Guides

Pay-application guides & FAQ

Receiver-side walkthroughs of the AIA G702/G703. The forms, the math that has to tie, and the checks that catch a bad pay app before you certify it.

Lien waiver vs pay application: do they match?
A waiver carries an amount, a date, and a type, and each maps onto the pay application beside it. The three checks a receiver runs before releasing payment.
7 min read
G703 doesn’t match the G702? How to find the error
The Column G total and Line 4 are the same number by definition. The seven reasons they disagree, and the check that isolates each one.
9 min read
Free AIA-style G702/G703 Excel template (formula-linked)
A continuation sheet and certificate with the tie-checks built in as formulas. Every column and line explained, plus how to verify that any pay app actually ties.
8 min read
G702 vs G703: what each form is and how they tie together
The certificate and the continuation sheet are two halves of one document. The same numbers must appear on both, and that redundancy is how you catch errors.
6 min read
How to review a subcontractor pay application: a checklist for GCs
The eight checks a receiver runs before certifying payment: per-line math through carry-forward against last month’s application.
5 min read
The 7 reasons pay applications get rejected (and how to catch them first)
Most rejections trace to a handful of preventable problems. The most common one is arithmetic.
5 min read
Retainage on a pay application: how it’s calculated and where it goes wrong
The 5a/5b bases, reducing retainage, and the five retainage mistakes that all shift the check by the same dollar amount.
4 min read
Schedule of values: a worked G703 example (with the math checked)
A small schedule of values reconciled line by line: G = D + E + F, percent complete, balance to finish, and the column totals that carry to the G702.
6 min read
Convert an AIA G702/G703 pay application PDF to Excel
Three ways to get an AIA G702/G703 out of a PDF and into Excel, and why extract-and-verify beats a generic converter for a document that drives a payment.
5 min read
Pay application software for general contractors: extract-and-verify vs create-and-submit
Billing networks, extract-only converters, and extract-and-verify review software compared, by the side of the document you sit on.
6 min read
FAQ

Questions, answered straight.

Getting started

No. PayAppCheck runs in your browser. Sign in and upload; nothing to download, nothing to configure.

Yes. Every new account includes a sample pay application with a math error planted in it. One click shows the flags, the suggested fix, and the live recompute. It costs none of your pages and needs no real document.

Yes. Enable email-in from your account settings for a private intake address. Forward a pay app there, or have subs send to it directly, and it lands on your dashboard extracted and checked. You get an email back linking the result. The address is revocable anytime, and attachments count toward your pages like any upload.

Seconds for most pay apps. Long multi-page packets take longer, and progress shows live while it runs.

Yes. Drop or pick several files at once. Each is read and reconciled independently and appears on your dashboard as it finishes, processing in the background while you keep working.

Yes. Every figure is editable. Click any cell, correct it, and the totals and flags recompute live before you confirm.

A Data sheet with the full schedule of values, plus a Flags sheet listing every issue found: what it was, where, and the dollar difference. CSV and JSON carry the same data.

Open the pay app and you get the source document beside an editable grid. Click any figure to fix it and the flags and totals recompute live. Where the math pins the right value, there is a one-click “Accept suggested fix”. Confirming locks the corrected pay app and opens the Excel/CSV/JSON export.

Product basics

Upload a G702 and G703 and PayAppCheck reads every figure and checks that the numbers tie: line items sum to the totals, retainage is right, and the continuation sheet reconciles to the certificate. Anything off is flagged to the cent. You review the result and export clean Excel, CSV, or JSON. What took 30 to 45 minutes of retyping and hand-checking takes seconds.

Those tools hand you the numbers. They don't tell you whether the numbers are right. PayAppCheck reconciles: it checks the math the document has to satisfy, so a transposed digit or an over-billed line doesn't slip through. Extraction is the easy part; the checking is the point.

Today: native PDFs and Excel (.xlsx), which covers the G702 and G703 as they normally arrive. Scanned PDFs, phone photos, and CSV are on the near-term roadmap.

