Backcharge
A backcharge is a cost incurred by one party, usually the head contractor, in rectifying another party’s defective or incomplete work, which is then charged back to the party responsible, typically by deduction from their payment.
Used the same way in Australia, the UK and North America, sometimes written back-charge or back charge. The contract sets the notice required before a backcharge can be made.
The classic case is one trade damaging another’s work: the plasterer cuts a cable, the electrician repairs it, the electrician’s cost is backcharged to the plasterer. Backcharges are disputed more than almost anything else, and the dispute turns on whether the cause, the notice and the cost were recorded at the time.
How IssuesId holds it
IssuesId separates who does the work from who pays. A defect carries the assignee, the contractor doing the rework, and a cost-to contractor, the party wearing the cost, with a cost category of backcharge. Work orders carry a back-charge flag naming the responsible contractor, and the list filters to back-charges only for the accounts team.
Two questions people ask
Definitions describe common usage and the usual shape of standard-form contracts. Your contract and your jurisdiction’s building law set the terms that apply to your job. The whole list is at the glossary.