commitments: purchase orders by site, progress claims against work actually done, and retention releases that close out contracts.
Construction approvals die on paper volume — one project generates hundreds of POs, claims, variations, and invoices, each needing the site's confirmation and the office's sign-off. This page maps the chains that survive that volume. The verification backbone: the three-way match.
The three construction chains
- Site POs — materials ordered by site managers, routed by value: small to the project manager, large to the commercial team: procurement approvals
- Progress claims — subcontractor payment claims verified against completed work before approval: the claim, the evidence, and the site sign-off attached
- Retention & final release — the holdback released at practical completion: engineer's certificate attached, approval chain run, evidence locked
The control that matters most: variations on record
Construction disputes live in the variations — the changes agreed verbally on site, priced by email, and litigated two years later. A variation approval workflow (scope change → cost impact → client and commercial sign-off → recorded) turns the dispute into a lookup. The claim-verification pattern: payment approval.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do construction companies approve subcontractor claims?
Verified against work completed — site confirmation attached, valued against contract, then routed by amount with retention tracked separately until release.
Approvdit runs site POs, progress claims, and retention releases with the full evidence chain — attachments on every request, exports for every dispute. Book a live demo.