What is a schedule of values in construction?

A schedule of values is a breakdown of the total contract amount into individual line items representing different phases or components of the work. Each line item has a value, and billing is tied to the percentage of that item completed. The SOV is the foundation of the pay application process — how it is structured determines how fast a subcontractor gets paid and how much cash they carry during the job.

How should a subcontractor structure their schedule of values?

Break the scope into line items that match your actual cost structure — mobilization, labor by phase, materials, equipment, and closeout. Front-load mobilization and early phase items to cover the float period before Pay App 1 is collected. Each line item should be defensible against the work being billed and structured so the first two pay apps recover your early cost exposure.

How much should mobilization be on a schedule of values?

Typically 3 to 7 percent of total contract value, depending on actual mobilization costs and GC tolerance for front-loading. The mobilization line should cover everything spent before work is substantially underway — equipment delivery, initial materials, bond premiums, site-specific safety setup, and overhead allocation for project startup.

Can a subcontractor front-load their schedule of values?

Yes, within reason. Front-loading means assigning higher values to early line items to recover mobilization and startup costs before the majority of work is performed. Most GCs accept moderate front-loading, especially when it is tied to a legitimate mobilization line item. Aggressive front-loading — where early billing far exceeds early costs — will draw pushback and can damage the GC relationship.

What happens if a subcontractor has a poorly structured schedule of values?

They go upside down in the first 60 days. A poorly structured SOV means Pay App 1 does not recover the mobilization and startup costs already spent. The sub is then personally financing the GC's job with their own working capital for the remainder of the project — which compounds on every subsequent job running simultaneously.

BILLING SYSTEMS · SCHEDULE OF VALUES · LUMP SUM ONLY

CONSTRUCTION SCHEDULE OF VALUES — GUIDE AND TEMPLATE.

QUICK ANSWER

A schedule of values is not your estimate. It is the contractually agreed breakdown of your lump sum contract into line items — each with a weighting that controls how much you can bill at each stage. You bill percent complete by individual line item, not by overall project completion. Material lines are weighted at cost plus overhead plus profit plus 5%. General Conditions is a time-based monthly cost, weighted the same as material. Labor lines are weighted at exact cost and sequenced in build order. This structure is for private lump sum work only — it does not apply to public work or unit price contracts.

The SOV gets attached to your contract before signing with agreed-upon values filled in. Not blank — with numbers. The GC signs knowing exactly what mobilization costs, what each month of General Conditions costs, and what each material and labor phase is worth. That signed document is your billing authority for the life of the project — and your leverage on every change order that extends the schedule.

BY JOSH LUEBKERPublished: May 2026Updated: May 2026

DOWNLOAD THE TEMPLATE

SOV TEMPLATES — ALL WEIGHTS SUM TO 1.00000

Attach to the contract before signing with dollar values agreed and filled in. Bill percent complete by individual line item — not overall project completion.

Color key: Orange = Mobilization · Blue = General Conditions and Permits (time and pass-through costs) · White = Material (cost + OH&P + 5%) · Grey = Labor (exact cost, build sequence order)

ELECTRICAL SUBCONTRACTOR

Labor phases sequenced by build order: underground first, then above-slab floor by floor, then gear setting, then devices and trim, then low voltage, then startup. Switchgear material billed before installation to recover procurement cost early.

ITEM	DESCRIPTION	SCHED VALUE	WEIGHT
1.00	Mobilization	$ —	0.09000
2.00	Permits and Inspections	$ —	0.01489
3.00	General Conditions — 6 Months (Equipment, PM & Superintendent)	$ —	0.07500
MATERIAL — COST + OH&P + 5%
4.00	Material — Switchgear and Main Distribution Gear	$ —	0.11000
5.00	Material — Underground PVC Conduit and Fittings	$ —	0.04500
6.00	Material — Rough-In Conduit, Wire, and Fittings	$ —	0.07000
7.00	Material — Devices, Panels, and Branch Circuit	$ —	0.05000
8.00	Material — Lighting Fixtures and Controls	$ —	0.05500
9.00	Material — Low Voltage and Specialty	$ —	0.02000
LABOR — EXACT COST · SEQUENCED BY BUILD ORDER
10.00	Labor — Underground Conduit and Rough-In	$ —	0.10000
11.00	Labor — Above-Slab Rough-In Floor 1	$ —	0.08000
12.00	Labor — Above-Slab Rough-In Floor 2	$ —	0.07000
13.00	Labor — Above-Slab Rough-In Floor 3	$ —	0.05000
14.00	Labor — Panel Setting and Gear Installation	$ —	0.06000
15.00	Labor — Devices, Trim, and Fixtures	$ —	0.05511
16.00	Labor — Low Voltage and Fire Alarm	$ —	0.03000
17.00	Labor — Start-Up, Testing, and Punch	$ —	0.02500
TOTAL CONTRACT VALUE		$ —	1.00000

CIVIL / SITEWORK SUBCONTRACTOR

Labor phases sequenced by site build order: clearing first, then grading, then underground utilities in sequence (storm, sanitary, water), then base aggregate, then paving, then concrete finishes. Material for each utility type separated and front-loaded.