Both. A lot of pay apps in the field are custom "G702-style" spreadsheets rather than the official stationery. PayAppCheck maps whatever layout it’s given back to the standard schedule-of-values structure.

Handled. A G703 can run from a handful of lines to 150 or more across multiple pages; the line items are read in full and the totals are checked across the whole document.

Who it’s for & workflow

Yes. That is the core use. If you receive and verify pay applications as a GC, owner, lender, or their bookkeeper, PayAppCheck does the reading and checking.

Yes. Running your own pay app through it before submitting catches the math errors that get apps rejected, so you don’t lose a billing cycle to a resubmit.

One click. On a flagged pay app, “Request corrections from the contractor” turns the open flags into a plain-language letter: what is wrong, where, expected vs. found, and the dollar difference for each item. Copy it into an email or save it as a PDF. Flags that could be our misread rather than their math are left out. Add a fix-it link and the sub opens it, sees the flagged figures and the live status, and uploads the corrected file straight back. No account or portal on their side.

PayAppCheck notices. A new upload with the same project, contractor, and application number is proposed as a revision. Nothing is linked until you confirm. Then the two versions are compared cell by cell: which flags were fixed, which still fail, and anything that changed without being flagged. That last one is how money moves between lines while every total still ties. The old version is marked superseded so nobody pays the wrong one.

Yes. The billing-cycle board lists every project and contractor you expect a monthly application from, seeded in one click from what you have already processed. Against your cutoff day it shows who is in, who is in with open flags, and who is missing. Rows flip the moment a matching pay app arrives by upload or email-in, and each missing row has a chase link that opens an email from your own inbox. PayAppCheck never emails your subs itself.

QuickBooks: yes. The bill export is shaped for the bill-import tools QuickBooks users already run, and it is retainage-correct. The bill carries this period’s work plus a negative retention line to Retainage Payable, the split QuickBooks has no native way to do. A released final application turns that line positive, which is your release bill. Map each schedule-of-values line to your own cost codes once and every later month exports one coded row per line, zero retyping. For Sage or anything else, the Excel/CSV/JSON exports carry the same data. A direct QuickBooks connection is on the roadmap.

Yes. Tag any upload, or a whole batch, with a client name: your customer, not the contractor who sent the pay app. The dashboard then gains a per-client filter, so a bookkeeping firm works one client’s stack at a time. Tags are free-text, optional, and changeable after upload.

Yes. Paste a Slack incoming-webhook URL in your account settings and every pay application that finishes checking posts a one-line note to that channel: the project, the application number, and whether the totals tie or need review, with a link straight to it. Any Slack-compatible incoming webhook works, and you can disconnect anytime.

Not yet. Team access (multiple seats) is on the roadmap; today each account is a single login. If shared team access blocks you, tell us and we’ll prioritize it.

Accuracy & trust

The line-item math (each line’s total equals its parts), the column totals, retainage, the G703-to-G702 handshake, and percent-complete over 100% (over-billing). Period over period, it checks whether this application’s carry-forward matches last time (front-loading). Each failed check is flagged with the expected value, the found value, and the difference.

Yes, automatically. When application #4 for a project arrives and #3 is on your account, PayAppCheck links them by application sequence, project, and money trail. It then verifies the carry-forward: this month’s “previous applications” column against last month’s work, and Line 7 against last month’s Line 6. Ambiguous matches link nothing rather than guess.

Yes, when one is in the packet. PayAppCheck reads a Waiver and Release page that arrives with the pay app and classifies the type (conditional vs. unconditional, progress vs. final). It then cross-checks against the application: the waiver amount against the current payment due, the through/effective date against the billing period, whether the type fits the stage, and whether it is signed. An unconditional release on a not-yet-paid application is flagged. These are software checks. Not legal, accounting or tax advice: we make no state-specific statutory claims, and every waiver finding says to verify against your contract and your state’s statute.

