Schedule of values (SOV)

A schedule of values (SOV) is the cost breakdown of a contract by line item — the basis every progress payment is measured against, showing percent complete per item.

Before the first payment application goes out, the contract sum gets broken into line items — sitework, foundations, framing, MEP rough-in, and so on — each with a dollar value that adds up to the total contract price. Every pay app after that references percent complete against these lines, not the contract as a whole.

A poorly built SOV causes billing problems long before the job is done. Front-load a line item too aggressively and it looks like fraud to the owner's rep; under-value one and the contractor is financing work out of pocket before they can bill for it.

Example

A GC breaks a $2M contract into 40 SOV lines. At month three, framing shows 60% complete on the pay app — a number the super and PM agree on before it goes to the owner's rep, because a disputed percentage on one line item can hold up the entire payment.

Related terms

Pay application (pay app)A pay application (pay app) is the formal monthly billing document a contractor submits requesting payment for work completed to date, measured against the schedule of values.AIA G702/G703AIA G702/G703 are the standard American Institute of Architects pay application forms — G702 is the summary sheet, G703 is the detailed schedule-of-values breakdown behind it.RetainageRetainage is a percentage — typically 5–10% — of each progress payment withheld by the owner or GC until the project, or a milestone, is substantially complete.

Next step

Where this shows up in Datumel:

Job-Costing Workbook InstallFrom $6,000 one-time

A configured job-costing workbook in your own Sheets or Airtable: cost codes, estimate-versus-actual, WIP, and over/under billing, with training to run it.

Open →