Subcontractor Application for Payment Template (And an Alternative That Will Save You Even More Time)

Creating and sending an application for payment can be a tedious, time-consuming process. If you’re trying to find an easier, more accurate method than the one you’re using now to organize the information you need to prepare and present a progress bill — whether it’s an Excel sheet, a PDF, or some other software — a ready-made subcontractor application for payment template might suit your needs.

A template can provide a uniform, professional presentation, along with fields for all of the documentation and details you need to provide. With that in mind, we’ve created one for you to download and use for free. (We’ll walk you through how to do that in the next section.)

However, if you’re hoping a template will save time, reduce errors, and increase the chances of a quick payment turnaround, you need to consider these questions:

• Where are you getting the information you input into the template? 

• How is it organized?

• How is it processed? 

• How much time does it take you to pull it all together and keep it updated for every billing period?

Having to manually find and plug in numbers from a variety of sources every time you need to issue a payment application is time consuming. It also increases the opportunity for errors along the way.

And, if the information you use to populate your payment application is incorrect or poorly documented, your customer might question or reject the bill. In that case, you’ll have to go back, revise, and resubmit — all of which delays the time it takes for you to receive payment, which can affect your cash flow and potentially the ability to stay on pace with the project.

We often see contractors using a disconnected, piecemeal approach for the various processes that surround payment applications (e.g., job costing and project tracking, updating continuation sheets, invoicing, etc.). Handling all of these job functions manually often eats into their profit margin and hinders growth.

So, while using an application for payment template may solve a few of your problems, we suggest you consider a comprehensive, long-term solution instead: ServiceTitan’s integrated subcontractor management software, which spans all aspects of your business operation. Quickly and efficiently generating an application for payment with a corresponding continuation sheet is just one of many features our software provides.

When it comes to progress billing, ServiceTitan helps you bill the correct amount defensibly so that the customer accepts it quickly. And if your customer has any questions about the accuracy, it’s all thoroughly documented and up to date in our software, which reduces back-and-forth discussions and speeds up your progress payment.

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In this article, we’ll:

• Show you how to download our free Subcontractor Application for Payment Template

• Explain the drawbacks of using a stand-alone template and offer a superior alternative

• Discuss how ServiceTitan simply and efficiently generates an application for payment, continuation sheet, and more

• Demonstrate the simple, step-by-step process of creating an application for payment with ServiceTitan software

Want to learn more about how we can help streamline your subcontracting business operations? Schedule a call to get a live, one-on-one walk-through of the features we describe throughout this article.

How to Download and Use Our Subcontractor Application for Payment Template

Our subcontractor application for payment template is modeled after American Institute of Architects (AIA®) standards, so it covers everything you need to assemble and submit a payment application. 

It includes fields for you to input essential information, such as the:

• Application number, application date, and the payment application period.

• Details outlining the original contract sum, net change by change orders, total completed and stored to date, and the current payment due.

• Retainage details, including total earned less retainage.

• Change order summary, consisting of approved changes in the billing month and in previous months.

• Affidavit section for contractors’ and notary public signatures certifying the accuracy and acceptance of the document.

In addition, our application form includes a continuation sheet (also known as a schedule of values), with columns outlining the:

• Description of Work (Column B)

• Scheduled Value (Column C)

• Work Completed (Columns D + E: Covering previous applications and this payment request)

• Materials Presently Stored (Column F)

• Total Completed Stored to Date with the Corresponding Percentage (Column G)

• Balance to Finish (Column H)

• Retainage (Column I)

As stated previously, this template can help you stay organized and on track by providing a professional, ready-made pay application for periodic billing. 

However, there are drawbacks to using a payment application template, which we’ll outline below. And, while we’re at it, we’ll show you how our subcontractor management software can solve those problems while also saving you time and increasing your productivity.  

Drawbacks of Using a Stand-Alone Template and How ServiceTitan’s Software Solves These Problems

Using a template may be an improvement over your current method of creating an application for payment, but it still leaves you with the labor intensive problem of keeping all the information across the project updated and easily accessible so that you and your team can use it efficiently when you need it. 

Using a system of disconnected spreadsheets (or other software) to track your data is going to be more time consuming to maintain. And, having to manually enter information in multiple formats naturally has more potential for error, especially when you have to update it month after month to create another application for payment (or to invoice, etc.). 

For example, you might have to extract labor data from your payroll system, pull all your purchase orders, and then try to consolidate this information. And as soon as you do so, it’s probably out-of-date.

This inefficient, error-prone process also increases the chances of a customer rejecting your bill if you don’t readily have the ability to seamlessly drill down into and defend the details.

ServiceTitan provides a much better solution: It consolidates all of the project documents and data into one customizable, interactive system, spanning the entire life of the project from building the initial estimate for the construction contract through completion.

For example, our software will show where you are today (in real-time) with your actual expenses and your actual billing versus your budgeted expenses and your budgeted billing. You can then use that information for your billing or invoicing. 

ServiceTitan also makes it easy to handle and integrate approved changes in a change order. It recognizes that the change order value is different from the original contract amount and is able to track the original contract value as well as the net change by change orders and the total contract value.

