What Is a Schedule of Values? How the SOV Drives Progress Billing

On a lump-sum contract, the schedule of values is what turns "the job is about two-thirds done" into a number the general contractor will actually pay. Get it right and your monthly pay applications sail through approval. Get it wrong — too few line items, values that don't match the work, an obvious front-load — and every billing becomes an argument that delays your cash.

This guide explains what a schedule of values is, who reviews it, and how it behaves over the life of a job — from the first approval through change orders and reallocations to the final application. If you just need a blank one, our schedule of values template has the % of contract math and a tie-out check built in, and the G702/G703-style pay application template is what you bill it on each month, or the free pay application builder builds one in your browser.

What is a schedule of values?

A schedule of values (SOV) is a line-item breakdown of your total contract amount. Each line names a portion of the work and carries a scheduled value, and the lines add up to the contract sum. When you submit a pay application, you report how much of each line is complete; the application bills that percentage. It's the same idea behind the AIA G703 continuation sheet that backs up a G702 pay application — a structured way to show what you're billing for and why.

If you're new to the billing side of subcontracting, our AIA pay application guide walks through how the SOV and the G702/G703 forms fit together.

What to include in your schedule of values

Each line item on a typical SOV carries:

• Item number — a sequential reference for the line.
• Description — the scope that line covers (e.g. "Underground rough-in," "Equipment setting").
• Scheduled value — the dollar amount allotted to that line.
• Work completed — billed in prior periods plus this period.
• Materials presently stored — material delivered and invoiced but not yet installed.
• Total completed and stored to date, and the resulting percent complete.

Retainage (commonly 10%) is withheld from the amount due each period and released at closeout. The schedule of values is where that math becomes transparent to everyone signing off on the payment.

Who reviews the schedule of values, and when

You submit the SOV once, before your first pay application, and the GC's project manager reviews it — often with the architect or the owner's representative, and on lender-financed jobs sometimes the lender's inspector too. They are checking three things: that the lines add up to the contract sum, that each line is a recognizable piece of work they can verify in the field, and that the values aren't front-loaded. Once it's approved, it's fixed: every pay application for the rest of the job bills against those exact lines.

How to break down the contract sum

Start from your accepted bid. You've already broken the job into costs to price it; the SOV reorganizes those costs into the way you'll bill them. A few principles:

• Follow how the work installs. Break the job into the phases or activities your crews actually complete in sequence — mobilization, each major phase, and closeout. That makes each monthly percentage easy to justify.
• Right-size the lines. One lump-sum line gives the GC nothing to approve a partial payment against. Fifty hyper-granular lines turn every pay app into data entry. Aim for lines that map to recognizable milestones.
• Make every value defensible. If a reviewer asks "why is mobilization worth that much," you should have a cost answer. That's the test that keeps you out of front-loading trouble.
• Reconcile to the contract sum. The lines must total the current contract amount, including approved change orders.

How the schedule of values changes during the job

An approved SOV is fixed, but the contract it describes isn't. Four things change it, and each has a right way to handle it:

• Change orders become new lines. Add each approved change order as its own line, numbered to the change order, rather than inflating an existing line. The GC can then trace every dollar back to a signed change, and your original lines still tie to your bid.
• Reallocations need approval. If one line is going to overrun and another will come in under, you can't quietly move value between them. Ask the GC to approve the reallocation before you bill it.
• Stored materials bill once. Equipment delivered but not installed bills as materials stored on its line, then moves to work completed when it goes in — never both.
• The final application closes every line. At the end, each line goes to 100%, change order lines included, and the retainage held against all of them comes due. Our retainage guide covers how that release usually works.

See it in the software

In BuildWorkPro the schedule of values lives inside the pay application. The original contract sum and change orders total prefill from your accepted bid and approved change orders, so you start from real numbers — then each period you enter what's complete and what's stored per line, and the payment application summary rolls it up with retainage:

Common schedule-of-values mistakes

• Front-loading. Padding early lines to grab cash up front. Reviewers watch for it; it delays approvals and erodes trust.
• Too few line items. A coarse SOV makes partial billings hard to justify and invites the GC to under-approve your percentage.
• Forgetting stored materials. If you've taken delivery of long-lead equipment, bill it as materials stored instead of waiting until it's installed.
• Letting change orders drift. Every approved change order should update the contract sum and the SOV, or your billings will never reconcile.

The schedule of values isn't paperwork for its own sake — it's the structure that gets you paid on time, every period. Build it from your real costs, keep it tied to your bid and change orders, and the monthly billing stops being a negotiation.