Free tool

Construction pay application generator

Enter your schedule of values and this period's progress. The finished application and continuation sheet build themselves as you type, and we flag the errors that get pay apps rejected before you send it.

Subcontractor format Retainage on work and stored material Print or save as PDF

Application and continuation sheet, both built as you type

The calculator is free and open. Printing asks for your details once, and once only, then this job and every later one print without asking again.

Your pay application is not printed yet

Use the "Print or save as PDF" button on the page and fill in the short form first. It takes about fifteen seconds, it is asked once, and your figures stay exactly as you left them.

1

Project and parties

2

Schedule of values

One row per line item. Previous work is work installed and billed on applications before this one. This period is work installed now. The two stored columns are material on site but not yet installed, which must never be counted in either work column: previously stored is material already billed as stored on an earlier application and still sitting there, and stored this period is material arriving now.

Item Description of work Scheduled value Previous work This period Previously stored Stored this period Completed & stored % Balance

When previously stored material is installed, move its value out of previously stored and into this period on the same row. Completed and stored does not move, so the tie to the prior certificate holds, and the material stops being retained at the stored rate.

Your schedule of values does not tie to the contract sum. The line items total but the subcontract sum to date is , a difference of . A contractor will usually reject an application where these two do not agree.
billed past its scheduled value. Completed and stored cannot exceed the scheduled value on a line item unless a change order raised it first.
3

Change orders

Only approved change orders belong here. Work you have started on a change order nobody has signed is not billable, and carrying it quietly is one of the most common ways a profitable job stops being one.

4

Contract sum, retainage and previous payments

What has already been certified on earlier applications. Totals the previous work column less retainage on completed work, plus previously stored material less retainage at the stored rate. That is line 6 as it stood on the last application, so it only matches your prior certificate if nothing has changed on earlier lines since.
5

Certification and signature

The printed application carries the certification statement, the signature and date lines, and the notary block, on the right of the summary page. An application sent without a signed certification comes back as fast as one that does not add up, so sign it before it goes out. Name and title are optional here; leave them blank and the document prints ruled lines to sign by hand.

Whether the notary block has to be completed depends on your subcontract. Many general contractors require a notarized application on every draw; others only on the first and the final. It prints either way, so an unused block costs you nothing.

Completed & stored$0.00
Retainage held$0.00
Balance to finish$0.00
Current payment due$0.00

Where should we send anything you need after this?

Your pay application prints the moment you submit. Nothing is emailed to you and you are not asked again on this browser.

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Why they come back

Rejections are almost never about the work

They are about the paperwork not tying together. A rejected application does not get paid late, it gets paid next cycle, which is thirty days of payroll you still have to cover. These are the three that come back most often.

Reason one

The schedule of values does not add up to the contract

Line items have to total the subcontract sum to date, change orders included. When they drift apart, usually because a change order was added to the summary but never given its own line, the reviewer stops reading. This tool checks it on every keystroke and names the exact difference.

Reason two

A line item is billed past its scheduled value

You cannot bill 110% of a line. If the work genuinely grew, the change order has to be approved and the scheduled value raised first. Billing through it instead is the single fastest way to have the whole application sent back.

Reason three

Retainage taken on the wrong base

Completed work and stored material are often held at different rates, and stored material must not appear in the work columns as well. Getting this wrong understates what you are owed, which is a mistake that quietly costs you rather than getting caught.

Questions

About this document

What is a pay application?

On most commercial jobs you do not send an invoice. You send a summary page showing what the contract is worth, what you have earned to date, what is being held back as retainage and what is therefore due this month, backed by a continuation sheet breaking the job into line items. Contractors call the pair a pay app, and general contractors, owners and lenders all expect the same column structure.

Do I need both sheets, or just the summary?

Both, always. They are a matched pair. The summary page only asserts a number; the continuation sheet is the evidence for it, and the summary's own line 4 is simply the continuation sheet's column H total carried across. A reviewer checks one against the other, so sending the summary on its own is itself a reason to get sent back. On a job with many line items the continuation sheet can run to several pages while the summary stays one.

Why are there two retainage percentages?

Because contracts frequently hold a different rate on material sitting on site than on work actually installed, and some hold nothing at all on stored material. Tools that offer a single rate quietly force you to misstate one of the two.

Is this the AIA G702 and G703?

No. Those are copyrighted documents published and licensed per use by the American Institute of Architects. What this tool produces is not an AIA document, is not a substitute for one, and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the AIA. It is our own application and continuation sheet, in our own wording, following the same column structure that general contractors, owners and lenders expect to receive. If your subcontract specifically requires the AIA forms, license them from the AIA and use this to work out the figures you will enter on them.

Where does my data go?

Every figure is calculated in your browser, and your work is saved in this browser so you can come back to it later. Clearing your browser data clears it.