The High Cost of Unverified Repairs in Education

What Are Unverified Repairs?

An unverified repair occurs whenever a school signs off on an invoice without physically checking the quality or completeness of the contractor's work. It sounds obvious, yet due to lack of time and messy communication, schools pay for unverified work every single month.

The Financial and Safety Impact

The financial impact is direct: the school wastes budget. However, the safety impact is worse. A contractor hired to fix a critical staircase railing who does a hasty, incomplete patch-job leaves behind a major liability for the school.

Implementing a "Verify-Then-Pay" Workflow

Using CAFM software makes enforcing this workflow automatic for every job, big or small. The framework:

• The contractor completes the job and is required to upload "After" photos directly to the digital Service Works Order.
• The facility manager is pinged, reviews the photos, and (where necessary) physically inspects the site.
• The facility manager "Completes" the SWO in the software.
• Only after the SWO reaches "Completed" status can the finance department accept an invoice. If the invoice amount does not match the approved SWO quote, it is instantly flagged.

Changing School Culture

It's vital to change the internal culture, making accountability a standard, unshakable part of the facility management process. Once vendors know your school actually verifies 100% of the work, the quality of their initial service delivery drastically improves.