What G702 and G703 actually are
AIA G702 (Application and Certificate for Payment) and AIA G703 (Continuation Sheet) are the two-page billing standard the American Institute of Architects publishes for construction progress payments. Together they tell the owner three things:
- What was completed since the last payment.
- What's on hand but not yet installed (stored materials).
- How much you're owed this period after retainage and prior payments.
G702 is the cover sheet — one page that summarizes the whole application and gets signed by both you (the contractor) and the architect or owner. G703 is the line-item continuation sheet — a wide table with one row per Schedule of Values (SOV) line item.
Why owners require them
Most commercial construction contracts (especially anything over $200K) require AIA-form billing because:
- The format is auditable — every dollar traces to an SOV line.
- It separates work in place from stored materials, which lenders need.
- Architects can certify percent complete without re-inventing the math.
- It's the standard ABA contracts and AIA A201 reference, so disputes have precedent.
The fields that actually matter
On G702 (cover sheet)
- Original Contract Sum. The contract value you signed.
- Net Change by Change Orders. Approved CO total to date.
- Total Completed and Stored to Date. Sum of column G from G703 (work in place + stored materials).
- Retainage. Typically 5% or 10% of completed work; sometimes only on labor. Owner-controlled.
- Less Previous Certificates for Payment.The total you've already been paid through prior pay apps.
- Current Payment Due.The bottom line — what you're asking for this period.
On G703 (continuation sheet)
For each SOV line item:
- Column C — Scheduled Value. What you valued the line at when SOV was approved.
- Column D — Work Completed From Previous Application. What was billed and certified through last period.
- Column E — Work Completed This Period. What you completed since last application.
- Column F — Materials Presently Stored. Materials on site or in bonded storage, not yet installed.
- Column G — Total Completed and Stored to Date. D + E + F.
- Column H — Percent Complete. G / C × 100.
- Column I — Balance to Finish. C − G.
- Column J — Retainage. Per-line retention if your contract retains different rates per scope.
The three margin leaks to watch for
1. Front-loading the SOV.Tempting on long jobs — pad early scopes (mobilization, demo, foundation) so cash arrives earlier. Owners and lenders know this trick and increasingly require “line-item value reasonableness” review before approving the SOV. Worth knowing the limit: modest front-load is industry-standard, aggressive front-load gets your SOV rejected.
2. Stored materials documentation.Column F is real money — if your steel arrives June 1 and gets billed June 10 but installed July 15, that's six weeks of cash flow you'd otherwise wait on. Owners require: bill of sale, bonded storage proof, insurance certificate, photo of the stored material with project tag.
3. Retainage release timing.Many contracts allow partial retainage release at 50% completion (the “reduction” clause). If your contract has it and you don't bill for it, you're leaving 5% of half your contract sum on the table.
Why it's such a grind by hand
Assembling G702/G703 by hand for one project is a recurring monthly slog — pulling SOV from the contract, reconciling against the previous app, walking the site to mark completion percentages, entering numbers into the spreadsheet, exporting to PDF, getting the field super to confirm, then sending to the architect for certification.
Multiplied across a portfolio of active jobs, pay-app preparation eats a real slice of the office's month. That's why most modern construction software ships an AIA generator — the math is mechanical once the SOV is current.
How neuroBLDR handles it
neuroBLDR keeps your live SOV connected to the project budget, change orders, and prior pay apps. When you open a new pay app, the line items, prior-completed numbers, and retainage held are pre-filled. You walk the project, mark this-period completion percentages, and the G702 cover sheet generates as a signable PDF — the manual reconciliation is gone.
On the owner side: a magic-link portal shows the application and lets them download the signed G702/G703 PDF. They pay you however they already pay — check, wire, or their own bank's ACH. You record the payment in neuroBLDR; lien waivers auto- generate per sub for the period; the next pay app opens with all the prior numbers already correct.
In neuroBLDR
neuroBLDR assembles your G702/G703 from a live schedule of values — mark this period's percentages and it produces a clean, owner-ready pay app. The Pay App Reviewer flags backward draws and schedule mismatches before anything reaches the owner.