It reads the figures accurately, and it doesn't ask you to take them on faith. Every number is shown back to you, and the reconciliation checks them against each other. A pay app's math is self-checking: the column total has to equal the line items, and the G703 has to tie to the G702. A misread number that touches any of those totals breaks it, and the break gets flagged rather than buried. You confirm before anything is final.

The math catches it. If a single figure is off, the totals it feeds stop tying, so PayAppCheck flags the line and shows expected versus found with the dollar difference. Where the arithmetic pins the right value, it suggests it. You accept the fix or edit by hand, and the totals recompute live.

You review and confirm. Nothing is auto-trusted and nothing is filed on your behalf. PayAppCheck does the tedious reading and checking and surfaces exactly what needs a human’s eye; the approval is yours.

No. PayAppCheck verifies math, and it is software rather than an advisor. Not legal, accounting or tax advice. For anything touching lien rights, contract terms, or tax treatment, verify against your contract, your state statute, and your accountant.

You have the final say: every figure is shown and editable. If a number looks off, change it and the checks recompute. The tool is a second set of eyes, not the last word.

Pricing & plans

Yes. The Check plan is free, includes the full reconciliation engine and clean export, and covers about 50 pages a month. No card required. Run it on real documents before deciding anything.

Plans are metered by document page processed. Check is free (~50 pages a month), Pro is $49 a month (~400 pages) for the working bookkeeper, and Business is $149 a month (~1,500 pages) for firms, GCs, and lenders. Every plan includes the full reconciliation engine and export.

You top up with pay-as-you-go credits for the overflow. No forced upgrade and no surprise overage bill. You buy more only when you need more.

No. The free plan needs only an email.

Yes. Plans are month to month; cancel whenever you like.

Yes. Upgrade or downgrade anytime; your page allowance adjusts with the plan.

Your monthly page allowance resets each period and doesn’t roll over. Pay-as-you-go top-up credits are different: they stay on your account until you use them.

Yes. Payments are handled by Paddle, our payment provider and merchant of record. We never see or store your card details.

Data & security

They're processed, then your original source files are deleted automatically: within 7 days by default, or sooner or longer per your account setting (from “immediately after processing” up to a 30-day maximum). PayAppCheck keeps the structured result, not a permanent copy of your originals. That result is kept for 90 days by default, configurable up to 1 year. Both windows are yours to set in account settings.

Data is handled in the US, encrypted in transit (HTTPS), with access scoped to your account. The service only ever returns your own records.

No. Your documents and their data are used only to produce your result, never to train models. Our extraction provider is prohibited under its API terms from training on your content.

Your account does. Your documents and results aren't shared, sold, or shown to other users.

You can export your data anytime. Plans are month to month. After you close your account your stored results are removed per our retention policy: uploaded source files within 7 days by default (sooner if you choose), and processed results within your chosen window (90 days by default).

Company

PayAppCheck is built by a solo developer who got tired of watching pay applications get retyped into Excel and hand-checked line by line. It is a small tool that does one job, not a platform.

Yes. It is built around the AIA G702/G703 standard and the US construction-finance workflow: retainage, the schedule-of-values structure, and lien-waiver checks.

API / developers

Yes, it’s live. The same extraction-and-reconciliation engine the app runs, by API: POST a G702/G703 and get reconciled JSON back on a stable, versioned snake_case contract. Create a key in the API hub, use sk_test_ keys to build unmetered, and subscribe to a webhook or poll for the result.

A free developer tier lets you build and test against real documents. Usage-based paid plans are rolling out as billing goes live. Test keys always run the full pipeline unmetered.

The full interactive reference is generated from the live API. Open it from the API hub (“Open the reference”) to see every endpoint, parameter, and response field, and to try calls with your key.

PayAppCheck

Pay applications, checked to the cent. Built for US construction finance.

© 2026 PayAppCheck. Made for US construction finance.[email protected]

PayAppCheck checks the math. You review and approve. Not legal, accounting or tax advice.

Billing and payment inquiries are handled by Paddle, our merchant of record.

AIA, G702, and G703 are marks of The American Institute of Architects. PayAppCheck is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by AIA.