A subcontractor progress claim is where a subcontractor claims a period of progress against their subcontract. Bring it into Ledger, assess it line-by-line against the schedule of values, short-pay anything with a documented reason, and certify — which withholds retention, applies approved back-charges, and writes the assessed payable straight onto a bill.
| Schedule of values line | Contracted | Claimed | Assessed | Variance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 03-100Concrete supply & place | $402,000.00 | $118,500.00 | $118,500.00 | $0.00 |
| 03-100Reinforcement & formwork Work not complete | $151,900.00 | $38,000.00 | $30,380.00 | −$7,620.00 |
| 03-100Concrete pumping | $36,000.00 | $9,120.00 | $9,120.00 | $0.00 |
| Totals line splits reconcile to the $589,900 subcontract | $589,900.00 | $165,620.00 | $158,000.00 | −$7,620.00 |
A subcontractor claim assessed against the $589,900 subcontract on 03-100 Concrete — claimed line-by-line, short-paid with a documented reason where assessed sits below claimed, with retention withheld at 5% and an approved back-charge deducted, so the certified $147,475.00 writes straight onto a bill.
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Every line is checked against the subcontract's schedule of values, with the assessed-to-date rolled forward from earlier certified claims, so you're never rekeying a running total or reconciling against a separate spreadsheet.
Assess a line below what was claimed and Ledger asks for a reason code and a note before you can certify, so the certified position carries its own justification instead of an email you'll have to find later.
Certifying withholds retention off the assessed amount against the subcontract's rate and cap, and blocks a claim that would push billed-to-date past the committed value unless you record an audited override.
Bring the claim in, assess it honestly, and certify it onto a bill.
Import a G702/G703 the accounts-payable classifier flagged as a subcontractor claim; Ledger reconciles the cover against the line schedule and seeds a draft to review. Low-confidence documents fall back to manual entry rather than guessing.
| Line | Claimed | Assessed |
|---|---|---|
| Concrete supply & place | $118,500 | $118,500 |
| Reinforcement & formwork | $38,000 | $30,380 |
| Concrete pumping | $9,120 | $9,120 |
| Assess in full seeds at claimed | $165,620 | $158,000 |
A G703-style grid shows Contracted, Assessed to date, Claimed, Assessed and Variance per line. Enter the assessed amount or a percent complete; “Assess in full” seeds every line at claimed to short-pay down from.
Assessing below the claimed amount reveals a reason picker and note — work not complete, defective, unapproved variation, overvalued and more — both required before you can certify. Assessed can never exceed claimed.
Certifying withholds retention off the assessed net on the subcontract's rate, clamped so the held total never breaches the contract's cap. It shows as a distinct “Less retention” line, never folded into the figure.
Approved back-charges are frozen into the claim after retention and shown as their own “Less back-charges” deduction, so a set-off is always visible on the record rather than buried in the assessed number.
Certifying freezes the assessment, withholds retention, applies back-charges and writes the payable to a bill — where approval and payment run on their own controlled chain. Void a certified claim, with a reason, for the audit trail.
This is the money-out side of Win to Pay. Upstream, the subcontractor progress claim claims against the subcontract's cost-coded schedule of values — which also holds the retention rate and cap and the committed value the assessment is checked against. Downstream, certifying writes the assessed payable onto a bill, and it's the bill that carries the approval, the payment and the drawdown of committed cost on the budget. Where a progress claim is what you claim from the client, this is how you assess what a subcontractor claims from you.
From custom-home builders to commercial head contractors, teams across Australia and New Zealand run their projects on BuildPass every day.
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