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Construction agent

Pay application review

Every subcontractor pay app checked against the schedule of values, the commitment and the work in place. Clean ones move to approval, and overbilled lines go to the PM.

Built from our Invoice matching agent, set up for pay applications and schedules of values.

  • $12,500 fixed
  • Live in 3 to 6 weeks
  • Yours to keep
Let’s build your agent How it works
The review screen for Pay application review: four items, three done, and one (Line 9 over) waiting for the project manager, who is asked: Approve line 9, Level 2 rough-in, at 70%? Your last estimate was 55%.
How it works

Fourteen lines, each one checked. One is billed ahead of the work.

Here’s a typical run, step by step: what automation handles, what the agent does, and the calls that stay with your team.

The workflow for Pay application review, in 5 steps. It starts with “Pay app 7 comes in” and ends with “Ready for sign-off”. Each step lists what automation, the agent and your team do there.
Pay application reviewA typical run
Starts withPay app 7 comes inRidgeline Electric sends its June application and continuation sheet: $61,750 on Harbor Point, phase 2.
The agent: Reads the application and the continuation sheet: each line’s scheduled value, work this period, stored materials and retainage.
Automation: Files pay app 7 against Ridgeline’s commitment on Harbor Point, phase 2, and starts the clock on the review.
~18h/mo

Step 1 of 5Read the pay app

  • The agent

    Reads the application and the continuation sheet: each line’s scheduled value, work this period, stored materials and retainage.

    Some subs send a clean form, others a scan with handwritten totals and a continuation sheet in their own layout.

  • Automation

    Files pay app 7 against Ridgeline’s commitment on Harbor Point, phase 2, and starts the clock on the review.

    The sub, the job and the commitment are on record, so the pay app has one obvious home.

Reads
  • Project tool
Writes
  • Construction ERP

~18 hours a month back

The agent: Matches all 14 billed lines to the approved schedule of values, even where Ridgeline has renamed or split a line since the contract.
~24h/mo

Step 2 of 5Line up the SOV

  • The agent

    Matches all 14 billed lines to the approved schedule of values, even where Ridgeline has renamed or split a line since the contract.

    The SOV says “Branch wiring, L2” and the pay app says “Level 2 rough-in”. An exact match would call that a new line.

Reads
  • Construction ERP
Writes
  • Construction ERP

~24 hours a month back

Where teams differLocking each sub’s SOV at contract makes this easy. Letting subs split lines as the job goes makes it harder.

Automation: Confirms $412,000 of the $468,000 commitment is billed to date, your 10% retainage is held, and the conditional waiver is attached.
~9h/mo

Step 3 of 5Check the totals

  • Automation

    Confirms $412,000 of the $468,000 commitment is billed to date, your 10% retainage is held, and the conditional waiver is attached.

    Billed to date, the commitment and a retainage rate are three numbers. The math has one right answer.

Reads
  • Construction ERP
Writes
  • Construction ERP

~9 hours a month back

The agent: Compares each line’s percent complete with the PM’s last estimate and finds line 9, Level 2 rough-in, billed at 70% against 55%.
IfYour team: Approves line 9 at 70% after a walk of the floor, or cuts it to 55% and sends pay app 7 back to Ridgeline to rebill.
~12h/mo

Step 4 of 5Work in place

  • The agent

    Compares each line’s percent complete with the PM’s last estimate and finds line 9, Level 2 rough-in, billed at 70% against 55%.

    The PM’s estimate lives in their last report. The pay app never mentions it.

  • Your teamIf ahead of the PM’s estimate

    Approves line 9 at 70% after a walk of the floor, or cuts it to 55% and sends pay app 7 back to Ridgeline to rebill.

    The PM knows the site. Whether the conduit on level 2 is really 70% in is their call.

Reads
  • Project tool
Writes
  • Construction ERP

~12 hours a month back

Where teams differSome PMs walk the site before every pay app. Plenty go by daily logs and photos, and walk only what’s flagged.

Automation: Sends pay app 7 to approval with the SOV check, the waiver and the PM’s decision on line 9 attached.
~6h/mo

Step 5 of 5Send for approval

  • Automation

    Sends pay app 7 to approval with the SOV check, the waiver and the PM’s decision on line 9 attached.

    Once every line holds or the PM has ruled, who approves and what goes with it is set by your rules.

Reads
  • Construction ERP
Writes
  • Construction ERP

~6 hours a month back

Ends withReady for sign-offThe pay app moves to approval with the SOV, the waiver and the backup attached, ready for the owner’s draw.
Total~69h/mo

What changes

Every line on every pay app gets checked against the SOV and the PM’s own estimate. The PM hears about the one billed ahead of the work, with the numbers beside it.

