# How do I check a tender against the approved Cap Ex?

Paul Duddy, Founder, Skirr AI
Last updated: 25 October 2026

Overruns, unbudgeted items and missing scope, flagged against the approved figure.

Headline result: 2 issues to resolve before the final account. The forecast is £834,100 against an approved £810,000, a variance of +£24,100. 60% of the £40,000 contingency is used.

## What did the client ask for?

A Scottish property investment company refurbished a business centre. Their director wanted to:

> Analyse tender documents and tenders received to understand any risk elements (increased cost) compared with Approved Cap Ex figure

The Skill reads the tender report, the Cap Ex approval, the invoices and the valuations. It lists every point where spend moved away from what was approved.

## What did the check find?

- Preliminaries are £7,500 over, at £102,500 against £95,000.
- The roof is £13,200 under and the windows and doors are £5,700 under.
- M&E is £16,900 over, at £241,900 against £225,000.
- Asbestos removal of £18,600 was not in the budget.
- External lighting is in the Cap Ex spec but excluded from the M&E tender, and is not yet priced.
- Valuation 4 retention was taken at 3%. The contract says 5%. The overpayment is £2,140.

“Skirr AI turned our brief into a clear, focused and user-friendly product.”
James Whiteford MRICS, Scottish Building Standards Hub

## What is included?

- Claude set up securely, on the right plan for your team.
- Claude Skills built around your own documents.
- Each Skill tested on 5 of your real examples.
- A 30-minute handover, so your team can run it on their own.
- A fixed price, agreed before I start.

HTML version: https://www.skirrai.com/tender-vs-approved-cap-ex