Pay application
A pay application is the formal request a contractor submits to be paid for work completed in a billing period, supported by documentation the owner or lender verifies before releasing funds.
Also known as: Pay app · Application for payment · Progress claim (Canada)
A pay application is not an invoice. An invoice says what you are owed; a pay application argues it. It sets out the contract sum, what was billed previously, what is claimed this period against each line of the schedule of values, what is retained, and what is therefore due — with the supporting paperwork attached.
It gets rejected for boring reasons, not clever ones. The percentages claimed do not match what an inspector saw. The lien or holdback documentation is missing. The arithmetic against the previous application does not reconcile. Stored materials are claimed without proof they exist and are insured. Each of those costs a billing cycle, which on a monthly draw is a month of financing the job yourself.
The discipline that prevents it is unglamorous: claim against the same schedule of values every period, keep the running total visible so the reviewer can follow it, attach the dated evidence at the time rather than hunting for it afterwards, and never claim a percentage you would not defend on a site walk.
In Canada vs the United States
In the United States the AIA G702 and G703 forms are the common format, with retainage shown on the face of the application. In Canada the equivalent is usually called a progress claim, it carries statutory holdback rather than negotiated retainage, and lenders frequently require a statutory declaration confirming subcontractors and suppliers have been paid. The arithmetic is the same; the paperwork around it is not.
Run the job, not the paperwork
Estimates, job costing, progress billing and the tax for your province, in one system.