ITEM	DESCRIPTION	SCHED VALUE	WEIGHT
1.00	Mobilization	$ —	0.08000
2.00	Permits and Inspections	$ —	0.01489
3.00	General Conditions — 5 Months (Equipment, PM & Superintendent)	$ —	0.07000
MATERIAL — COST + OH&P + 5%
4.00	Material — Storm Drainage Pipe and Structures	$ —	0.07000
5.00	Material — Sanitary Sewer Pipe and Manholes	$ —	0.06000
6.00	Material — Water Main Pipe and Appurtenances	$ —	0.05500
7.00	Material — Sub-Base and Base Aggregate	$ —	0.07000
8.00	Material — Asphalt — Base and Surface Course	$ —	0.08000
9.00	Material — Concrete — Curb, Gutter, and Flatwork	$ —	0.04500
10.00	Material — Erosion Control and SWPPP Supplies	$ —	0.01500
LABOR — EXACT COST · SEQUENCED BY BUILD ORDER
11.00	Labor — Site Clearing and Demolition	$ —	0.03000
12.00	Labor — Mass Grading — Cut and Fill	$ —	0.10511
13.00	Labor — Storm Drainage Installation	$ —	0.07000
14.00	Labor — Sanitary Sewer Installation	$ —	0.06500
15.00	Labor — Water Main Installation	$ —	0.06000
16.00	Labor — Sub-Base Placement and Compaction	$ —	0.04000
17.00	Labor — Asphalt Paving	$ —	0.04000
18.00	Labor — Concrete Curb, Gutter, and Flatwork	$ —	0.03000
TOTAL CONTRACT VALUE		$ —	1.00000

CONCRETE SUBCONTRACTOR

Labor phases sequenced by structural build order: excavation and subgrade, then footings, then foundation walls, then slabs on grade, then elevated slabs, then punch and finish. Rebar and forming material billed before pour phases begin.

ITEM	DESCRIPTION	SCHED VALUE	WEIGHT
1.00	Mobilization	$ —	0.09000
2.00	Permits and Layout Survey	$ —	0.01489
3.00	General Conditions — 4 Months (Equipment, PM & Superintendent)	$ —	0.06500
MATERIAL — COST + OH&P + 5%
4.00	Material — Rebar and Reinforcing Steel	$ —	0.07000
5.00	Material — Concrete — Footings and Walls	$ —	0.06000
6.00	Material — Concrete — Slabs and Elevated Decks	$ —	0.05500
7.00	Material — Forming Lumber and Hardware	$ —	0.03500
8.00	Material — Embed Plates, Anchors, and Sleeves	$ —	0.02000
9.00	Material — Vapor Barrier and Curing Supplies	$ —	0.01000
LABOR — EXACT COST · SEQUENCED BY BUILD ORDER
10.00	Labor — Excavation and Subgrade Preparation	$ —	0.07000
11.00	Labor — Footing — Form, Rebar, Pour, Strip	$ —	0.13511
12.00	Labor — Foundation Walls — Form, Pour, Strip	$ —	0.14000
13.00	Labor — Slab on Grade — Base, Vapor, Pour, Finish	$ —	0.12000
14.00	Labor — Elevated Slabs — Shore, Deck, Pour, Strip	$ —	0.08000
15.00	Labor — Patching, Grinding, and Punch	$ —	0.03500
TOTAL CONTRACT VALUE		$ —	1.00000

SWPPP / EROSION CONTROL SUBCONTRACTOR

Labor phases sequenced by installation order: perimeter protection first, then inlet protection, then basin construction, then slope protection, then seeding and stabilization. Monthly BMP maintenance (line 14) bills on schedule every month independent of all other phases.

