Commercial due diligence / Guide 01
What to confirm before you agree a close-protection contractor rate
A rate should be clear enough to compare before you say yes. Use this short commercial check to make the role, rotation, rate band, expenses, invoice approval, and payment timing explicit.
The commercial check
Treat the headline day rate as one part of the decision. It only becomes useful when you can explain what the role and rotation require, what the band includes, and how an invoice turns into payment.
01
Name the role and the rotation in commercial terms
Start with the role you are agreeing to and the rotation pattern that supports it. A day-rate band is only useful when both sides mean the same thing by the role, the expected working rhythm, and the handover point between rotations.
02
Put the day-rate band beside the expected hours and expenses
A headline day rate is not the whole commercial picture. Confirm how the rate relates to the expected day, and whether the agreed figure is separate from reasonable expenses. If either point is unclear, the rate band cannot be compared cleanly.
03
Ask how an invoice moves to approval
Before you agree, establish who approves an invoice and what has to happen before it can be processed. This is a commercial workflow question: it helps distinguish a stated payment term from the practical path that triggers payment.
04
Confirm payment timing, not just a payment term
Ask when payment is expected after approval and whether the timing depends on a wider payment chain. A written term can look strong while the actual route to approval and payment is slow or uncertain.
A clean comparison
Keep the discussion commercial and specific.
- Role and rotation are clear enough to compare like with like.
- The day-rate band is understood alongside expected hours and expenses.
- Invoice approval has an identified commercial path.
- Payment timing is discussed as a practical outcome, not only a headline term.
How CircuitRates is building the picture
Structured commercial signals only.
CircuitRates is collecting structured commercial signals only: role, broad region band, day-rate band, rotation pattern, and payment-reliability choices. Results unlock only after enough qualifying anonymous submissions, and company-level results remain hidden until the five qualifying submissions threshold is met.
Contribute structured commercial signalsRelated checklist
12 Questions Before Signing