A residential construction draw schedule template answers the question every custom-home contract has to answer before the first shovel: when is the contractor paid, for what, and who says the stage is done. Commercial work bills by share complete against a schedule of values; residential work with a construction loan usually bills at stages, because the lender inspects and releases funds at each. This page is a six-draw template for a house, worked on the $449,075 build used across this site, with the share each stage bills, the retainage held, and the inspection that releases it. The schedule-of-values draw on this site works the arithmetic for any stage list, and DrawScheduleWorks Pro bills the draws against it.
The six stages and the share each one bills
The template's stages follow the order the house is built and the points a lender can inspect: foundation complete; framing, roof and windows in, the house dried in; rough mechanical, electrical and plumbing complete and inspected; insulation and drywall complete; finishes, cabinets, flooring and trim; final completion and certificate of occupancy. On the worked build the shares are set from the schedule of values, the lines that fall in each stage added up, rather than from a rule of thumb, so the foundation draw is the foundation lines' value and the framing draw is the framing, roofing and window lines. That is the difference between a draw schedule and a payment plan: the shares are the work.
Retainage, the deposit and the worked arithmetic
The template holds a tenth of each draw as retainage, released at final completion, and it states whether a deposit was paid at signing and how it is credited against the first draws. On the worked build, a stage whose lines total $79,500 bills $71,550 with $7,950 held, and the final draw bills the completion stage plus all the retainage held to date. The schedule-of-values draw on this site works this for any stage: value of the stage, less retainage, less anything billed before, equals the amount due. The federal construction payment clause linked below is the public model for progress payments and retainage on a fixed-price job, and the AIA pay application is the form most lenders and owners accept.
The inspection that releases each draw, and what it looks at
Each draw names its release condition: the lender's inspector, the building inspector's sign-off, or the owner's walk-through, and what that inspection confirms. Foundation is released on the poured and inspected foundation; dried-in on the roof, sheathing and windows; rough-in on the passed rough inspections; drywall on the hung and finished board; finishes on the installed items on the list; final on the certificate of occupancy and the punch list closed. The template ties each draw to something a third party can see, because a draw released on the contractor's say-so is the draw a lender refuses to fund.
Changes, the schedule of values and keeping the two together
A change order changes the contract sum and the stage it belongs to, so the draw schedule has to be re-read after each one: a $6,000 upgrade to the cabinets moves the finishes draw by $6,000 and the retainage on it by $600. The template has a line for approved changes per stage, and the draw bills the stage as changed. DrawScheduleWorks Pro keeps the schedule of values, the change orders and the draws as one record, so the sixth draw's arithmetic includes every change since the first without anyone re-adding the contract. The construction invoice template on this site is the document each draw goes out on.
Questions people ask about residential construction draw schedule template
How many draws does a residential construction draw schedule have?
Commonly five to seven. The template on this page uses six: foundation, dried-in, rough-in, drywall, finishes, and final completion, each released by an inspection a third party performs.
How is the share of each draw set?
From the schedule of values: the lines that fall in each stage added up, so the draw is the value of the work in that stage, not a rule-of-thumb share. Retainage is held from each draw and released at the final.
What releases a draw?
A condition a third party can see: the poured foundation inspected, the passed rough inspections, the certificate of occupancy. The template names the condition for each draw so the lender and the owner know what they are funding.