In addition, ServiceTitan allows you to easily manage tasks, such as:

• Requisitioning materials and creating purchase orders.

• Creating and sending invoices.

• Creating payments.

• Comparing budgeted versus actual tables through multiple layers of detail (e.g., breaking labor costs into apprentice, journeyman, and administrative or even drilling down to the source of specific equipment).

• Monitoring the project summary details.

As soon as you enter or update project information in ServiceTitan, our software applies it throughout the project data — giving you instant access to the effects of that change on all aspects of the project.

This comprehensive coordination not only saves you time, it increases the accuracy of your data and keeps you up to date with all aspects of the project.

Let’s take a closer look at some of these features and demonstrate how quickly and efficiently ServiceTitan generates an application for payment.

How to Easily Generate an Application for Payment with ServiceTitan  

As stated previously, ServiceTitan’s Application for Payment and Continuation Sheet are modeled after industry standard, AIA®-style billing documents (specifically, the G702 and G703).

When it comes time to create the application for payment using ServiceTitan’s software, you can go back to reference the original quote (the contract value) per the contract agreement, view how much work was completed before and during this period, and see how much of the contract value remains to be completed. You can easily access a complete picture of the job progress, including information, such as:

• Hours logged

• What’s been billed already

• What’s been withheld

• Stored material

• Total retainage

• Retainage for the billing period

• What remains to be billed

You can even drill into these details and trace out exactly where the information came from with a simple click. Because all the information is captured and reported in real-time, it’s completely up-to-date. 

ServiceTitan provides all the back-up documentation you need in one place to justify the bill and brings it all together fairly effortlessly from a user perspective.  All you have to do is review it — a huge time saver for subcontractors. 

Being able to easily show how much work has been performed and how much is being billed (and why) against the full contract value significantly increases the chances of the contractor accepting and paying the bill.

But, what if the contractor you’re working for requires you to submit your payment application on a specific form or in a specific format? 

Some contractors are flexible with this. They may say you can submit your own form as long as it contains the required information. Our Application for Payment follows AIA® industry standards, so the information you need is there and should be acceptable.

Even when there’s no flexibility, you’ve already documented all the information you’ll need in ServiceTitan. All you have to do is populate the required document with the information the software has already generated, so it streamlines the process. It still saves you time and increases accuracy.

A Step-by-Step Look at How to Generate an Application for Payment in ServiceTitan

Now, let’s take a look at the step-by-step process of generating an application for payment in ServiceTitan.

First, navigate to the “Add application for payment” button. This opens the continuation sheet (the description of work, broken down in detail).

Select the billing period and the application date.

Next, select the fields you want to bill and enter the percentage to bill in the corresponding field (e.g., 50% of permit fees, 30% of labor costs, and 30% of plumbing materials). This automatically updates the other fields, such as the corresponding Work Completed for This Period, the amount of Retainage withheld (if enabled), etc.

Hitting “NEXT” at the bottom right of the screen generates the Document Preview for the Application for Payment, with the Continuation Sheet (“billing backup”) attached for documentation. 

When you click on “Finish and Generate Invoice”, ServiceTitan will generate a corresponding invoice and integrate it with your accounting system, which saves time. 

You also have the option to generate the invoice later, after the customer has approved the application for payment.

After this, the “Project Summary” is updated with the current figures on your project tracking overview page. 

You also have the option to manually update the “Percentage Complete” fields, if you prefer.

When payment comes in, you can go into the Project Summary and click on “Create payment” to apply it against the outstanding accounts receivable balance. 

Everything updates, making it easy to see the progress and what’s left before completion.

It’s as easy as that!

Beyond Applications for Payment: Enhanced Estimating, Seamless Requisition, Integrated Time Tracking, and More

In this article, we focused on just a few of our core project management features as they relate to payment applications and invoicing. But the extent to which our software can streamline subcontractor project management goes far beyond what we can demonstrate in a single article.

In this post, we didn’t discuss other key features such as:

• Our custom form features that provide the ability to create detailed workflows for evaluating and documenting different types of jobs during estimate creation.

• The ability to upload photos and videos of job sites through our mobile app to thoroughly document, store, and share photos among your team and with your clients. 

• The ability to select equipment and materials for requisition right from within your estimate, and seamlessly create and send purchase orders to your vendors (while your project summary and expense tracking tables update automatically in the background to account for those purchases).

• Our integrated timesheets feature automatically documents your technicians’ drive time, vendor runs, and wrench time — and also automatically registers this data in your expense and job costing tables.

• Our custom reporting features that allow you to drill down into specific numbers and see exactly where each reported metric is coming from.

• Our accounting integrations that allow you to sync our software with QuickBooks or Intaact to streamline your accounting processes.

Our free, downloadable application for payment template will allow you to present your payment application in a professional, concise manner. And maybe that’s all you need right now. 

However, it could be time to consider what our full-service, integrated subcontractor management software can do for your business. ServiceTitan provides a more efficient way to track and access all the information you need — not only to bill your customer and reduce the amount of time it takes for you to get paid, but to manage all aspects of project management. 

For a personalized walk-through of all of the features we’ve mentioned in this post, schedule a demo with our team and see how ServiceTitan can transform your subcontracting business.