AIA G702 vs G703: What's the Difference?

If you bill or process construction progress payments, the AIA G702 and G703 are the two forms you see on every draw. They are submitted together as one pay application, and they are easy to mix up because the numbers on one are built from the numbers on the other. The short version: the G702 is the cover sheet with the big totals, and the G703 is the continuation sheet that itemizes how those totals were earned. This guide walks through what each form is, how they work together, how retainage and stored materials show up, and how a general contractor, owner, or lender who receives dozens of these a month can pull the line items into a spreadsheet instead of retyping them. If you just want the tool, our AIA pay application OCR reads the G702 and G703 you receive and exports the schedule of values straight to Excel. New to the form? Start with what a schedule of values is and how to build one.

What is the difference between AIA G702 and G703?

The G702 is the Application and Certificate for Payment, the one-page cover sheet that summarizes the draw: contract sum, change orders, total completed and stored to date, retainage, and the current payment due. The G703 is the Continuation Sheet that backs it up, breaking the contract into schedule-of-values line items and showing the scheduled value, work completed, stored materials, percent complete, and balance to finish for each one. In short, the G702 says how much, and the G703 shows exactly where that number came from.

What is the AIA G702 form?

The AIA G702 is the standard cover sheet a contractor submits to request a progress payment. It carries the original contract sum, the net change from approved change orders, the contract sum to date, the total completed and stored to date, the retainage held, the total earned less retainage, the amount of previous certificates for payment, and the current payment due. It also includes the contractor's signed and notarized certification and the architect's certificate for payment. The G702 is the document the owner and architect sign off on, but on its own it does not show how the total was earned, which is why it is never submitted alone.

What is the AIA G703 continuation sheet?

The AIA G703 is the continuation sheet that itemizes the schedule of values behind the G702. Each row is a line item of work, such as sitework, concrete, framing, or electrical, and for each row the form lists the scheduled value, the work completed from previous applications, the work completed this period, the materials presently stored, the total completed and stored to date, the percentage complete, the balance to finish, and the retainage on that line. Add the rows up and you get the totals that flow onto the G702. The G703 is where the real detail lives, and it is the part that takes the longest to key by hand.

How do the G702 and G703 work together?

The G703 feeds the G702. You fill in the continuation sheet first, line by line, then the column totals roll up into the summary lines on the cover sheet. The G703's total completed and stored to date becomes the same figure on the G702, retainage on each line sums to the retainage on the cover, and the balance to finish ties out against the contract sum to date. When a pay application gets rejected, it is usually because the two do not agree: a line item total that does not match the cover, retainage calculated differently on the two forms, or a change order added to the G702 summary but never broken out as a line on the G703.

Do you need both the G702 and G703?

Yes. A complete AIA-style pay application is both forms together: the G702 cover sheet and the G703 continuation sheet. The G702 needs the G703 to substantiate its totals, and the G703 needs the G702 to certify the request and carry the contract-level figures like prior payments and the current amount due. Owners, architects, and construction lenders expect to see both before they certify a draw. Submitting a G702 with no continuation sheet, or a G703 with no signed cover, will usually get the application sent back.

How do you read a G703 continuation sheet?

Read the G703 left to right, one row at a time. Column A is the line item number, column B is the description of work, and column C is the scheduled value for that item. Columns D and E are work completed from previous applications and this period, column F is materials presently stored, and column G is the total completed and stored to date, which is D plus E plus F. Column H is the percentage complete, found by dividing G by C, and column I is the balance to finish, which is C minus G. The bottom row totals every column, and those totals are what you check against the G702.

How do you bill retainage on AIA G702 and G703 forms?

Retainage is the percentage the owner holds back from each payment until the work is accepted, commonly five or ten percent. On the G703 you calculate retainage per line item, usually as a percentage of the total completed and stored to date in column G, and many forms split it into retainage on completed work and retainage on stored materials. Those line amounts sum to the total retainage shown on the G702, which subtracts it from the total earned to arrive at the total earned less retainage. If the holdback rate changes partway through a job, or the owner reduces retainage after substantial completion, the G703 has to reflect it line by line so the cover sheet stays correct.

How are stored materials handled on a G703?

Stored materials are items delivered to the site or to an approved storage location but not yet installed, and they go in the materials presently stored column on the G703. They count toward the total completed and stored to date, so a contractor can bill for materials on hand before they are built into the work, which helps cash flow on material-heavy phases. Owners usually require proof, such as invoices, bills of sale, or insurance on the stored items, and once a stored item is installed it moves out of the stored column and into work completed, so the same dollars are not billed twice.

How do you get G702 and G703 data into Excel?

You can rebuild the schedule of values in a spreadsheet by hand, but on a job with many subcontractors that is hours of retyping every draw, and every keyed number is a chance to throw off the totals. The faster route is to read the forms automatically. Optical character recognition pulls the line items, scheduled values, work completed, stored materials, retainage, and balance to finish off the G703, and the summary figures off the G702, then exports them to Excel or your accounting system with the math intact. Our AIA pay application OCR does exactly this for the pay applications you receive, and the step-by-step is in our guide on how to extract data from an AIA pay application. It runs on the broader construction document processing software that also reads change orders, lien waivers, and certificates of insurance.

Common G702 and G703 mistakes to avoid

The errors that hold up a draw are almost always arithmetic. A G703 line total that does not match the G702 summary, retainage figured at different rates on the two forms, a change order in the cover total with no matching line on the continuation sheet, or stored materials billed twice once they are installed. The other recurring problem is the percentage complete and balance to finish drifting out of sync as the job progresses. Catching these before submission keeps the architect from rejecting the application, and reading the forms automatically with validation flags the mismatches for you instead of leaving them for a reviewer to find.

Once the pay application is certified, the rest of the draw workflow tends to follow on its own. Many contractors collect a signed conditional or unconditional lien waiver with each payment, which you can send and sign online with document e-signing software; the accounts payable team then runs the actual payment to each subcontractor, which is where accounts payable automation software fits; and the line items on the schedule of values usually trace back to commitments you track in purchase order management software. Getting the G702 and G703 data out cleanly is the first step that makes the rest of that chain easier.