ITEM	DESCRIPTION	SCHED VALUE	WEIGHT
1.00	Mobilization	$ —	0.10000
2.00	SWPPP Plan Preparation and Permits	$ —	0.01489
3.00	General Conditions — 6 Months (Equipment, PM & Superintendent)	$ —	0.06500
MATERIAL — COST + OH&P + 5%
4.00	Material — Silt Fence and Filter Fabric	$ —	0.05500
5.00	Material — Inlet Protection and Rock Bags	$ —	0.04000
6.00	Material — Erosion Control Blanket and Matting	$ —	0.06000
7.00	Material — Seed, Fertilizer, and Mulch	$ —	0.06000
8.00	Material — Sediment Basin Liner and Riser	$ —	0.05000
LABOR — EXACT COST · SEQUENCED BY BUILD ORDER
9.00	Labor — Perimeter Silt Fence Installation	$ —	0.09511
10.00	Labor — Inlet Protection Installation	$ —	0.07000
11.00	Labor — Sediment Basin or Trap Construction	$ —	0.13000
12.00	Labor — Slope Protection and Blanket Installation	$ —	0.10000
13.00	Labor — Seeding, Mulching, and Stabilization	$ —	0.11000
14.00	Labor — Monthly BMP Inspection and Maintenance	$ —	0.05000
TOTAL CONTRACT VALUE		$ —	1.00000

An estimate is not a schedule of values. Your estimate is how you price the work — it speaks to your internal cost structure, your labor rates, your material pricing, your overhead allocation. The SOV is how you get paid for the work — it speaks to the GC in a language tied to the contract value and build sequence. They are built differently, they serve different purposes, and one does not replace the other. You build the SOV from your estimate, but the SOV is its own document with its own structure. A contractor who hands the GC their estimate as a schedule of values will be underbilled, disputed, and paid slowly for the entire project.

This SOV structure is for private lump sum work only. It does not work for public work jobs or unit price contracts. Public work billing is governed by bid schedule line items and measured quantities — the weighting methodology here does not apply. Unit price contracts bill by measured units installed, not by percent complete against a weighted line. If your contract is unit price or public work, use the appropriate billing format for that contract type. Applying a lump sum SOV structure to a unit price or public work contract will create billing disputes from day one.

You bill percent complete by individual line item — not by overall project completion. Each month you assess the percent complete for each line independently. Underground labor at 100% bills its full weight. Rough-in Floor 2 at 60% bills 60% of its weight. General Conditions bills 1/X of its total weight every month on schedule regardless of what else is happening. Material lines bill when material is on site or installed per your stored materials agreement. The GC cannot hold your switchgear line because rough-in is behind schedule — they are separate line items with separate completion percentages.

LINE TYPE REFERENCE

FOUR LINE TYPES. FOUR DIFFERENT WEIGHTING RULES.

MOBILIZATION — 5 TO 10%+

Front-Loaded Cash Before Work Begins

Covers equipment mobilization, initial material procurement deposits, site setup, and the first period of superintendent time before production billing starts. Target 8–10% minimum. Negotiate hard — document the cost breakdown so the GC can approve it. Even 5% on a $600K contract is $30,000 in the bank at project start. Mobilization is the single highest-leverage line on the SOV.

PERMITS AND INSPECTIONS — 1.4889%

Fixed Rate — Not Rounded

Permits and inspections is a pass-through cost with a specific, documented value. It is not 1.5% or 2% — it is the actual permit cost divided by the contract value, expressed to five decimal places. On a $480K electrical contract, if permits cost $7,147, the weight is 7,147 ÷ 480,000 = 0.01489. This line bills in full on permit issuance. Do not round it. The precision signals that you know exactly what permits cost and you are billing exactly that.

GENERAL CONDITIONS — X MONTHS · COST + OH&P + 5%

Time-Based Cost — Billed Monthly on Schedule

General Conditions covers every cost that runs on the clock regardless of production: equipment on site, superintendent salary, PM time, fuel, trailers, temporary facilities, phones, and site utilities. Calculate it like material — actual monthly cost times the number of contract months, plus overhead and profit, plus 5%. Divide by contract value to get the weight. Then bill 1/X of that weight every month on schedule. Rain month, slow month, disputed change order month — General Conditions bills in full. You did not choose the schedule or the season. Equipment sitting on a rained-out site costs the same as equipment working. Label the line as "General Conditions — X Months" so the GC understands it is schedule-driven from day one. When they extend the project a month, the change order is not a negotiation — it is the monthly rate already in the signed contract times one additional month. They knew the cost when they signed.

MATERIAL — COST + OH&P + 5%

Separated by Type — Billed When On Site

Every material type gets its own line — switchgear is not conduit is not devices. Each line is weighted at its marked-up value: material cost plus overhead and profit plus an additional 5% for procurement, storage, and handling. This front-loads the billing — you recover material cost and markup before the labor phase that installs it even begins. Negotiate stored materials billing language into the contract so material can be billed on site before installation when lead times are long.

LABOR — EXACT COST · SEQUENCED BY BUILD ORDER

Weighted at Exact Cost — Ordered How You Build

Labor phase lines are weighted at their exact cost as a fraction of total contract value — no additional markup. The markup is captured in the material lines and in the overall contract price. Labor lines must be sequenced in build order — the order your crews actually execute the work. Underground before above-slab. Floor 1 before Floor 2 before Floor 3. Footings before walls before slabs. The sequence is not alphabetical, not by cost, not by spec section — it is the physical order of construction. Billing follows the build, and the build follows the sequence.

