Schedule of values
A schedule of values breaks the total contract price into line items with a dollar value each, so progress can be billed against the parts of the work actually completed.
Also known as: SOV · SOV in construction
A schedule of values turns a single contract sum into something you can claim against. Each line carries a scheduled value; as work proceeds, each line is assessed as a percentage complete, and the claim is the sum of those percentages against their values less what was previously billed.
It is a billing instrument, not an estimate. The estimate is how the price was built; the schedule of values is how it gets claimed. They frequently differ in structure, and that is fine — what is not fine is a schedule of values so coarse that a claim cannot be verified, or so granular that assessing it takes a day.
Front-loading is the recognised abuse: weighting early line items above their true cost so more money is drawn sooner. Owners and lenders look for it, and a schedule of values that survives scrutiny is one where each line is defensibly valued.
Run the job, not the paperwork
Estimates, job costing, progress billing and the tax for your province, in one system.