Construction Knowledge Series: What is a "Schedule of Values (SOV)"?

When working on a project longer than a month, it is likely that there will be several billing cycles (usually monthly) that occur throughout the duration of the job.  One could make educated guesses on how much to bill each month but this method is unscientific and hard to quantify.  For this reason, a Schedule of Values is typically required for a construction project.

A Schedule of Values breaks apart the total value of a contract into smaller pieces so that it is easier to track and verify progress in the field.  The Schedule of Values not only helps break out the value of each scope of work, but it also helps keep track of what has been previously billed, what is being billed and what remains to be billed.  Subcontractors submit their SOVs to General Contractors who then create a project wide SOV that they use to bill the owner.  In the example below, I have put together a Month #2 Schedule of Values for a hypothetical painting contract for a 3-story building.

Schedule of Values for a Hypothetical Painting Contract