What to do if your builder misses a milestone

Milestones occasionally slip. Most missed milestones recover within days; some don't. Start with your builder — they're closest to the cause and the recovery.

Step 1 — Talk to your builder

Ask three things:

• What's caused the slip? A late delivery, a sick trade, a hidden defect, a customer-side decision still pending — most slips come from a specific cause.
• Will it affect the wider programme? Sometimes a slip is absorbed by the next phase; sometimes it pushes downstream milestones too.
• If it does, please update the expected milestone dates for the rest of the project. Updated dates on the platform make the slip visible and keep both sides clear on where the project is now.

A short message is usually enough at this stage. Most slips sort themselves out with a five-minute conversation.

Step 2 — Escalate to your build advisor if you need to

If you're not satisfied with your builder's answer — the cause doesn't quite explain the slip, the recovery date feels optimistic, the conversation isn't getting somewhere — bring in your build advisor. They'll review the project record, talk to your builder, and help you land on a clear picture of what's actually happening.

What about the milestone payment?

Milestone payments are tied to milestone completion, not to a calendar date. If the milestone is late, the payment is late — the builder doesn't get paid for work that hasn't happened. The funds stay in your Beams Account until you approve the milestone. The article Where your money sits at each stage covers the structure.

When the slip is bigger than a single missed milestone

If your builder is running materially behind across multiple milestones, that's a more serious conversation. The article What to do if your project is significantly delayed covers it.

Related articles

• How construction payments work
• How we tell you about timeline changes
• What to do if your project is significantly delayed