AIA billing explained: G702/G703 progress billing, with a free template

Published Oct 30, 2026 · 7 min read · By Ludvig Bergerud, builder of PayAppCheck

What AIA billing means

When a general contractor says “we do AIA billing”, it means progress billing on the G702 and G703, the payment application forms published by the American Institute of Architects. Instead of one invoice at the end or a bill for hours, each month you bill a share of your contract against a schedule of values: the contract split into line items, each with a dollar value, agreed before the first bill.

It differs from an ordinary invoice in four ways. It is cumulative: each application restates everything billed to date and subtracts what was certified before. It is line by line. It holds back retainage, a percentage of each bill, until the end of the job. And it is checkable: the G703 rows add up to the G702 totals, so anyone can recompute the payment due.

The G702 and G703 are AIA contract documents. The forms PayAppCheck makes are styled after AIA G702/G703, with the same columns, lines and arithmetic, and PayAppCheck is not affiliated with the AIA.

Who asks for AIA billing, and why

General contractors, owners, construction lenders and public agencies ask for it, written into the subcontract’s payment terms, most often on commercial and public work. GCs like it because your G703 lines feed their own pay application to the owner: a standard layout saves retyping, each line’s percent complete can be held up against the site, and the carry-forward stops a line from being billed twice.

Lenders and owners pay out a construction loan in draws, and the G702 states what has been earned, what is held in retainage and, on Line 9, what is left to finish, all checkable against the loan budget before money moves. Retainage also keeps money in the payer’s hands until the punch list and the closeout paperwork are done.

The monthly cycle

Set up the schedule of values once. Then each billing period, a calendar month on most jobs, runs five steps:

1. This period’s work: Column E, the dollar value installed since the last application, item by item.
2. Stored materials: Column F, material delivered but not yet installed, if your contract pays for it. Once installed, it moves from F into E.
3. Retainage: the contract rate, commonly 5% or 10%, on work completed to date (Line 5a) and on stored material (Line 5b).
4. Previous payments: Line 7 is the previous application’s Line 6, and each item’s Column D is last month’s D + E.
5. Payment due: Line 8 = Line 6 − Line 7.

A $100,000 subcontract at 10% retainage, no change orders. Month 1 bills $20,000 of work and $5,000 of stored material. Month 2 installs that material and more, $30,000 in Column E, with nothing left in storage.

Month 2 pays 90% of the new value billed: $30,000 in Column E less the $5,000 that left Column F is $25,000. The material was billed in month 1, so moving it into E does not bill it again.

The two forms, briefly

The G703 continuation sheet has one row per schedule-of-values item: A is the item number, B the description, C the scheduled value, D work from earlier applications, E this period, F materials presently stored, and G = D + E + F. The percent complete, G ÷ C, has no letter on the AIA form, so H is the balance to finish: H = C − G.

The G702 certificate rolls those columns into nine lines. Line 3 = Line 1 + Line 2 and equals the sum of Column C. Line 4 is the sum of Column G. Line 5 = 5a + 5b, with 5a = rate × (D + E) and 5b = rate × F. Line 6 = Line 4 − Line 5, Line 8 = Line 6 − Line 7 and Line 9 = Line 3 − Line 6. Every box is explained in how to fill out a G702 and G703, line by line, and how the forms tie in G702 vs G703.

Three ways to produce an AIA bill

• The official AIA documents, bought from AIA Contract Documents. If your contract requires the official forms, this is the option that satisfies it.
• A free Excel template. The free G702/G703 Excel template is a G702/G703-style workbook with the math as formulas: type the schedule of values, then Columns E and F each month. It opens in Excel, Numbers and Google Sheets, and next month is a copy and paste by hand.
• A free online builder. The free G702/G703 builder runs in the browser, checks the math and downloads a PDF or an Excel file. Save it to a free account and Start next month carries every line forward: D + E becomes Column D and this Line 6 becomes Line 7.

Ask the GC which it accepts before the first bill: some take any G702/G703-style form, some require the official documents, and some want the figures in their own portal.

AIA billing software: what a sub with a few jobs needs

Paid AIA billing software is built for contractors with many jobs and a back office. It keeps a schedule of values per job, generates the forms each month, collects signatures, attaches lien waivers and insurance certificates, submits to GC portals, tracks payments and links into accounting. With a dozen jobs and a billing person on staff, that is what the subscription buys.

A sub with a few jobs needs a schedule of values per job, math that ties, a carry-forward that matches last month and a PDF to send. The free builder covers that make-and-send side, including the checks a receiver runs. It does not collect signatures, attach lien waivers or post to accounting: sign the PDF and send the waiver the way the GC asks.

PayAppCheck’s paid product works the other side. A GC, owner or lender uploads the pay apps they receive, and every total is recomputed, with each mismatch flagged next to the figure it should be. It is free during Early Access.

Mistakes that get an AIA bill sent back

• A carry-forward that does not match: Column D is not last month’s D + E, or Line 7 is not last month’s Line 6.
• A number typed over a formula, so a row’s G is not D + E + F, or Column G no longer totals to Line 4.
• Stored material billed twice: installed in E but still in F.
• A line over 100%: extra scope needs an approved change order, not a bigger E.
• Retainage on the wrong base: 5a on this period’s E instead of D + E, or 5b left off.
• An unapproved change order on Line 2, or a missing signature, notarization or lien waiver.

Each costs a billing cycle; how a reviewer spots them is in why pay applications get rejected.

AIA billing questions