AIA G702 and G703, explained for MEP subcontractors

MEPSub · 8 min read · November 2026

If you sub to a general contractor on commercial work, you get paid through a pay application — usually on AIA forms. The math isn’t hard, but one wrong column gets the whole application kicked back a week. Here’s how the two forms fit together and where they go wrong.

Two forms, one application

A pay application is a pair. The G703 Continuation Sheet is the detail: one row per line of your schedule of values, with how much of each line is done. The G702 Application and Certificate for Payment is the summary page: it takes the G703 totals, subtracts retainage and what you were already paid, and arrives at the amount due this period. The GC, and often the architect, sign the G702 to certify it.

Start with the schedule of values

Everything hangs on the schedule of values (SOV): your contract sum split into lines that add up to it. For a mechanical sub that is typically ductwork, piping, equipment, controls, insulation, test & balance, and general conditions — sometimes split by floor or by building. The SOV is agreed once, at the start; after that you bill against it every month.

The G703 columns

• A — Item number and B — Description of work: the SOV line.
• C — Scheduled value: what that line is worth.
• D — Work completed, from previous application: what you billed on that line before.
• E — Work completed, this period: what you are billing now.
• F — Materials presently stored (not in D or E): equipment and material on site or in approved storage, not yet installed.
• G — Total completed and stored to date: D + E + F, plus % (G ÷ C).
• H — Balance to finish: C − G.
• I — Retainage: what is held back on that line.

The G702 lines

The summary page walks from the contract to the check:

1. Original contract sum
2. Net change by change orders
3. Contract sum to date (1 + 2)
4. Total completed and stored to date (the G703 column G total)
5. Retainage — on completed work and on stored material
6. Total earned less retainage (4 − 5)
7. Less previous certificates for payment
8. Current payment due (6 − 7)
9. Balance to finish, including retainage (3 − 6)

Line 8 is the number you are asking for. If line 7 doesn’t match what you were actually certified last month, the application will come back.

Change orders

An approved change order adds to line 2 and usually gets its own line on the G703, so its progress is billed like any other line. Pending changes don’t belong on the form — billing work that hasn’t been approved is the fastest way to get the whole application rejected.

Retainage

Retainage is the share of each payment the GC holds until the end of the job — often 5 or 10%, set by your subcontract. It is calculated on completed work and stored material, carried forward every month, and released at substantial or final completion, usually against a lien waiver. Track it per job: it adds up to real money that is easy to forget to bill.

Why pay apps get sent back

• “Previous application” (column D) doesn’t match what was certified last time.
• Percentages the GC’s superintendent doesn’t agree with after a walk.
• Stored material without proof (invoices, photos, insurance for off-site storage).
• Unapproved change orders on the form.
• Missing lien waivers, certified payroll or insurance certificates the subcontract requires.
• Math errors between the G703 totals and the G702.

How MEPSub handles it

In MEPSub, the SOV can load from your won estimate or the project, approved change orders fold into the contract, and each new application starts from the last one, so column D is never retyped. Retainage carries forward, the branded G702/G703 PDF comes out of the same record, and the field’s installed quantities can suggest each line’s percentage. See the step-by-step guide.

The short version

The G703 is the detail per SOV line; the G702 adds it up, subtracts retainage and what you were already paid, and asks for the difference. Agree a schedule of values the GC can verify, keep last month’s certified numbers exact, bill only approved changes, and send the paperwork the subcontract asks for with every application.