  • 3steps automated
  • 3steps for the agent
  • 1call kept with your team

Pick any step to see what happens there and why it sits in that lane.

What it could be worth

~69 hours a month back

$49,700 a year in time

For a contractor reviewing about 60 subcontractor pay apps a month, at $60 an hour. We work out yours from your own volumes before you sign.

Let’s build your agent
What we customize with you

One proven agent, plugged into how you work.

Every team does this job a little differently, so we set these five with the people who do it today. We’ve done this in dozens of businesses, so we know where teams usually differ and ask about those first.

The agent

Same for every client
  • Follows the same proven steps
  • A person on every exception
  • Every decision logged
  • Tested on your past work first
  • Never approves an overbilled line

  1. Your systems

    Where the work comes in, and where the result goes.

    For this agentPay apps from your project tool or inbox, approvals into your construction ERP.

  2. Your rules

    The limits and exceptions it works to.

    For this agentYour retainage rate, and how far ahead of work in place a line can bill.

  3. Your team

    Who signs off, and who covers when they’re away.

    For this agentThe PM on every job, and the controller for anything over the commitment.

  4. Your channels

    Where your team hears from it.

    For this agentEmail to the PM, a weekly list for the controller.

  5. Your output

    What it hands back, in the format you already use.

    For this agentAn approved pay app with its backup, ready for the draw.

It checks the right waiver is attached and holds the line if not. Chasing missing waivers and building the draw are their own agents. A system with no way to connect is quoted on its own.

What you get

The agent, and everything that keeps it working.

  • The agentRunning on your systems, under your rules.
  • The review screenWhere the exceptions land for your project accountants and PMs.
  • Your rulebookYour limits, exceptions and who signs off, in one place, often for the first time.
  • A test reportYour past pay applications, run through it and checked against the number.
  • The runbookHow it works, what to check, and what to do if it stops.
  • 30 days of tuningAfter it goes live, through a full month of your real pay applications.
The number we agree

Days from pay app received to approved. We measure it before we start, and again at day 30.

How we get there

Live in 3 to 6 weeks. About seven hours of your time.

We do the building. Your side: access, the last three months of pay apps with their schedules of values, and a short weekly check-in.

  1. Before kickoff

    We send the access checklist.

    You, 2 hours. Access, an owner, and the last three months of pay apps with their schedules of values.

  2. Weeks 1 to 2

    We connect your systems and set it up.

    You, 1 hour. Walk us through your rules.

  3. Weeks 2 to 4

    We test it on your past pay applications.

    You, 1 hour. Review what it flagged.

  4. Weeks 3 to 6

    It runs beside your team, then goes live.

    You, 1¼ hours. Work from the review screen.

Then 30 days of tuning, with a short check-in each week, about two hours of yours. At day 30 we show you the number and hand everything over.

After it’s live

It keeps running whether or not we stay.

  • It runs in your accounts

    Your cloud, your systems, and an AI account in your name, billed by the provider at their rates.

  • Changes in the first 30 days are included

    A new rule, a changed limit, someone new signing off. That’s what tuning is for.

  • After that, your call

    Your team edits the rulebook, the care plan covers it, or a bigger change is quoted first.

Questions

About this agent.

Does it work with AIA-style pay apps?
Yes. It reads the standard application and continuation sheet, and your own formats too, as PDFs or from your project tool.
What if a sub bills against a change order that isn’t approved yet?
That line waits for the PM, with the change order’s status attached, and the rest of the pay app keeps moving.
Our process isn’t quite like this. Will it still work?
That’s the usual case. The job looks the same in most businesses, but the details never do. We map how your team does it today, then set the rules, systems and approvals to match. That’s what most of the 3 to 6 weeks are for.
How do we agree the number?
Together, before any work starts. For this agent it’s the days from pay app received to approved. We measure it before we start, and again at day 30.
What does it cost to run once it’s live?
Hosting and AI, paid straight to the providers, not through us. It usually runs 5x to 25x cheaper than doing the same work by hand, and we work out your figure from your real volumes before you sign.

Want every pay app checked line by line?

Tell us how your team handles pay applications today. We’ll show you this agent on examples like yours, and whether it fits the fixed price.

Let’s build your agentBack to Real estate & construction
New to Switchboard Agents? How it works, what’s included, and what it costs.
  • 3 to 6 weeksto live, then 30 days of tuning
  • $12,500fixed, per agent
  • Yours to keepno license fees
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Switchboard Agents$12,500 fixed · live in 3 to 6 weeks How it works Let’s build your agent