The lender's draw inspection: what the cost consultant checks and how to be ready
The owner expects the next draw to support the progress payment. The lender’s reviewer arrives with a list of documents the site team has not seen. Work can be shown, but the application and supporting record use different cutoffs.
Prepare for a lender’s progress draw inspection by confirming the actual draw requirements with the owner and authorized financing contacts, matching the claimed progress to its supporting record, and arranging a walk that can show the relevant work. Coordinate the dates early. The owner’s financing arrangements and your construction contract are separate agreements; do not infer payment rights, draw entitlement or inspection scope from another lender’s published example.
Prepare the evidence and the visit together
- Obtain the current requirements through the owner. Confirm who requests the draw, what the reviewer needs and the submission and visit dates. Record unresolved questions rather than copying a checklist from another project’s loan.
- Reconcile the application cutoff. Match the schedule of values or agreed progress breakdown with the work record for the same date. Separate installed work, stored items and other amounts using the treatment actually accepted for this draw.
- Assemble the requested support. Provide the invoices, change status, progress evidence and other records specifically required, subject to proper access and privacy controls. Have the responsible company people check legal or commercial documents before they are issued.
- Plan the site walk by location. Tell the superintendent what must be visible and arrange safe access with the relevant leads. Identify covered or inaccessible work and ask what evidence is acceptable rather than assuming a photograph substitutes for every review.
- Record questions and follow-up. Keep the reviewer’s requests, response owner and date together. Correct a mismatch openly; a persuasive walk should not be used to hide incomplete work or an unsupported percentage.
- Update the forecast after confirmation. Show the draw’s status and remaining conditions separately from a forecast receipt. A Canadian lender's published home-construction mortgage example illustrates staged advances linked to completion or inspection; its example does not define another project’s draw process.
Common mistakes
- Using a lender’s sample draw percentages as universal rules.
- Showing later work without explaining the application cutoff.
- Treating a booked inspection as a confirmed cash receipt.
Action list
Before the reviewer arrives
- Confirm this draw’s requirements and contacts.
- Reconcile the progress cutoff.
- Check requested supporting documents.
- Arrange safe access to relevant locations.
- Keep conditions and follow-up visible.
Check your understanding
The site visit is complete, but a requested document is still outstanding. Can you forecast the draw as received?
