AIA G702: A Contractor’s Guide to Faster Payment

The AIA G702, formally the Application and Certificate for Payment, is the standard form a contractor uses to bill for completed work on a construction project. It summarizes the original contract amount, work completed this period, retainage, and the current payment due, and it pairs with the AIA G703 continuation sheet, which breaks those totals down line by line against the schedule of values. 

The form itself is straightforward. What delays payment is everything attached to it, such as an accurate G703, approved change orders, and a signed lien waiver from every subcontractor. One missing waiver can hold a billing cycle for two to four weeks, so getting paid on a G702 is really about collecting the paperwork around it on time.

What Is an AIA G702?

The AIA G702, or Application and Certificate for Payment, is a one-page form a contractor submits to bill an owner for work completed during a payment period. It certifies the amount earned to date, subtracts retainage and prior payments, and states the current payment due. It’s the standard cover sheet for construction billing.

Published by the American Institute of Architects, it’s used on most commercial projects running under AIA A201 general conditions. You can review the official AIA G702 form directly. The layout has stayed consistent for decades, which is why it works. Everyone in the billing chain, the contractor, the architect, and the owner, reads it the same way.

The G702 is a summary. It doesn’t stand alone, and that’s where the next form comes in.

AIA G702 vs G703: How the Two Forms Work Together

The G702 is the summary and certification. The G703 is the continuation sheet behind it that itemizes the work. You submit them together, every billing cycle.

Here’s the split in practice:

• AIA G702: the top-line totals. Original contract sum, change orders, total completed and stored to date, retainage, previous payments, and current payment due.
• AIA G703: the line-item detail. Each item from the schedule of values, with scheduled value, work completed in prior periods, work completed this period, stored materials, percentage complete, and balance to finish.

The math flows in one direction. You fill out the G703 first, line by line, and the column totals roll up into the G702. If the G703 doesn’t foot, the G702 is wrong, which means the architect kicks it back and your payment date moves. Accuracy on the continuation sheet is what makes the summary defensible.

How to Complete an AIA G702, Line by Line

Filling out a G702 is arithmetic once the G703 is done. Work the form top to bottom, and reference AIA’s instructions for completing the G702 when a field is unclear.

Complete the form in the following order:

1. Original contract sum. The base contract amount before any changes.
2. Net change by change orders. Add approved change orders, subtract any deductive ones, to reach the revised contract sum.
3. Total completed and stored to date. Pull this from the G703, including work completed this period and materials stored on site but not yet installed.
4. Retainage. Withhold the contract percentage, on completed work, stored materials, or both, depending on your contract terms.
5. Total earned less retainage. Subtract retainage from the total completed and stored to date.
6. Less previous certificates for payment. Subtract everything already billed and certified in prior periods.
7. Current payment due. What you’re requesting this cycle.
8. Balance to finish, including retainage. The revised contract sum minus total earned, so the owner sees what’s left.

Every figure ties back to the schedule of values. If a change order isn’t approved yet, it doesn’t belong on the form. Adding it early is a fast way to get the whole application rejected.

Does an AIA G702 Need to Be Notarized?

Yes. The G702 includes a certification the contractor signs, and that signature is notarized before submission. Many contractors keep a notary on staff, often in the accounting department, to avoid a last-minute scramble at the billing deadline.

The contractor signs and notarizes the application to certify the requested amount is accurate. On projects with an architect, the architect then completes and signs the Certificate for Payment section, and can certify a different amount than the one requested. Subcontractors billing a general contractor use the G702S contractor-subcontractor version, where the architect’s certification section is often left blank. Requirements can vary by contract, so follow what your contract and owner specify.

What You Submit with a G702: Lien Waivers and Supporting Documents

A G702 rarely travels alone. Owners and architects expect a packet that proves the numbers, and the packet is where billing cycles get slow.

A complete pay-app submission usually includes the following:

• Change order documentation backing every change reflected in the revised contract sum.
• Stored material invoices supporting any materials billed but not yet installed.
• Current insurance certificates confirming coverage is active for the period.
• Conditional and unconditional lien waivers from every subcontractor billing on the project.
• The contractor’s affidavit and release of liens on final payment, typically AIA G706 and G706A.

Lien waivers are the part that ties the tiers together. Each sub signs a waiver for the amount they’re billing you and submits it up the chain. You then roll those into your own application to the owner. The owner wants proof that the money they release won’t come back as a lien.

This guide to construction accounts payable is worth reading before your first billing cycle so you can map the full supporting packet in advance. Waiver requirements vary by contract and state, so follow your contract.

Why a Complete G702 Still Gets Stuck (and What It Costs)

A finished, notarized, mathematically perfect G702 still can’t be paid while one sub’s lien waiver is outstanding. The collection is the bottleneck.

Picture a $12M project with 18 subcontractors on a 30-day billing cycle. Seventeen subs return signed waivers on time. One doesn’t.

