How to Fill Out an AIA G702 and G703 Pay Application

An AIA pay application is how most commercial construction projects in the United States get billed. It is built from two forms that travel together: the G702, a one-page cover sheet officially called the Application and Certificate for Payment, and the G703, the Continuation Sheet that lists every line of your schedule of values. The numbers on the G702 are rolled up from the G703, so the two have to agree to the penny or the architect kicks the draw back. This guide walks through how to fill out both forms in the right order, what goes in each G703 column, how to handle retainage and stored materials, and how the totals tie together. If you are on the receiving end instead, a general contractor, owner, or construction lender who processes dozens of these a month can pull the line items off each one with our AIA pay application OCR rather than retyping the schedule of values by hand. To convert just the G703 cost breakdown, our schedule of values OCR reads every line item into Excel.

What is an AIA G702 and G703 pay application?

An AIA G702 and G703 pay application is the standard request a contractor sends to bill for work completed during a billing period. The G702 (Application and Certificate for Payment) is the cover sheet that shows the contract sum, the amount completed to date, retainage held, and the current payment due. The G703 (Continuation Sheet) itemizes those totals line by line against the schedule of values.

The two forms are submitted together as one package, usually once a month, and the architect or owner certifies the certified amount before payment is released. They are produced by the American Institute of Architects and are the most widely used progress-billing forms on commercial work in the U.S. If you want the deeper distinction between the two documents, we cover it in AIA G702 vs G703.

How do you fill out an AIA G702 and G703?

You fill out an AIA pay application from the bottom up: build the schedule of values first, fill in the G703 line by line for the current period, then roll the G703 totals onto the G702 cover sheet. Working in that order keeps the cover-sheet numbers matching the line-item detail, which is exactly what the architect checks before certifying the draw.

In practice that is three passes. First you set up the schedule of values once, at the start of the job. Then, every billing cycle, you update the G703 with the work and materials for that period. Finally you transfer four numbers off the G703 onto the G702, add change orders and retainage, and arrive at the current payment due. Get the G703 right and the G702 mostly fills itself.

Start with the schedule of values

The schedule of values, or SOV, is the backbone of the whole pay application. It breaks your total contract price into line items, each with its own dollar value, and the sum of those values has to equal your contract sum. Typical lines are things like mobilization, sitework, concrete, framing, mechanical, electrical, and closeout, though the breakdown depends on your trade and what the owner approved.

Get the SOV approved before the first draw, because it sets columns A, B, and C of every G703 you will ever submit on that job. Resist the urge to front-load it by loading early line items with extra value to improve early cash flow. Owners and lenders watch for that, and a heavily front-loaded SOV gets flagged and slows down certification.

How to fill out the AIA G703 continuation sheet

The G703 uses a fixed set of columns, lettered A through I plus an unlettered percent column. You complete one row per schedule-of-values line item, every billing period. Here is what goes in each column on the standard G703-1992 form.

Two columns trip people up. Column D is cumulative prior work, so each period it equals last period's columns D plus E added together; it should never include payments, retainage, or stored materials. Column E is current-period work only. When you keep those two clean, column G adds up correctly and the cover sheet reconciles without a fight.

What are stored materials on an AIA pay application?

Stored materials are items you have purchased and delivered to the site (or to a bonded off-site location the owner approved) but have not yet installed, billed in column F of the G703. Common examples are switchgear, rooftop units, structural steel, and long-lead fixtures that arrive before they go in. Billing them lets you recover your cash outlay without waiting for installation.

Bill only the materials on hand as of the billing cutoff, and never bill the same material twice. When a stored item gets installed, move its value out of column F and into column E (work completed this period) on the next application, so column F always reflects what is sitting on site right now. Owners often ask for invoices, a bill of sale, or proof of insurance before they certify stored materials, so keep that backup ready.

How to fill out the AIA G702 cover sheet

Once the G703 is done, the G702 is mostly arithmetic. Work down the numbered lines: Line 1 is the original contract sum, Line 2 is the net change from change orders, and Line 3 is the contract sum to date (Line 1 plus or minus Line 2). Line 4 is total completed and stored to date, which is simply the total of column G from your G703.

