If the GC drafted your schedule of values, it probably underbills your early phases and back-loads value to later work. You are financing the most expensive part of the job. Here is how to fix it before you sign.
The schedule of values is a negotiation — it just does not feel like one because most concrete subs receive a GC-drafted SOV with the subcontract package and sign it without changes. The GC's draft is written in the GC's interest. Early phases that cost you the most cash are assigned the least SOV value. Later phases that cost you less are assigned more. The result is a cash gap you fund during the most expensive part of the job.
Forming and shoring a structural concrete job requires significant labor and material before the first cubic yard is poured. If the SOV assigns 8% of contract value to "Formwork and Shoring" but that phase represents 18% of actual cost, you are doing $108,000 of work on a $600K contract and billing $48,000. The $60,000 gap is funded from your operating cash.
Many GC-drafted SOVs lump rebar into "Concrete Placement" — a later phase — even though rebar is purchased and placed before the first pour. If $80,000 in rebar is sitting on the job site with no billing milestone until the pour phase, that $80,000 is sitting on the ground funded entirely from your cash or credit line.
A GC-drafted SOV typically has no mobilization line item or a nominal 2–3% that does not cover actual mobilization costs — equipment move-in, permits, temporary power, supervision setup. Mobilization on a $600K concrete job can legitimately represent 5–8% of costs. If it is not in the SOV, it is not billed until it is absorbed into later phases — if at all.
Before the subcontract is signed, submit your own SOV draft — do not wait for the GC's version. Your draft should reflect actual cost timing: mobilization as its own line (5–8% of contract value), formwork and shoring as its own line at actual cost percentage, rebar and reinforcing at delivery or placement, concrete placement by pour phase, and finish work last. Submitting first anchors the negotiation around your cost structure, not the GC's billing preference.
The negotiation goes better when framed correctly. You are not asking for favorable billing — you are asking for an SOV that accurately reflects when costs are incurred. Formwork does cost 18% of the contract value. Rebar does arrive at the site before the first pour. A cost-accurate SOV is defensible and most GCs will engage with it rather than reject it outright.
Once the subcontract is executed, the SOV is fixed. Any request to front-load billing after signing is a request to overbill, which is a different conversation — and one the GC will almost always say no to. The only time to negotiate the SOV structure is before the contract is signed. This is a pre-contract decision with a permanent cash flow impact for the entire duration of the job.
This contractor had been accepting GC-drafted SOVs on every project for years. No mobilization line items. Rebar lumped into placement phases. Formwork undervalued relative to actual cost. The result was a consistent cash hole in the first 60 days of every new job, funded from a line of credit that was never fully paid down before the next job started.
Collected in AR within the first 7 days of SPM engagement — money already earned in prior jobs with better billing than the SOV reflected. Used to pay down the LOC before the SOV restructuring on new contracts took effect.
In profit sharing distributed to the team in the following 12 months — a direct result of margin and cash that was always in the work, finally recovered through billing structure that matched when costs were actually incurred.
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