It is the last week of the month and you owe the general contractor a pay application. You have a contract, work in the field, and a spreadsheet that almost foots. Almost. One line is off by a few hundred dollars, the retainage column has a stale rate, and if you submit it wrong the whole draw bounces and you wait another cycle for cash you already earned. This is the part of commercial work that residential billing never prepared you for, and it happens every single month for the life of the job.
BuildCrux is contractor management software built for small GCs and subs moving into commercial work. This piece is the hands-on version: not what the forms are, but how you actually run a draw in BuildCrux from start to finish. If you want the plain-English breakdown of the forms themselves first, read our companion explainer on the AIA G702 and G703. Then come back here for the monthly workflow.
New to the forms? Start with the G702 and G703 guide
Why running the draw is harder than the forms
The G702 and G703 are not complicated math. The trouble is doing that math correctly, every month, by hand, while you are also running a job. A spreadsheet does not stop you from making a mistake. It happily lets you submit a draw that will get rejected. Four failure modes cause most of the pain.
The schedule of values does not foot
A schedule of values that does not total the contract sum is the number one reason owners and architects reject a pay application. In a hand-built spreadsheet, one transposed figure or a deleted row breaks the reconciliation and nothing warns you. The architect cannot certify backup that does not tie out, so the draw comes back and you lose a cycle.
Retainage gets miscalculated or lost
Commercial contracts hold retainage, commonly 5 or 10 percent, on every payment until the job is substantially complete. Bill the full completed amount with no retainage held and the draw is wrong. Apply the rate inconsistently across lines and the totals drift. Worse, the held money is real cash you earned, and contractors routinely forget to bill the retainage release at closeout. That is profit left on the table.
Every draw is rekeyed from scratch
Each month you carry forward last month's completed-to-date, add this period, recompute percentages, and re-total retainage. Done by hand, that is an hour of error-prone copying where a single stale cell from last month follows you into this draw. The work compounds for the whole length of the job.
Billing lives in a separate world from the rest of your books
When the AIA draw lives in its own spreadsheet, the certified amount has to be hand-entered into your accounting as an invoice, then reconciled when payment lands. Two systems, two chances to fumble a number, and no single place that shows what each job has billed and what retainage is still held.
The BuildCrux Method for Progress Billing
Five disciplines turn a monthly draw from an anxious spreadsheet session into a few minutes of clicks. The same five-pillar framework runs through every BuildCrux project, applied here to progress billing.
Accurate Estimating
Your schedule of values is built from the winning estimate, not retyped into a blank grid. The line items you priced to land the job become the SOV lines, with their scheduled values already summing to the contract. A foot-check banner blocks any draw whose SOV does not tie to the contract sum, so the number one cause of rejection cannot leave the building.
- SOV inherited from the estimate that won the job
- Line totals reconcile to the contract sum by construction
- Foot-check banner blocks a draw that does not tie out
Structured Planning
Set the retainage rate and billing period once, on the project, and every application applies them the same way. Retainage is computed on each G703 line, with stored materials included in the retainage base, and the held total carries forward draw to draw. You decide the terms up front instead of recomputing them under a deadline.
- Retainage rate set once at the project level
- Stored materials included in the retainage base
- Held retainage carried forward automatically
Controlled Execution
Each draw, you update the percent complete per line from the real work in the field. Completed equals from-previous plus this-period plus stored materials, percent is completed over scheduled, and balance is scheduled minus completed. Tie the percentages to actual progress and certification stops being a negotiation, because the architect sees on the walk exactly what the G703 reports.
- Percent complete set from field progress, not cash need
- Completed equals from-previous plus this-period plus stored
- Application matches what the architect inspects
Change Order Management
Approved change orders flow onto the forms. Each adjusts the net-change line on the G702 nine-line rollup and adds its scope to the schedule of values, so the contract sum to date always reflects the real, current contract. No change gets billed as a side invoice the formal paperwork does not know about.
- Approved changes adjust net change orders on the G702
- Each change adds scope to the schedule of values
- Contract sum to date always reflects the current contract
Financial Visibility
A retainage tracker shows held-to-date on every commercial job at a glance, and a final retainage-release application turns that withheld money into the closeout draw. Once an architect certifies an application, the amount becomes a normal BuildCrux invoice on the same Stripe and QuickBooks pipeline as the rest of your billing, so there is no parallel system to reconcile.
- Retainage held-to-date visible per job
- Retainage-release application bills the held money at closeout
- Certified draws become invoices on your existing billing pipeline
The monthly draw, step by step
Here is the full workflow from a signed contract to collected cash. The first three steps happen once per job. The rest repeat every billing period.
| Step | What you do in BuildCrux | What BuildCrux handles |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Build the SOV | Generate the schedule of values from the winning estimate | Line values pre-totaled to the contract sum |
| 2. Set billing terms | Set the retainage rate and billing period on the project | Retainage base includes stored materials |
| 3. Confirm it foots | Review the schedule of values | Foot-check banner blocks a draw that does not tie out |
| 4. Update percent complete | Enter this-period progress per line, plus any stored materials | Completed, percent, balance, and retainage compute per line |
| 5. Generate the application | Create the pay application | G702 nine-line rollup and G703 continuation sheet PDF |
| 6. Send for certification | Email the owner or architect a secure link | On-screen certification, can certify less than requested |
| 7. Bill and collect | Nothing extra | Certified amount becomes an invoice on Stripe and QuickBooks |
| 8. Release retainage | Run a retainage-release application at closeout | Held money becomes the final draw |
Run your monthly draw without the spreadsheet
BuildCrux builds the schedule of values from your estimate, computes retainage on every line, and turns a certified pay application into an invoice. Start with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Get StartedTraditional spreadsheet vs BuildCrux
Most small contractors run their first commercial draws in a downloaded template. It works until it does not. Here is the difference between the manual approach and running the same draw in AIA progress billing software.
