The consultant issues a document, the owner receives it, the contractor gets a copy. A month later any of them can be working from something the others have not seen.
It exists as a file that was sent. Amendments, addenda and superseded versions circulate by email and nobody can say which is current.
Not about the rate or the contract. About whether the third floor slab was counted, and whether the consultant saw it before or after the pour.
Materials and wages are paid before the certificate issues. Every week of delay is working capital the contractor supplies at their own cost.
The owner holds the money and the consultant is paid either way. Only the party waiting has any reason to chase, and chasing costs goodwill.
What helps most is the real sequence on a project you worked on, including how long a certificate actually took.