Your GC's form isn't the standard form

Most subs learn the G702 once and use it everywhere. Then a GC sends over a form that looks almost the same, with the lines in a different order, a column missing, and an extra box for lien release language. The sub fills it in the way they always have, and the GC sends it back.

That happens because a GC's form is a contract document in disguise. It asks for the numbers the GC needs to run its own books, in the order the GC's accounting team reads them. A standard G702 is a good starting point. A GC's own form is the real requirement.

What a template has to capture. Before anything else, the template has to know what each box on the GC's form means. Two forms can both say "Retainage" and mean different things: one may be the retainage on work completed to date, and the other may be the retainage on the whole contract. A template that reads the wrong one will produce a wrong number, even if every calculation on the form is correct.

Here is what to look for when you're building one:

• The exact name and meaning of each total, and which lines feed into it.
• Where the change orders go, and whether they're shown separately or folded into the contract sum.
• How stored materials are shown, and whether the form wants them on the same line as the work.
• Which signature blocks are required, and whether a notary block is needed.
• Any fields the GC wants that the standard form doesn't have, such as a job number, a subcontract number, or a cost code.

Check the template before the first pay app. Fill in a real pay app on the template, and compare each total with what you expect by hand. Then send it to the GC as a draft and ask them to confirm the numbers before the official copy goes out. A draft costs a day. A rejected pay app costs weeks.

A template should change only when the form changes. A GC's form may be revised, and when it is, the template has to be rebuilt. Keep a copy of the form you used for each pay app, so you can show the GC exactly which version you billed on.

NailMyPay lets you upload a GC's own form, and it builds a template from it so your numbers fill in the right places. Until the template is ready, you bill on the standard G702/G703, so nothing waits on the form. Once the template is built, you can preview a pay app on the GC's form and send the draft to the GC before the official copy goes out. The standard form stays the default for any GC that doesn't have one of its own.