Construction Payment Schedule Template With Due Dates and Retainage

Fill the schedule in before work starts and attach it to the subcontract. A blank left open, such as the days allowed after the general contractor is paid or the retainage percentage, gets settled at the first pay application, after the work is already in the ground.

What is a payment schedule in construction

On a progress-billed job, the general contractor bills the owner each period against a schedule of values: the contract sum split into line items, with work completed, materials stored, retainage, and previous payments shown on the application. Federal agencies make progress payments monthly on estimates of work accomplished, and on TxDOT work the engineer prepares a monthly estimate with a cut-off no earlier than the 25th. A subcontractor’s schedule follows that cycle: the sub bills the general contractor, and the general contractor pays the sub out of what the owner paid.

Due dates set by law

Prompt payment laws put a limit on the due date column, and the number depends on who owns the job. As of September 2026:

• Federal contracts: the agency pays a progress payment within 14 days of a proper payment request unless the solicitation sets a longer period, and the prime pays each subcontractor, material suppliers included, within 7 days of receiving it
• Federal-aid highway contracts: the state DOT must require primes to pay subcontractors within 30 days of receiving each payment, at every tier
• TxDOT contracts: the prime pays subcontractors within 10 days of being paid by the Department, and suppliers count as subcontractors
• Private work in Texas: the owner pays within 35 days of a written payment request, and the contractor pays each sub within 7 days of receiving the owner’s payment
• Private work in Virginia: the contractor pays a sub within 60 days of an invoice for completed work or 7 days after being paid, whichever comes first

Other states set their own. Write the days into the schedule, and the statute or spec section behind them into the notes.

Pay-when-paid and pay-if-paid

A payment clause ties the sub’s due date to the general contractor’s receipts in one of two ways. Pay-when-paid is a timing rule: the general contractor can wait a reasonable time for the owner’s money but still owes the sub. Pay-if-paid makes the owner’s payment a condition precedent, so the sub carries the risk of an owner who never pays. Virginia makes pay-if-paid unenforceable unless the owner is insolvent or bankrupt, and federal courts have almost unanimously held it unenforceable against Miller Act claims. If the clause says condition precedent, price that risk into the job.

Retainage

Retainage is the share of each progress payment held until the work is accepted. These rules limit it:

• Federal contracts: up to 10% of the approved estimate, held only when progress is unsatisfactory or to cover what remains at substantial completion
• California public works: 5% unless the agency finds the project substantially complex, and no sub held above the prime’s percentage
• New York private projects of $150,000 or more: 5%, on contracts signed on or after November 17, 2023
• TxDOT: no retainage on the prime, and retainage the prime holds on a sub is due within 10 days of the sub’s work being satisfactorily completed
• Federal-aid highway contracts: retainage owed to a sub is paid within 30 days of the sub’s work being satisfactorily completed

For trucking and material, negotiate retainage to zero. A load is complete when the truck dumps and the ticket is approved, and holding 10% of it until the whole job is accepted has the hauler financing the contractor. Where retainage stays, tie its release to accepted phases of the work, which federal-aid rules already allow through incremental acceptance.

Template: milestone subcontract

An illustration for a $200,000 site-work subcontract with 10% retainage. The 7 days matches federal and Texas private work, and the 30 days matches federal-aid highway work. Use your contract’s numbers.

• Milestone | % of contract | Amount | Trigger | Due date | Retainage held
• Mobilization | 5% | $10,000 | Crew and equipment on site | GC paid + 7 days | $1,000
• Clearing and erosion control | 15% | $30,000 | Inspector sign-off | GC paid + 7 days | $3,000
• Excavation and embankment | 40% | $80,000 | Quantities measured each month | GC paid + 7 days | $8,000
• Subgrade and base | 30% | $60,000 | Quantities measured each month | GC paid + 7 days | $6,000
• Closeout | 10% | $20,000 | Final acceptance | GC paid + 7 days | $2,000
• Retainage release | n/a | $20,000 | Sub’s work satisfactorily completed | Completion + 30 days | n/a

The sub collects $180,000 as the work goes and $20,000 at the end. On an 8-month job, the $1,000 held from mobilization waits about 9 months: 8 months of work plus 30 days after completion.

Template: hauling billed weekly from tickets

Hauling and material are a count of loads, so bill them weekly from approved tickets. Take 5 trucks running 5 loads a day each: 25 tickets a day and 125 in a 5-day week. The rows assume 20 tons a load at $8.50 a ton, net 30 terms, no retainage, and a rain day in week 3.

• Week | Loads | Tons | Rate | Amount | Tickets attached | Due date | Retainage
• Week 1 | 125 | 2,500 | $8.50/ton | $21,250 | 125 of 125 | Invoice + 30 days | $0
• Week 2 | 125 | 2,500 | $8.50/ton | $21,250 | 125 of 125 | Invoice + 30 days | $0
• Week 3 | 100 | 2,000 | $8.50/ton | $17,000 | 100 of 100 | Invoice + 30 days | $0
• Week 4 | 125 | 2,500 | $8.50/ton | $21,250 | 125 of 125 | Invoice + 30 days | $0
• Month | 475 | 9,500 | | $80,750 | 475 of 475 | | $0

A pay-when-paid general contractor still pays monthly, but a weekly invoice arrives within days of the hauling, so fewer loads miss a pay application cut-off and a short or duplicate ticket gets questioned while the driver remembers the load. On net 30 terms, the 30 days start when the weekly invoice goes out. At 10% retainage, this hauling would put $8,075 a month into retainage, or $32,300 over a 4-month job.

Payment log

Keep one row per payment next to the schedule, so the due date and the date paid sit side by side:

• Invoice or pay app number | Amount billed | Retainage held | Deductions | Due date | Date paid | Days late | Payment method | Lien waiver | Notes

Days late is the number you need for the interest clause, which federal prime contracts must flow down to every subcontract. If the general contractor wants a lien waiver with each payment, check whether your state prescribes the form. California has four statutory forms, conditional and unconditional for progress and final payments, and a conditional waiver takes effect only with evidence of payment, such as a cleared check. Send the conditional waiver with the invoice and the unconditional one after the funds clear.

Tickets as backup

On public work the scale ticket sets the pay quantity. TxDOT computes net weight as gross minus tare, and when a truck on a public route scales over the legal gross, tolerance permits included, net is figured from the legal maximum, so the tons over the limit are not paid. Put the ticket number on every invoice line and attach the ticket image so the general contractor can match your invoice to its own pay application. In Tread, a weekly receivable settlement itemizes each approved ticket by number, and Payment Terms sets its due date before it exports to QuickBooks.