Build the T&M invoice to survive the algorithm that's going to read it
Archive story from the 2026-07-29 edition. This is the reporting as filed; source publication and event dates may differ. Check the dated storyline for subsequent developments.
Dillon argues the signed agreement has to govern the whole time-and-materials process, because invoices are increasingly hitting automated reviews, AI assessments, and "opaque reduction logic" that ignore contract terms. His fix: get the signed contract in the reviewer's hands first, keep daily narrative records tying labor/materials/equipment back to the agreement, and align the file to S500/S520 so a thin file can't be quietly discounted.
Why it matters
T&M is where large-loss margin lives and dies, and the thing reducing your invoice now may not be an adjuster reading it, it may be software scoring it. Contractors with agreement-anchored daily documentation defend charges; contractors with thin files get trimmed automatically.
Our assessment
Better paperwork sounds like the answer a vendor would sell you, and some of it is. The part that is true anyway: the review side automated faster than the billing side, so software now scores your invoice before a person reads it. Anchor every daily entry to the signed agreement and the standard you worked to, and make the file machine-legible before it goes out.
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Advisory/Vendor (byline by Greg Dillon, founder of TM+/TM Institute, disclosed conflict; TM+ bought AI vendor Vigilince last week) Medium confidence at publication
How we got here
Storyline: operator economics 9 stories so far
What changed getting-paid moves from "adjuster negotiation" to "surviving automated invoice review," making machine-legible documentation the new margin skill.
- 2 earlier stories on this storyline
- The benchmarking survey says the squeeze isn't letting up
- Quick hits
- A maturing industry under pressure (Porter's Five Forces, part 2)
- Owner-sentiment content is circling succession and honesty
- The whole trade press is suddenly writing "the industry is maturing" at once
- Claims are fewer but far bigger, LexisNexis puts a number on the shift
- Build the T&M invoice to survive the algorithm that's going to read it You are here