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Progress Billing

Construction Billing Software That Gets the Draw Certified First Time

Pay applications built from the job record instead of reassembled every month — schedule of values, percentage complete by line, stored materials, retainage, change-order lines, and the lien waivers that have to travel with the application.

See It in Action
Construction billing dashboard showing pay application status and retainage by job

A Rejected Draw Costs You Thirty Days, Not Thirty Minutes

Progress billing has an approval step that ordinary invoicing does not. An application goes to an architect, owner's representative, or lender, gets reviewed against the approved schedule of values, and is either certified or sent back. Sent back does not mean corrected that afternoon — it usually means the next billing cycle, because the review calendar does not restart for you.

The reasons applications come back are consistent and almost entirely preventable:

  • A percentage complete nobody can substantiate on a site walk
  • Stored materials claimed without paid invoices, or not yet on site and insured
  • Change-order work billed against base-contract lines because the change order was never executed
  • Arithmetic that does not tie back to the approved schedule of values
  • Missing conditional lien waivers from lower-tier subcontractors and suppliers

Every one of those is a documentation problem, which means it is solvable before submission rather than after rejection. Model the application first with the free schedule of values calculator.

Everything the Application Needs, On the Job Record

Schedule of values

Line items inherited from the accepted contract, with scheduled value, cumulative percentage complete, stored materials, and balance to finish — the G703 detail behind the summary.

Retainage that tracks itself

The contract rate applied to every draw, step-downs handled, and the accumulated balance reported as retainage receivable by job so it is chased rather than forgotten.

Change orders in the billing

Approved changes add their own lines and adjust the contract sum, so change-order work is billed against something the reviewer can certify.

Documentation that travels

Photos, delivery tickets, supplier invoices, and lien waivers captured against the job as work happens, so they attach to the application instead of being hunted down.

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Pay application detail showing line-item percentage complete, stored materials, and retainage

Retainage Is the Receivable Everyone Forgets

Retainage is withheld from every draw, accumulates for the length of the job, and is close to pure profit — on a job carrying a 10% margin, a 10% retainage rate holds back roughly the entire profit until closeout. Yet it is rarely on anyone's receivables report, because it is not overdue in the normal sense until closeout conditions are met.

The other half of the problem is that release depends on paperwork rather than on the work: lien waivers, warranties, O&M manuals, and as-builts. Contractors who capture closeout documentation as the job runs get released weeks earlier. Quantify your own exposure with the retainage calculator and check the portfolio picture with the WIP schedule calculator.

See the Platform
Accepted proposal flowing into the billing baseline for progress billing

Bill Against the Contract You Actually Signed

The most common cause of billing friction is a break between the accepted proposal and the billing baseline. The estimate lives in one system, the schedule of values is retyped into a spreadsheet, and from then on the two drift — so change orders land in one place and percentages in another, and reconciling them becomes a monthly ritual.

SubcontractorHub carries the accepted proposal into the billing baseline directly, so the numbers you bill are the numbers you signed. Works alongside your accounting system rather than replacing it. See proposals, project management, and integrations.

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Worth a look if you:

Billing is where commercial cash flow is won or lost, and it is usually the last part of the business still running on a spreadsheet.

Talk to the Team
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Submit monthly pay applications against a schedule of values

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Rebuild the same billing spreadsheet every month

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Have had a draw sent back over documentation rather than the work

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Cannot say what retainage is outstanding across your jobs right now

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Bill change-order work that was performed before approval

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Need billing detail your accounting package does not model

Common Questions

What is construction billing software?

Construction billing software produces the pay applications that commercial construction runs on. Rather than a single invoice, it bills progressively against an approved schedule of values: percentage complete per line item, materials presently stored on site, retainage withheld at the contract rate, and previous certificates deducted, arriving at a current payment due. It also tracks lien waivers, certified payroll where required, and retainage receivable by job.

How is progress billing different from invoicing?

An invoice bills for something finished. A progress bill claims a portion of a contract that is still underway, which means it has to be justified rather than simply stated. Every draw carries a percentage complete for each line that someone can dispute, supporting documentation, and a retainage deduction, and it is certified by an architect or owner's representative before payment. That approval step is why a badly assembled application delays cash by weeks rather than days.

What is an AIA G702 pay application?

G702 is the Application and Certificate for Payment published by the American Institute of Architects — a one-page summary showing the contract sum, change orders, total completed and stored to date, retainage, previous payments, and the current payment due, signed and usually notarised. It is supported by G703, the continuation sheet carrying the line-by-line schedule of values. Many owners require these specific forms, and many others use a substantially identical format.

Does construction billing software handle retainage?

It has to, because retainage is withheld from every draw and accumulates across the job. Good billing software applies the contract rate automatically, handles a step-down where the contract reduces the rate at a completion milestone, tracks the accumulated balance as retainage receivable by job, and flags when release conditions are met. Retainage left untracked is the most commonly forgotten receivable in construction, and it is close to pure profit.

Why do pay applications get rejected?

Most rejections come from a handful of avoidable causes: a percentage complete that cannot be substantiated on a site walk, stored materials claimed without paid invoices or proof they are on site and insured, change-order work billed against base-contract lines because the change order was never executed, arithmetic that does not tie to the approved schedule of values, or missing lien waivers from lower-tier subcontractors. Each restarts the approval cycle and pushes payment a month.

What are conditional and unconditional lien waivers?

A conditional waiver releases lien rights only once payment actually clears, while an unconditional waiver releases them outright regardless of whether you are paid. The distinction is not a technicality: signing unconditional waivers to get a draw processed can leave you with no lien rights and no money. Standard practice is to provide conditional waivers with the application and unconditional ones only after funds have cleared, and several states prescribe the exact form.

How does billing software improve cash flow?

Mostly by removing delay rather than by chasing harder. When the schedule of values, percentages, change orders, and supporting documents come off the job record instead of being reassembled monthly, applications go out on the billing date rather than a week late, and they are more likely to be certified on the first pass. Getting a draw approved on the first submission rather than the second is typically worth 30 days of cash on that job.

Can construction billing software work alongside QuickBooks?

For most specialty contractors, yes, and that is usually the right arrangement. The accounting system remains the ledger of record for the general ledger, payables, and payroll, while the billing side handles what accounting packages model poorly: the schedule of values, percentage complete by line, retainage receivable, and change-order status. What matters is that certified amounts and retainage reconcile cleanly between the two rather than being re-entered by hand.

Run One Draw With Us

Book a demo and bring a current pay application. We will rebuild it on the platform so you can see exactly what changes about assembling next month's.

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