Switch any estimate to AIA G702/G703 progress draws. Enter each line's percent complete and BD Project Tools holds back retainage, credits the deposit, charges sales tax on what you billed, blocks over-billing, and builds the pay application your GC or owner expects. Change orders grow the contract on the same job.
Read the step-by-step how-to guide →
You land a $120,000 job. The GC wants a pay application every month, holds back 10% retainage, and you already collected a $12,000 deposit when the contract was signed. Now somebody has to keep all of that straight until the job is done.
Usually that's a spreadsheet on the owner's laptop: percent complete per line, what was billed last time, how much retainage is sitting with the GC, whether the deposit came off the first draw. Then the owner adds a change order halfway through and the whole schedule shifts.
One wrong cell and you either short yourself or over-bill. Short yourself and that money is gone. Over-bill and the pay app comes back for corrections while your check waits.
BD Project Tools bills the draws from the estimate you already built, so the math and the paperwork come from the same numbers.
Draws are an office tool, set up on a computer or tablet. Your crew keeps logging time, receipts, and photos from their phones.
On the estimate's Invoice & Bill tab, set Billing Mode to AIA G702/G703 progress draws and enter a Retainage %. It's a per-estimate choice, so smaller jobs keep billing on a single invoice.
Click Convert & Bill Draw #1. For each line on the schedule of values, enter the % complete to date or the this period $ amount, and see the scheduled value, previously billed, and balance beside it. Moving a whole group at once? Tick the lines, enter one percent or dollar figure, and preview the change before you confirm it.
Before a draw goes out, pre-send checks flag problems, like a draft that's out of step with the contract or a line that jumped further than your warning threshold. Send it and your customer gets the pay application PDF: an Application and Certificate for Payment page plus a Continuation Sheet with every line. The figures are certified when it's sent, and the app keeps the exact PDF you emailed.
Click + Bill Next Draw each billing period. Retainage is withheld on every draw, and the deposit you collected at approval is credited against the draws. Approve a change order and its lines join the schedule of values, so later draws can bill them.
Mark the last draw Final and all the retainage held on the contract is released on it. Once the job is fully billed, Close-out checks that nothing is still open (a balance to finish, retainage still held, a payment mid-processing, an unapproved change order) and then records what happened to any leftover deposit, with an audit trail.
10% retainage and a $12,000 deposit collected when the customer signed. Non-taxable lines, to keep the math easy to follow.
| Draw | Work This Period | Retainage Withheld | Deposit Credit | Retainage Released | Net Due |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw #125% complete | $30,000 | −$3,000 | −$12,000 | $0 | $15,000 |
| Draw #260% complete | $42,000 | −$4,200 | $0 | $0 | $37,800 |
| Draw #3 (Final)100% complete | $48,000 | −$4,800 | $0 | +$12,000 | $55,200 |
| Totals | $120,000 | −$12,000 | −$12,000 | +$12,000 | $108,000 |
Owners add work mid-job. A change order keeps it tied to the original estimate, so it gets billed instead of slipping through the cracks.
Click + Change Order on an accepted or in-progress estimate. You get a new estimate with a banner linking back to its parent, and it rolls up under that job instead of cluttering your estimate list.
The change order starts with the parent's job, customer, contact details, business unit, and sales tax jurisdiction already filled in. You add the new line items.
Send it for online approval like any estimate. Your customer sees it's a change order before they sign, and you can require a separate deposit on it.
On an AIA contract, approving the change order adds its lines to the schedule of values. Until then they show on the draw as Not billable until approved. The pay app lists each change order and the net change to the contract sum.
A change order can take work out as well as add it. If a deduction leaves a draw owing less than zero, that draw becomes a credit, and the credit is applied to the next draw and printed on its pay app.
Not billing in draws? Click Bill Change Order and it gets its own invoice under the parent job. See the change order guide.
Top or left: the Progress Billing panel on a demo contract with 10% retainage. Bottom or right: a change order, with a banner linking it to its parent estimate. Click either screenshot to enlarge.
All of it comes with invoicing, which is on by default for every company.
Pick single invoice or AIA progress draws on each estimate. Small jobs stay simple.
Withheld on every draw at your percentage (adjustable per line) and released in full on the draw you mark Final.
A deposit collected at approval is credited against the draws, so the deposit plus the draws equal the contract.
Each draw charges tax only on the taxable dollars billed that period, on its own tax line that updates as you edit.
No line can bill past its scheduled value, and the contract can't bill past its total.
An Application and Certificate for Payment page and a Continuation Sheet, emailed with the draw. The sent copy is stored exactly as it went out.
Problems are flagged before a draw leaves the office, not after the GC sends it back.
When a deductive change order turns a draw into a credit, the credit carries to the next draw instead of getting lost.
Won't close a contract with money still open, and records leftover deposit with an audit trail. It never moves money or issues a refund on its own.
With Stripe connected, each draw has its own card or ACH payment link, and the payment lands on that draw.
The panel shows billed to date against the contract, percent complete, retainage held, balance to finish, and every draw's status.
Every draw is its own invoice with its own number, due date, and books record.
You push each draw when it's ready; it doesn't sync on its own. Open the draw and click Send to Connected Books. It goes to QuickBooks Online as its own invoice, with the work billed, retainage withheld, deposit credit, and sales tax on separate lines, so the QuickBooks total matches the draw's net due.
Card and ACH payments taken through Stripe follow the Stripe-to-QuickBooks payment sync setting you chose in Settings.
JobTread and Knowify both offer AIA-style pay applications, and they do it well. If a pay app is all you need, you have good options. What's different here is what sits beside the draws, in one platform, on every plan.
Materials, Labor, and Subs stay separate on every estimate, invoice, dashboard tile, and Variance tab, so a sub-heavy job's margin isn't buried in "Other Costs."
Buy concrete or drywall mud once and spread the cost across the jobs that actually used it. None of the competitors we compare offers this. How Cost Pools work →
The job you bill in draws is the same job your receipts, crew hours, and subcontractor costs post to, and the same job the CFO Dashboard reports on. See the CFO Dashboard →
AIA draws, change orders, Cost Pools, and the CFO Dashboard come with every plan. You pay by team size, not by feature.
The GC wants a G702/G703-style pay app every period and holds retainage until the end. Send it from the job instead of rebuilding a spreadsheet each month.
Bill an owner as the work progresses on a large remodel or build, with the deposit credited and every change order on the record.
See billed to date, percent complete, retainage held, and balance to finish on every contract without asking the office.
Each draw is its own invoice with retainage and deposit on separate lines, so what you push to QuickBooks matches the pay app.
The questions owners and bookkeepers ask before they bill their first draw.
AIA progress draws and change orders are included with every Best Decision Project Tools subscription. No add-on, no premium tier. Set up your first draw from an estimate you've already built.
USA 250 Early Adopter Rate: 25% off your base plan through December 31, 2026. Full platform on every plan, plans from $99 $74.25/mo. Your USA 250 rate is locked for your subscription as long as your account stays active and in good standing.