Progress billing
Schedule of values in, payment application out — with retainage done the way your contract actually holds it.
The application
The contract details come from the same record the change order tool writes to — approve a change there and the contract sum here moves on its own.
Retainage is held at a different rate on materials sitting on site than on work in place — sometimes none at all. Collapsing the two into one rate is the most common error on these applications, and it always costs you rather than them. Check your contract for both figures.
Schedule of values
Break the contract into the pieces you will bill against. It should total the contract sum — if it doesn’t, every percentage on the application is wrong, so the difference is checked and stated below.
No lines yet. Most people start from their estimate — the same breakdown that won the job is usually the right schedule of values.
Application 1 · 0 lines · saved on this device
Application and certificate for payment
Application no. 1
Contract sum
| Original contract sum | $0.00 |
| Net change by change orders | $0.00 |
| Contract sum to date | $0.00 |
Schedule of values
| Item | Description | Scheduled value | From previous | This period | Stored | Total to date | % | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No schedule of values entered. | ||||||||
| Totals | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | — | $0.00 | |
Payment due
| Total completed and stored to date | $0.00 |
| Retainage on completed work at 10% | ($0.00) |
| Retainage on stored materials at 10% | ($0.00) |
| Total retainage held | ($0.00) |
| Total earned less retainage | $0.00 |
| Less previous certificates for payment | ($0.00) |
| Current payment due | $0.00 |
| Balance to finish, including retainage | $0.00 |
The contract is 0.0% complete by value.
The undersigned certifies that the work covered by this application has been completed in accordance with the contract documents, that all amounts have been paid by the contractor for work for which previous certificates for payment were issued and payments received, and that payment shown herein is now due.
An AIA-style application in the conventional format. It is not a reproduction of AIA’s G702 or G703 documents; where a contract requires those specific forms, use this for the arithmetic and the backup.
The line that costs contractors money
Retainage. It is held at one rate on work in place and often a different rate on materials sitting on site — sometimes none at all on stored materials. Almost every free template applies a single rate to everything, and that error only ever runs one way: it under-bills you, not the owner. Both rates are separate fields here and both are shown on the application.
The schedule of values has to add up
Your line values should total the contract sum. When they don’t, every percentage-complete figure on the application is wrong and nothing on the form tells you — you find out on application five. So the difference is checked and stated plainly. Approved change orders normally need lines of their own for the totals to reconcile.
Closing a period
When an application is certified, this period’s work becomes previous work, the period columns clear, and the certificate total carries forward. Doing that by hand across a spreadsheet is exactly where running totals drift, so it is one button.
Where it meets the other tools
This and the change order tool read and write one contract record. Approve a change there and the contract sum here moves on its own — they cannot disagree about what the job is worth, which is the failure mode when the two live in separate spreadsheets.
Your estimate is usually the right schedule of values already: the breakdown that won the job is the breakdown to bill against. For smaller work with no contract sum to draw against, the invoice is the simpler document. And on commercial jobs, the subcontractors billing you should have a current certificate on your COI register before their line gets paid.
An AIA-style payment application in the conventional format — not a reproduction of AIA’s copyrighted G702 or G703 documents. Where a contract requires those specific forms, use this for the arithmetic and the backup. General information, not legal or accounting advice; your contract governs retainage, timing and what must be submitted. Everything is built on your device.