When the GC pays less than you billed

You send a pay app for $12,000. The GC certifies $9,500. The gap is $2,500, and in the next month's conversation, nobody remembers where it went.

A short payment is common. The GC may question a percentage on one line. They may hold money because a punch list item isn't finished. They may certify only part of an approved change order. Each of those is a reason to pay less, and each one needs a plan. On a private job the reasons are usually the same, and the client may simply not have paid the full invoice on time.

On a G702, the difference shows up in Line 7, the previous certificates. What the GC has certified is what counts. If they certify less than you billed, the next pay app starts from the lower number. That's the mechanism that keeps the money owed to you on the books, instead of letting it disappear.

Carry it forward, or hold it. There are two sensible ways to handle the gap, and they mean different things. Carrying it forward means you bill the missing amount again on the next pay app, and it becomes part of that month's amount due. Holding it means the GC is keeping the money until a specific item is fixed. A hold should have a reason written down, and it should end when the item is done.

Record the reason, not just the number. A payment that's $2,500 short with no reason will be argued about later. A payment that's $2,500 short because "lines 2 and 3 aren't accepted yet" is something both sides can act on. Write the reason down the day you hear it, and link it to the line it concerns.

Don't let a short payment vanish into a rounding error. It's easy to accept a small short payment and move on. The problem is that small short payments add up over six months, and a gap that's never recorded is money you can't recover. Track the carried amount on every pay app until it's paid or written off, and say which it is.

Know when a payment is final. A pay app is paid when the money has arrived, not when the GC says it's coming. Mark it paid only once the money is in the bank, and once it's marked paid, keep the record. If something is disputed later, the record is what protects you.

NailMyPay tracks each hold and each short payment against the pay app it came from. The amount carries forward to the next pay app automatically, with the reason attached. A paid pay app locks as a record, so the history can't be changed after the fact. For a sub with a few jobs running, the carry-forward list is often the first place money is found that was thought to be lost.