What a schedule of values actually is
A schedule of values, or SOV, is the contract price divided into line items, where each item carries a dollar value and the sum of all the values equals the total contract amount. It's the backbone of progress billing: instead of billing one giant number, you bill for the share of each line that's actually done. On larger residential jobs this is what a lender or client expects to see before they release a draw.
In plain terms, the SOV is the AIA-style G702/G703 idea without the intimidating form: G703 is the itemized schedule, G702 is the cover sheet that totals it into an amount due this period. You don't need the exact forms to use the concept, you need the line items and the running percentages.
The columns every SOV needs
- Item and description: each portion of work (e.g. demolition, framing, rough-in plumbing, drywall)
- Scheduled value: the dollar amount assigned to that line; all of them together equal the contract total
- Percent complete: how far along that line is right now
- Work completed this period: the dollar value earned since the last draw
- Completed to date: total earned on that line so far, including this period
- Balance to finish: scheduled value minus completed to date
- Retainage: the holdback withheld from each draw, often 10%, released at completion
How the SOV drives a progress draw
Each billing cycle you update the percent complete on each line. The tool (or the math) multiplies that percentage by the scheduled value to get completed-to-date, subtracts what you already billed to get this period's amount, holds back retainage, and lands on the draw. Because every line ties back to the contract total, the client can see exactly what they're paying for and confirm it against the work on site. That's why an accurate SOV gets draws approved faster and with fewer arguments.
A free template to start with
You don't need to build this from scratch. A simple SOV template, usually a spreadsheet with the columns above, will get you billing progress draws today and immediately beats trying to invoice a partly finished job as one lump number. Set the scheduled values so they total the contract, and update the percentages each period.
Where a static template falls short
A spreadsheet SOV is a real step up from nothing, but it still has limits:
- You re-key it from the estimate. The line items already exist in your takeoff, but the spreadsheet makes you type them all again.
- It drifts from the actual budget. When a change order adjusts the contract, the standalone SOV doesn't move with it unless you remember to edit both.
- Percent complete is manual and easy to fudge. Nothing ties the percentages back to costs actually incurred, so the draw can quietly get ahead of the real progress.
From template to system
The next step up is a schedule of values that is the estimate. When the line items you priced are the same line items you bill against, the SOV never drifts, change orders adjust it automatically, and progress billing draws from percent complete against the live budget. That's billing handled as part of a connected cash-flow workflow rather than a spreadsheet kept alongside the job.
In TradesMetrics your estimate's line items are the schedule of values, so draws pull straight from percent complete against the live budget with retainage handled for you. Start with a free template if you like, then see how progress billing and draw schedules work, and how percent-complete methods keep the numbers honest.
The fastest way to see the difference is to price a real job. Try the free estimating tool, then watch those line items become the schedule of values your draws bill against inside TradesMetrics.