THE RULES

WHAT EVERY SOV MUST DO — AND MUST NEVER DO.

Attach the SOV to the contract before signing with agreed-upon dollar values filled in — not blank. The GC signs the values. That document is your billing authority and your change order leverage.

Bill percent complete by individual line item — not overall project completion. Each line has its own independent completion percentage assessed monthly.

Label General Conditions as "X Months" with the month count from the contract schedule — so a schedule extension change order is math, not a negotiation.

Sequence labor phases in build order — the physical order your crews execute the work, not alphabetical or by cost.

Separate every material type into its own line — switchgear, conduit, devices, lighting are four different lines, not one "Electrical Material" line.

Front-load mobilization to 8–10% minimum — document the cost breakdown so the GC can approve it at signing.

Ensure all weights sum to exactly 1.00000 — not 0.99500, not 1.00500. Exactly 1.00000.

Never have a closeout line — it holds cash hostage to punch list sign-off. Distribute that weight into the final production phases.

Never use this structure for public work or unit price contracts — wrong tool for those contract types.

Add every approved change order as a new SOV line with its own weight — never absorb change orders into existing lines.

COMMON QUESTIONS

FREQUENTLY ASKED.

Why is the estimate different from the SOV?

The estimate is your internal pricing document — it shows cost by labor category, material type, equipment rate, and overhead allocation. It is built to calculate your bid price. The SOV is your billing document — it shows the GC what portion of the contract value is assigned to each phase so you can invoice against it monthly. You build the SOV from your estimate, but they are structured differently. The estimate might show "Electrical Labor — $187,000." The SOV breaks that into six separate labor phases sequenced by build order, each with its own weighting and completion percentage. The GC never sees your estimate. They see and sign the SOV.

What happens when the GC extends the project schedule by a month?

With a properly structured SOV, a one-month schedule extension is a change order with a known dollar value — the monthly General Conditions rate already in the signed contract. If your General Conditions line is "6 Months — $28,800" and the project extends to 7 months, the change order is $4,800. The GC already agreed to that monthly rate when they signed the contract. It is not a negotiation about whether you should be compensated for the extension — it is math. Without a properly labeled General Conditions line, you are negotiating from scratch on a claim the GC has no contractual obligation to pay.

Why does General Conditions bill even during a rained-out month?

Because the costs do not stop. Equipment on site costs money whether it runs or not. The superintendent is on salary whether it rains or not. The trailer, the fuel, the temporary facilities — all of those costs accrue on the calendar, not on the production schedule. General Conditions is a time-based cost, not a scope-based cost. You did not choose the project schedule and you did not choose the season. The GC accepted the schedule and the associated monthly costs when they signed the contract. A rained-out month is a GC schedule risk, not your cost-absorption obligation.

Can I use this SOV structure on public work?

No. Public work contracts — federal, state, municipal, DOT — typically require billing against the bid schedule, which is a unit price or lump sum by bid item structure defined in the contract documents. The weighting methodology here does not apply. Public work billing is governed by the engineer's payment application format, measured quantities, and sometimes a Schedule of Values that mirrors the bid items exactly. Unit price contracts bill by actual measured units installed — not by percent complete against a weighted line. Use the correct format for the contract type you are on.

What if the GC insists on their own SOV template?

Resubmit your own and explain that your version provides more accurate billing visibility for both parties. Most GCs accept a more detailed SOV — it makes their own billing to the owner more accurate. If the GC insists on their template, negotiate the weightings on each line to front-load as aggressively as the line descriptions allow. At minimum, ensure mobilization, permits, and General Conditions are separate lines with the correct values. If they insist on a single line for all electrical work, you have no front-loading and no monthly General Conditions protection. That is a contract risk worth flagging before you sign.

Josh Luebker

Fractional CFO · The Construction CFO

Former commercial construction project manager and master electrician. Managed 150+ projects totaling $300M+. Now fractional CFO for commercial subcontractors doing $1M–$12M. About Josh → | LinkedIn →

RELATED RESOURCES

CONSTRUCTION SCHEDULE OF VALUES — GUIDE AND TEMPLATE.

FOUR LINE TYPES. FOUR DIFFERENT WEIGHTING RULES.

Front-Loaded Cash Before Work Begins

Fixed Rate — Not Rounded

Time-Based Cost — Billed Monthly on Schedule

Separated by Type — Billed When On Site

Weighted at Exact Cost — Ordered How You Build

WHAT EVERY SOV MUST DO — AND MUST NEVER DO.

FREQUENTLY ASKED.

IS YOUR NEXT CONTRACT SOV ATTACHED AND SIGNED BEFORE MOBILIZATION?