Schedule of Values Example
A Schedule of Values (SOV) is the line-item breakdown of the contract amount used to support progress billing. It is the structure behind many pay applications, especially AIA-style billing workflows.
In plain English: the SOV is the pricing map for the job. If the SOV is messy, your billing becomes messy too.
This page shows a realistic, filled-out SOV example so you can see how line items, values, and billing categories are usually organized. If you bill monthly, the SOV is one of the most important documents in the whole workflow.
Why the Schedule of Values matters so much
A lot of billing problems do not start on the pay app. They start on the Schedule of Values. If your SOV is vague, unbalanced, or disconnected from the real scope of work, every billing period becomes harder than it needs to be.
- Reviewers cannot tell what you are billing for
- Progress by line item becomes harder to justify
- Change orders get awkward to slot in
- Stored materials and retainage become harder to track cleanly
Filled-Out Schedule of Values Example
Example only. The line items and values below are for education and illustration.
| Item No. | Description | Scheduled Value |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mobilization / Project Setup | $12,500.00 |
| 2 | Selective Demolition | $18,000.00 |
| 3 | Framing and Blocking | $34,500.00 |
| 4 | Drywall Installation and Finish | $41,000.00 |
| 5 | Doors, Frames, and Hardware | $22,500.00 |
| 6 | ACT Ceilings | $16,500.00 |
| 7 | Painting | $14,000.00 |
| 8 | Flooring | $19,500.00 |
| 9 | Punch / Closeout | $6,500.00 |
| Total Contract Value | $185,000.00 | |
How to read this example
The descriptions should follow the actual scope of work in a way that makes progress easy to track from one billing period to the next. Each line item should be something you can explain, support, and update consistently.
A good SOV is usually:
- Specific enough to track meaningful progress
- Not so detailed that it becomes a maintenance nightmare
- Aligned with how the GC or owner expects to review billing
- Stable across the life of the project
- One giant “miscellaneous” line
- Too many tiny lines nobody can review efficiently
- Values that clearly do not reflect real effort or cost
- A total that does not match the contract
How the SOV connects to progress billing and pay apps
The SOV is not just a setup document. It becomes the backbone of your billing. In many workflows, each billing period uses the same SOV lines to track:
- Previous billing by line item
- Current period billing by line item
- Stored materials, where allowed
- Retainage
- Balance to finish
How the SOV relates to a G703-style continuation sheet
On AIA-style billing workflows, the SOV usually becomes the basis for the G703 continuation sheet. The SOV descriptions become the rows, and each row gets tracked across billing periods.
That is why people sometimes blur the SOV and G703 together. They are not the exact same thing, but they are closely connected in practice.
The SOV does this
Defines the pricing structure for the contract and gives you the line items you will track over time.
The G703 does this
Uses those line items to track previous, current, and to-date billing, plus stored materials, retainage, and balance to finish.
Common Schedule of Values mistakes
- The total does not match the contract sum
- The descriptions are too vague to support reviewer approval
- The lines are too detailed to manage practically
- Approved change orders are not reflected cleanly
- The structure makes progress billing awkward instead of easier
Can you use Excel for this?
Yes — many contractors start with Excel, and for some teams that is fine at first. The problem is not Excel by itself. The problem is version control, formula edits, and keeping billing consistent month after month.
Excel can work for:
- Initial setup
- Simple jobs
- Basic SOV review
Excel becomes painful when:
- You are billing monthly across multiple jobs
- Stored materials and retainage are involved
- Multiple people touch the file
- You need clean reviewer-ready outputs every month
How PayAppPro helps once the SOV is built
The SOV is only step one. The real pain is keeping it consistent across billing periods.
Build once
Set up the SOV one time and reuse it across pay applications.
Track cleanly
Keep previous, current, and to-date billing aligned by line item.
Export cleanly
Generate AIA-style billing outputs without spreadsheet drift.
FAQ: Schedule of Values Example
Short answers to the questions people usually ask right after seeing an SOV.