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How Does Scaftra Use the Schedule of Values?

How do you keep every pay application billing against the same authoritative contract breakdown?

Scaftra materializes one active schedule of values from the approved estimate as the contract-value authority, and every pay application bills against its lines.

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The problem it solves

The schedule of values breaks the contract sum into line items: the dollar value of each piece of the work. Every pay application bills against it line by line, and it carries the running billed-to-date and retainage figures per line. When the schedule of values is a spreadsheet that gets copied and edited, the contract total stops reconciling to its own line items and the billing breaks.

Why it matters

The schedule of values is the contract-value authority. A contract sum that does not reconcile to its own line items cannot legitimately bill anything. When change orders move the contract, the schedule of values has to move in lockstep, or the pay app bills against the wrong number. One authoritative breakdown is what keeps progress billing honest.

Common mistakes

Try
Keeping the schedule of values in a spreadsheet
Reality
A copied-and-edited sheet drifts from the contract total and stops reconciling to its line items.
Try
Billing against an outdated breakdown
Reality
If a change order moved the contract but not the schedule of values, the pay app bills the wrong value.
Try
Re-keying line values into each pay app
Reality
Hand-copying line values into the billing reintroduces drift every cycle.
Try
Letting unapproved scope into the breakdown
Reality
Only approved change orders should move the schedule of values; unapproved scope is never billable.

How it works

  1. Materialize from the approved estimate
    An approved estimate snapshot produces one active schedule of values, the single contract-value authority.
  2. Reconcile the total to the lines
    The contract total must equal the sum of the active line values; this is an absolute, non-waivable check.
  3. Apply approved change orders in lockstep
    An approved change order moves the affected lines and the contract total together.
  4. Bill each pay app against the lines
    Every pay application copies schedule-of-values lines into its billing, so the math reconciles by construction.

How Scaftra does it

Scaftra materializes one active schedule of values from an approved estimate scope snapshot. It carries the original contract value, approved change value, and total contract value, and its line records carry per-line value, billed-to-date, retainage held and released, and stored-material figures. Two reconciliation checks are absolute: the total contract value equals original plus approved change value, and equals the sum of the active line values. Both are non-waivable, because a contract sum that does not reconcile to its own lines cannot bill anything. Approved change orders fan their impact into the schedule of values in the same transaction that creates the change order, keeping the cost baseline and the contract value in lockstep. This is built and live.

Scaftra makes one schedule of values the contract-value authority, and every pay application bills against it, so progress billing always reconciles to the contract.

Key capabilities

  • Single contract authority: One active schedule of values materializes from the approved estimate and owns the contract value.
  • Non-waivable reconciliation: The contract total must equal its line sum and its original-plus-change math; neither check can be waived.
  • Per-line billing ledger: Each line carries billed-to-date and retainage figures, so the contract's billing state is on the line itself.
  • Change orders in lockstep: An approved change order moves the schedule of values and the cost baseline together in one transaction.

Benefits

  • Pay applications always bill against an authoritative breakdown that reconciles to the contract.
  • Change orders move the contract and the billing together, so they never drift apart.
  • Unapproved scope is never billable, because only approved change orders touch the breakdown.

Who it's for

Commercial GCsControllers
  • Commercial GCs.Contractors billing AIA progress draws against a contract broken into a schedule of values.
  • Controllers.Finance staff who need the contract total to reconcile to its line items at all times.

Frequently asked questions

Where does the schedule of values come from?
It materializes from an approved estimate scope snapshot as one active contract-value authority per project.
What keeps the schedule of values reconciled to the contract?
Two non-waivable checks: the total equals original plus approved change value, and equals the sum of the active line values.
How do change orders affect the schedule of values?
An approved change order fans its impact into the affected lines and the contract total in the same transaction, keeping cost and contract in lockstep.

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