Line 5 is retainage (covered below). Line 6 is total earned less retainage (Line 4 minus Line 5). Line 7 is less previous certificates for payment, the Line 6 amount from your last certified application. Line 8 is the current payment due (Line 6 minus Line 7), and Line 9 is the balance to finish including retainage (Line 3 minus Line 6). Sign and notarize the contractor's certification, and the architect completes the certificate for payment portion before payment is released.

The G702 has to be signed by the contractor, and that signature is notarized; the architect then certifies the amount. If you submit lien waivers or a notarized affidavit with the package, you can send those for online document e-signing instead of chasing wet-ink copies. Many owners also require a current certificate of insurance with each draw, which is easier to stay ahead of when you track certificates of insurance across every sub on the job.

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

Retainage is the percentage the owner holds back from each payment until the project is complete, commonly 5 percent or 10 percent. On the G702 you calculate it on Line 5 in two parts: 5a is retainage on completed work (apply your rate to columns D plus E from the G703), and 5b is retainage on stored material (apply the rate to column F). Add 5a and 5b to get total retainage.

If your contract uses one flat retainage rate on the whole job, you do the math right on Line 5 of the G702 and leave column I of the G703 blank. Use column I only when retainage varies by line item, for example when an owner reduces retainage on a trade that has reached substantial completion. Whatever method your contract specifies, keep the rate consistent from draw to draw, because a sudden change in withheld retainage is one of the first things a reviewer questions. For a deeper walkthrough of the retainage math across draws, see how to bill retainage on an AIA G702 and G703.

How do the G702 and G703 totals tie together?

The link between the two forms comes down to a few transfers. The total of G703 column G becomes G702 Line 4. Columns D plus E on the G703 are the basis for your 5a retainage on completed work, and column F is the basis for 5b retainage on stored material. The total of column C on the G703 should match the contract sum to date on Line 3 of the G702.

Always reconcile before you submit. Add up column G and confirm it equals Line 4; confirm column C totals to your contract sum to date; confirm your retainage math matches the rate in the contract. A mismatch of even a few dollars between the cover sheet and the continuation sheet is a common reason a draw gets sent back, and that can push payment out by weeks.

Can you fill out AIA G702 and G703 forms in Excel?

Yes, plenty of contractors fill out G702 and G703 forms in Excel, but the AIA forms themselves are copyrighted, so you cannot just photocopy a blank one and resell it. The legitimate options are AIA's own software, a properly licensed spreadsheet template, or construction billing software that outputs the G702 and G703 for you. A spreadsheet works fine for a single small job; on bigger jobs the formulas between columns D, E, F, and G get fragile fast.

If you are the one receiving these forms rather than producing them, the spreadsheet question flips around: you need the data out of the PDF, not into a blank form. Our AIA pay application OCR reads the G702 and G703 you receive and exports the schedule of values, completed-to-date, retainage, and current payment due straight to Excel, and our guide to extracting AIA pay application data walks through that side of the workflow.

Common mistakes when filling out AIA pay applications

• The cover sheet does not match the continuation sheet. Column G has to total to Line 4. Reconcile before submitting.
• Stored materials billed twice. When an item is installed, move it from column F to column E; do not leave it in both.
• Change orders left off. Add approved change orders to Line 2 and to the SOV so column C still totals to the contract sum to date.
• Front-loaded schedule of values. Loading early line items invites scrutiny and slows certification.
• Retainage rate drifting. Keep the percentage consistent with the contract from one draw to the next.
• Prior-period column padded. Column D is only prior completed work, never payments or retainage.

How often do you submit an AIA pay application?

Most contracts call for one AIA pay application per month, tied to a fixed billing cutoff date written into the agreement. You bill for the work completed and materials stored through that cutoff, submit the G702 and G703 package, and the architect certifies it within the period the contract sets, often a week or two, before payment is released.

On the paying side, a general contractor or owner who collects pay applications from a dozen subcontractors every month can route the approved amounts into accounts payable automation so the draw turns into a scheduled payment without rekeying. Whichever side of the draw you are on, the same rule holds: tight line-item detail on the G703 is what makes the G702 defensible. For more on processing those documents at volume, see our construction document processing software.