The owner won’t certify against an incomplete packet, so the entire pay app sits. A project that’s fully built and fully documented waits on a single missing signature. That’s the mechanism behind most contractor payment delays, and it repeats every cycle.

For a controller or project accountant, this is the recurring fire drill. They know the billing deadline and the incomplete waiver status. They spend the days before submission chasing signatures instead of closing the books. The costs stack up in three predictable places:

• Labor. A project accountant spends 55 minutes per pay app. Across 20 subs, that’s 220 hours a year on one project, or $7,700 to $11,000 in labor at $35 to $50 an hour.
• Errors. Manual pay-app data entry runs a 3% to 5% error rate. On a $25M project, that’s up to $1M in potential billing errors.
• Liens. When collection breaks down entirely, a single lien event costs $50K to $500K.

None of this is rare, and the delay compounds down the chain. Slow payment to the GC becomes slow payment to the sub, which is how a single outstanding waiver strains the trade relationships you’ll need on the next bid.

Two objections come up here, and both miss the point. The first is that AIA forms have worked for 50 years, so why change anything. Nobody’s proposing to change the form, and the manual collection wrapped around it is the cost.

The second objection is that a spreadsheet handles this just fine. A spreadsheet tracks what you type into it, but it doesn’t chase the sub who hasn’t returned a waiver. And every re-keyed number reintroduces a manual error rate a spreadsheet can’t catch. If waiver collection is where your billing stalls, this guide to managing construction payments is worth a read before your next cycle.

How Built Helps Contractors Get G702 Payments Faster

Delayed payment is the norm across the industry. Built Research surveyed 250 U.S. general contractors and subcontractors in April 2025 and found 70% regularly face delayed payments. The cost gets baked into pricing, with contractors inflating bids an average of 8% to protect against slow payment.

Built automates your lien waivers and payments so a complete G702 doesn’t sit waiting on paperwork. When you create a payable, we generate the right waiver automatically, with the correct template and the correct amount. Subs sign on their phone, and they don’t need an account to do it. Conditional and unconditional waivers are tracked to completion, and payment releases when the waiver is exchanged, so compliance is enforced before money moves, not audited after.

Built is the front door to your ERP. Approved, clean payment data syncs downstream to QuickBooks, Sage, Vista, or CMiC, which means no double entry. If you run Procore, Built integrates with it directly. Built + Procore covers the whole project, with Procore handling field operations and Built handling the financial layer of waivers, payments, and compliance.

The results show up on the numbers a GC actually watches. Project accountants save 20 to 25 hours per week, and the cycle from invoice submission to payment runs 51% faster. Average subcontractor adoption sits at 85%, because signing on a phone with no login is easier than printing, scanning, and mailing.

For a president or owner, this is a capacity question. Pay subs faster and the best trades keep bidding for your work, and you grow volume without hiring another person to chase paperwork. John Kraemer & Sons, a general contractor on Built, put it this way: “Why didn’t we do this sooner?” Their waivers are now present at the time payment is accepted, they’re saving days every month, and they grew volume without adding a headcount to manage it.

Two last worries, both quick to put down. Subs won’t adopt new software, the thinking goes, but with no account to create and a phone signature, that adoption rate holds up in practice. And switching mid-project sounds painful, so onboarding runs in days, not weeks.

Get Paid Faster on Your Next G702

The form is the easy part. Collecting the waivers around it on time is what moves your payment date. Talk to our team to see how automated waivers and payments shorten your billing cycle.

AIA G702 FAQs

What is an AIA G702 form used for?

The AIA G702, or Application and Certificate for Payment, is the form a contractor submits to bill for work completed during a payment period. It summarizes the contract amount, change orders, work completed to date, retainage, and the current amount due. On projects using AIA A201 general conditions, the architect certifies the G702 before the owner pays. It’s used together with the G703 continuation sheet.

What is the difference between the G702 and the G703?

The G702 is the one-page summary and certification. The G703 is the continuation sheet behind it that lists each line item from the schedule of values, showing how much of each was completed this period, what was completed before, stored materials, retainage, and the balance to finish. The G703 totals roll up into the G702. You submit them together.

Does an AIA G702 need to be notarized?

Yes. The G702 includes a certification the contractor signs, and that signature is notarized before submission. Many contractors keep a notary on staff, often in the accounting department, to avoid delays. Requirements can vary by contract, so follow what your contract and owner specify.

Who signs the AIA G702?

The contractor signs and notarizes the application section to certify the amount requested is accurate. On projects with an architect, the architect then completes and signs the Certificate for Payment section, sometimes certifying a different amount than requested. Subcontractors billing a general contractor use the G702S contractor-subcontractor version, and the architect’s section is often left blank there.

Can I create my own AIA G702, or do I have to buy the official form?

The official G702 is a copyrighted AIA document you purchase or access through an AIA subscription. Many owners and architects accept forms that replicate the standard format exactly, but the contract governs. If your contract requires the official AIA document, use it. Either way, the layout and required fields stay the same.