What Is a Schedule of Values (SOV)?

What decides how much a contractor can bill each line?

The schedule of values is the line-item breakdown of the contract that authorizes what each pay application can bill.

What it is

The schedule of values (SOV) divides the total contract value into billable line items, each with a value. It is the authority for billing: a pay application can only bill against SOV lines, line by line, by percent complete. Change orders adjust the SOV, and the SOV total always reconciles to the contract value.

Why it matters

The SOV is the contract translated into money you can bill. If it is front-loaded, stale, or disconnected from the pay app, billing drifts from the contract and the owner pushes back. A clean SOV is what makes every pay app defensible.

How it works

Break the contract into lines
Divide the contract value into billable components, each with a value that sums to the contract total.
Bill by percent complete
Each pay app bills each line by the percent of that line completed this period.
Absorb change orders
Executed change orders add or adjust SOV lines so the schedule stays current.
Reconcile to the contract
The SOV total always equals the contract value plus approved changes.

Common mistakes

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Front-loading the SOV

Reality

Loading value into early lines to bill faster invites owner scrutiny and a rejected pay app.

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Letting the SOV go stale

Reality

An SOV that does not absorb change orders bills against the wrong contract value.

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Keeping the SOV separate from the pay app

Reality

When the SOV and pay app are different documents, the pay app math drifts from the authority.

How Scaftra handles it

Scaftra treats the schedule of values as the billing authority: pay applications compute from it, change orders adjust it, and the total reconciles to the contract on one record. The pay app cannot drift from the SOV because it is generated from it.

Scaftra makes the SOV the single billing authority, so every pay app bills against it instead of a re-typed copy.

Frequently asked questions

What's the difference between the SOV and the budget?

The SOV is what you bill the owner (revenue, by contract line); the budget is what the job costs you. They're different ledgers.

Can the SOV change?

Yes, executed change orders adjust SOV lines so it stays current; the total always reconciles to the contract value plus approved changes.

How does Scaftra use the SOV?

As the authority pay applications compute from, so the billing matches the contract line by line.

Related terms

How AIA pay apps work →

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