A standard construction subcontractor bill format consists of five mandatory sections: 1) Contractor & Project Header (Project Name, Job #, Subcontract Agreement date, and Subcontractor license info); 2) Original Contract & Approved Change Order summary (Schedule of Values); 3) Current Period Work Completed and stored materials; 4) Contractual Retainage deduction (5% or 10%); and 5) Net Amount Due accompanied by a statutory conditional lien waiver.

The top 3 reasons GC accounting departments reject subcontractor bills are: 1) Billing unapproved or unpriced verbal change orders without signed authorizations; 2) Miscalculating retainage across cumulative vs current period amounts; and 3) Missing signed conditional lien release forms or wrong billing period dates.

Retainage must be formatted as a dedicated line item subtracted from the total earned work. For example: "Total Completed Work: $50,000" minus "Less 10% Retainage Withheld: ($5,000)", yielding "Net Payment Due This Application: $45,000". Never hide retainage inside line item unit pricing.

A simple invoice bills for completed labor or materials on a fixed fee basis. A Pay Application (like the AIA G702/G703 format) tracks the lifetime cumulative financial history of the subcontract—showing original contract value, net change orders, total previous billings, current period progress, retainage escrow, and remaining contract balance to finish.

Yes. Our built-in Subcontractor Invoice Studio allows you to customize line items, select your specialty trade, toggle 5% or 10% retainage, attach statutory conditional lien waivers, and export high-DPI printable PDF invoices completely free with zero signup required.