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Schedule of values software that survives the whole job

The schedule of values is the spine of every draw you will bill on this job. Set it up badly and you spend the next nine months arguing about percentages. Set it up once, properly, and each period is arithmetic.

What you will do

  • Set the schedule once
  • Bill against it each month
  • Keep the totals matching

Why the schedule decides how the job gets paid

Every progress billing is measured against it. Each line carries its scheduled value. Then the work done before, the work done this time, the material stored, the total done and stored, and what is left to finish. The whole G703 continuation sheet is that structure repeated per line.

Lines that are too coarse cost you money. One lump 'roofing' line means you argue about a single percentage every month. Lines that follow real, finishable scopes let you bill what is actually done and defend it.

It has to reconcile upward. The grand total of completed and stored work on the schedule is the number that carries into the pay-application summary. A schedule that does not sum is a rejected application waiting to happen.

Stored materials are a line item, not a favour. Some contracts let you bill for material that is on site but not up yet. The schedule is where you track it, with whatever retainage your contract calls for.

Building a schedule of values that holds

The FL Permit Pay pay applications workspace, showing the schedule of values with each line's contract meaning.
  1. 1

    Break the contract into scopes you can finish

    Divide by work that has a recognisable completion, not by internal cost codes. If nobody can look at the roof and agree a line is done, that line will be argued about every single period.

  2. 2

    Assign scheduled values that total the contract

    The line values sum to the original contract sum. Front-loading is the classic temptation and the classic way to lose credibility with a GC who has seen it before.

  3. 3

    Bill against it each period

    Record work completed this period per line, plus any materials stored where the contract allows it, and let total completed and stored compute rather than typing it. Executed change orders come in as their own lines; pending ones stay off.

  4. 4

    Reconcile before you send

    Check that the schedule's grand total matches the pay-application summary. Check that retainage was applied on each line, at the rate your project allows.

  5. 5

    Keep the schedule with the job

    The schedule lives on the job record, so every draw for the next nine months is measured against the same agreed breakdown.

What the software does and does not decide

Progress-to-PayToday's listjobs
  • FL Permit Pay keeps the schedule of values on the job. It rolls each period's finished and stored work into the pay application. Then it checks the summary against the schedule before you download it.
  • You set the retainage rate. The ceiling depends on the kind of job. Private Florida work is set by the contract, with no cap in the statute (Fla. Stat. 715.12), state public work caps at 5% (Fla. Stat. 255.078, not applicable under $200,000), and local public work caps at 5% with a small-entity 10% allowance (Fla. Stat. 218.735).
  • Percent complete is a judgement your team records, not something the software observes in the field. The tooling enforces the arithmetic, not the honesty of the input.
  • This is decision support, not legal advice about your contract or your lien rights.

Common questions

What is a schedule of values?

It is the contract sum broken into billable lines, each with a scheduled value. You bill progress against it. On each line you record work done before, work done this period, and materials stored. That gives you total completed and stored, the percentage, and the balance to finish. It is what goes on the AIA G703 continuation sheet.

How detailed should the lines be?

Detailed enough that each line has a completion an owner or GC can agree on, and no more. Break the work into pieces someone can finish. Then the line gets approved. One lump line for a whole trade turns every draw into an argument over one number.

Can I bill for materials I have delivered but not installed?

Only if your contract allows it. Where it does, stored materials get their own column on the schedule. They carry into the completed-and-stored total, and retainage applies the way the contract says.

Put the guide to work.

Set the schedule of values once on the job. Then bill every period against it. You never rebuild the sheet.

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