| Hand-built spreadsheet | BuildCrux | |
|---|---|---|
| Schedule of values | Retyped from a template, easy to break | Built from the estimate, foots by construction |
| Reconciliation | No warning when it does not foot | Foot-check banner blocks a draw that fails to tie out |
| Retainage | Manual per line, easy to forget the release | Computed per line, tracked held-to-date, released at closeout |
| Each draw | Rekeyed and recomputed from scratch | From-previous carries forward, you enter only this period |
| Certification | Print, sign, scan, email back and forth | Secure link, on-screen sign, certify less if needed |
| Billing | Hand-enter the certified amount as an invoice | Certified amount becomes an invoice on Stripe and QuickBooks |
Case study: a $61K siding contract, billed clean
A contractor won a $61,053 exterior siding and windows contract that required AIA billing with 10 percent retainage. The schedule of values was built from the same estimate that won the job, so it footed to the contract on the first try with no spreadsheet surgery.
For Application #1, labor and materials were 50 percent complete, which put completed-to-date at $25,380. Retainage held 10 percent, or $2,538, so the current payment due rolled up to $22,842. The owner opened the secure certification link, the percentages matched the work in place, and they certified $22,842. The moment they signed, BuildCrux created a normal invoice for that amount on the same Stripe and QuickBooks pipeline as every other job.
The same engine that makes the billing clean also feeds it. BuildCrux's AI estimating produced a $686,000 estimate on an 80-page pharma compounding tenant-improvement set in about 12 minutes, inside an expert-validated reference range. That estimate is what becomes the schedule of values, which is why the draw foots without a fight.
Why contractors run their draws in BuildCrux
BuildCrux turns the estimate that won the job into the schedule of values that bills it, holds retainage on every line, computes the G702 nine-line rollup, and lets the owner certify on a secure link. When they certify, the amount becomes a normal invoice on your existing Stripe and QuickBooks two-way sync, so there is no second billing system to keep in line. A retainage tracker makes sure the held money gets billed at closeout instead of forgotten. AIA progress billing is part of the Office plan at $349 per month and the Enterprise plan at $999 per month, where contractors running commercial draws live.
BuildCrux Feature
AIA Progress Billing Software (G702 / G703) for Contractors
Run monthly pay applications with retainage, the way commercial jobs actually pay
Learn moreBuildCrux Feature
AI Blueprint Estimates — Multi-Pass Pipeline
Senior-estimator output, every time, in twelve minutes
Learn moreBuildCrux Feature
Contractor Invoicing Software
Send invoices and get paid faster
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Digital Contracts for Contractors
Digital contracts signed and stored securely
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QuickBooks Export for Contractors
Export your data straight to QuickBooks
Learn moreFrequently asked questions
What is AIA progress billing software?+
AIA progress billing software produces the G702 application and certificate for payment and the G703 schedule of values that commercial owners and general contractors require for monthly draws. BuildCrux builds the schedule of values from your estimate so it reconciles to the contract sum, computes retainage on every line, and turns a certified application into an invoice on your existing billing pipeline.
How does BuildCrux build the schedule of values?+
BuildCrux generates the schedule of values directly from the line items on the estimate that won the job. Because the line values already total the contract sum, the SOV foots to the contract by construction. A foot-check banner blocks any draw whose schedule of values does not tie out, which removes the most common reason pay applications get rejected.
How is retainage tracked on each draw?+
Retainage is computed on each G703 line at the rate you set on the project, and stored materials are included in the retainage base. The held total carries forward from draw to draw, and a retainage tracker shows held-to-date per job. At closeout, a retainage-release application bills the withheld money as the final draw so none of it is left uncollected.
What happens after the owner certifies a pay application?+
The owner or architect certifies on a secure link and can certify less than you requested if they disagree with a percentage. The certified amount then becomes a normal BuildCrux invoice on the same Stripe and QuickBooks two-way sync as the rest of your billing, with no parallel billing path to reconcile. BuildCrux also generates an industry-standard G702 and G703 PDF.
Does the AIA billing connect to QuickBooks?+
Yes. Because a certified pay application becomes a standard invoice, it flows through the same Stripe payment and QuickBooks two-way sync and reconciliation as every other invoice. There is no separate export step and no second system to keep matched.
Which BuildCrux plan includes AIA progress billing?+
AIA progress billing is part of the Office plan at $349 per month and the Enterprise plan at $999 per month. The Solo plan is $39 per month and the Crew plan is $149 per month for contractors who do not yet need commercial draw billing. Every plan comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Can I bill stored materials that are not installed yet?+
Yes. Each G703 line has a stored-materials column, and completed-to-date is from-previous plus this-period plus stored. Stored materials are included in the retainage base, so the retainage held on the draw accounts for them the same way it accounts for installed work.
The bottom line
Running an AIA draw every month does not have to mean a spreadsheet that almost foots and a draw that might bounce. Build the schedule of values from your estimate so it ties to the contract, hold retainage on every line, set your percentages to the real work in the field, and let the owner certify on a link. The certified amount becomes an invoice on the billing pipeline you already use, and the retainage tracker makes sure the held money comes back at closeout. Clean draws, on time, for the full length of the job.
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