Construction software for subcontractors is a different product from the software a general contractor uses to manage subs, even when it is the same program, because the sub is on the other side of every document: the sub sends the schedule of values instead of receiving it, bills the draw instead of approving it, and is owed the retainage instead of holding it. This page is the sub's side, worked on the $90,000 framing subcontract used across this site: what the sub's own record has to hold, the draw the sub sends up, the retainage receivable that is the sub's margin until the end, and the change orders that protect it. The construction project billing software guide on this site covers the billing engine; DrawScheduleWorks Pro runs it for either side.
The contract and the schedule of values the sub sends up
The sub's record starts with the subcontract: the sum, the scope, the retainage share, the payment terms and the days the GC has to pay after the owner pays. Against it the sub writes a schedule of values, the lines of their own work with a value each, and sends it up to the GC, who folds it into the owner's schedule. On the worked framing sub the lines are walls, floors, roof and stairs, adding to $90,000. The software has to hold that schedule as the one the sub bills against, because a draw that bills a line the GC's schedule does not carry is a draw that gets sent back. The SBA's page on prime and subcontracting, linked below, sets out the relationship on public work.
The draw: share complete per line, less retainage, less billed before
Each period the sub reports the share complete on each line, the software works the value earned, deducts the retainage share and everything billed before, and produces the amount due. On the example at 57.5 complete overall the period's draw is $14,175 with a tenth held. The sub's software has to produce that draw on the GC's form, commonly the AIA application and continuation sheet linked below, with the same line numbers the GC uses, because the sub's draw is what the GC's pay application to the owner carries for that trade. A sub whose draw does not match the GC's lines waits a month.
Retainage receivable: the money that is the sub's margin
A tenth of every draw is held, so on a $90,000 subcontract the sub has $9,000 outstanding at the end that is, for most subs, the whole margin on the job. The software tracks retainage receivable per job: what has been held, when the contract says it is released, and the conditions, usually the sub's completion and close-out documents, that trigger it. A sub with six jobs open has six retainage balances and a cash-flow problem if none is tracked. The federal payment clause linked below is the public-work model of how retainage is withheld and released; private subcontracts vary and the software has to hold each job's terms.
Change orders, the year end and what the sub's software has to print
Every change to the sub's scope is a change order that adjusts the subcontract sum and adds a line to the schedule of values, dated and signed, or it is work done for free. The software keeps the change orders against the contract so the sum on the last draw is the sum as changed. At year end the sub receives a 1099-NEC from each GC that paid them, and the software's record of what was paid per GC is what the sub checks it against. DrawScheduleWorks Pro keeps the subcontract, the schedule of values, the draws, the retainage receivable and the change orders as one record and prints the draw on the GC's form.
Questions people ask about construction software for subcontractors
What does construction software do for a subcontractor?
It keeps the subcontract, the schedule of values the sub sends up, each draw with its share complete per line, the retainage the sub is owed, the change orders, and what each GC has paid for the 1099 at year end. Same arithmetic as the GC's software, from the other side.
How does a subcontractor bill a draw?
Report the share complete on each line of the schedule of values; the software works the value earned, deducts retainage and prior billing, and prints the draw on the GC's form with the GC's line numbers. On the worked sub, $14,175 for the period.
Why track retainage receivable?
Because a tenth of every draw is held until the end and on most subcontracts that is the margin. Six open jobs are six balances with six release conditions, and the software keeps each job's terms and dates.