The AIA G702, “Application and Certificate for Payment,” is the one-page cover sheet a contractor submits to request a progress payment. It summarizes the money on the job: how much of the contract is complete, how much retainage is held back, and how much is due this period. It is always paired with the G703 continuation sheet, which shows the line-by-line detail. Here is how to fill out every line.
What the G702 is (and is not)
The G702 is a summary and a certificate— a single page that totals the job and gets signed. It does not itemize your work; that is the G703's job. You submit a fresh G702 each billing period (usually monthly), and its key totals are pulled straight from your G703.
Before you start: you need a schedule of values
Every number on the G702 ultimately rolls up from your schedule of values — the breakdown of your contract into billable line items — which lives on the G703. If you do not have a clean SOV yet, build that first.
The G702, line by line
- Line 1 — Original Contract Sum: your awarded contract amount, before any changes.
- Line 2 — Net change by Change Orders: the running total of approved change orders (can be positive or negative).
- Line 3 — Contract Sum to Date: Line 1 plus Line 2.
- Line 4 — Total Completed and Stored to Date: comes straight from column G of your G703 (work completed plus materials stored).
- Line 5 — Retainage: the amount held back. 5a is retainage on completed work; 5b is retainage on stored materials. Add them for total retainage.
- Line 6 — Total Earned Less Retainage: Line 4 minus Line 5.
- Line 7 — Less Previous Certificates for Payment: everything you have already billed in prior periods. This is your carry-forward.
- Line 8 — Current Payment Due: Line 6 minus Line 7. This is the amount you are actually asking to be paid.
- Line 9 — Balance to Finish, Including Retainage: Line 3 minus Line 6.
A worked example
Say you have a single line item worth $10,000 with 10% retainage. In your first application you have completed 40% of it.
| Line | Description | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Contract Sum to Date | $10,000 |
| 4 | Completed and stored (40% of $10,000) | $4,000 |
| 5a | Retainage (10% of $4,000) | $400 |
| 6 | Total earned less retainage | $3,600 |
| 7 | Less previous certificates (first app) | $0 |
| 8 | Current payment due | $3,600 |
| 9 | Balance to finish | $6,400 |
Next month you reach 70% complete. Column G is now $7,000, retainage is $700, and total earned less retainage is $6,300. But you already billed $3,600 (that goes on Line 7), so this period's current payment due is $6,300 minus $3,600 = $2,700. That Line 7 carry-forward is exactly where spreadsheet billing goes wrong.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Forgetting the carry-forward (Line 7), which double-bills or under-bills the GC.
- Retainage driftfrom a formula that broke when you copied last period's sheet.
- Change orders not flowing through to Line 2 and the schedule of values.
- Ignoring stored-materials retainage (5b) when you have material on site but not yet installed.
Sign, certify, and submit
The contractor signs (often notarized), and the architect or general contractor certifies the amount. Always submit the G702 together with its supporting G703 so the GC can see how the summary was built.
Stop building pay apps in a spreadsheet
DrawFort fills in the carry-forward, computes retainage and current payment due, handles change orders, and exports a clean G702/G703 PDF your GC can approve at a glance.