The Lenders’ Independent Engineer sits between the borrower’s construction team and the lender’s credit team. Its job is to make sure money leaves the bank only against physical progress that has actually happened.

What is verified on site

  • Physical progress against the approved schedule, by work package.
  • Quality and compliance with approved drawings and specifications.
  • Fund utilisation: certified bills against work done, and reconciliation with the drawdown schedule.
Dated, geotagged site photographs are part of every monthly LIE report.
Dated, geotagged site photographs are part of every monthly LIE report. Photo: iMahesh · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

What a monthly report should contain

Progress photographs with dates and geotags, an S-curve comparison of planned versus actual, a cost-to-complete estimate, a register of variations and claims, and a clear flag list: delays, overruns and any sign of diversion.

An illustrative project S-curve: cumulative physical progress
  • Q18%
  • Q222%
  • Q341%
  • Q463%
  • Q584%
  • Q6100%

Illustrative curve. The LIE compares actual progress against this schedule every month and flags slippage early.

Catching problems early

Cost overrun and diversion are visible months before they appear in the accounts — in slipping milestone dates, unexplained variations and bills that outpace physical work. That is what the LIE is there to see.

Progress is verified on the ground — poured concrete, erected steel, installed equipment — not from the contractor’s invoices.
Progress is verified on the ground — poured concrete, erected steel, installed equipment — not from the contractor’s invoices. Photo: Justin Morgan from Richmond, Virginia, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons