You did the work. You sent the pay application. And payday still comes out of your own pocket.

In Siteline's "State of Subcontractor Billing in 2026" survey of 492 construction finance and operations professionals (reported by Contractor Magazine, September 4, 2026), 92% of subcontractors said they floated payroll from their own pockets while waiting for payment. 43% waited 90 days or more to collect final payment plus retainage. 56% missed a critical mechanic's lien deadline in the past two years. And 67% spend 11 or more hours every month preparing, submitting, and tracking pay applications.

This kit does not change what GCs owe you. It changes the four things you control: whether your pay application is clean enough to approve without a round trip, whether your retainage has a release date on the calendar, whether your lien deadlines are watched, and whether your cash-flow gap is known before payroll day.

## The 7 sheets

1. **Setup** — company, default retainage %, pay-app cycle day, and your project list (contract value, retainage %, substantial completion, final acceptance, lien deadline).

2. **Schedule of Values** — line items per project: contract value, % complete, earned to date, stored materials, retainage withheld, total earned + stored. Retainage % looks up automatically per project.

3. **Pay Applications** — per-period pay apps: gross earned, stored materials, retainage withheld, amount due, status (Draft / Submitted / Approved / Paid / Disputed), days outstanding, and an open total across all projects.

4. **Retainage Tracker** — retainage held per project (computed from the Schedule of Values), release trigger, trigger date, release due date, days overdue, status.

5. **Lien Deadlines** — USER-ENTERED deadlines with countdown and alerts: ON TRACK, DUE WITHIN 30 DAYS, DUE WITHIN 14 DAYS, URGENT — 7 DAYS OR LESS, OVERDUE.

6. **Cash-Flow Gap** — expected receipts vs payroll due dates: float gap and weeks of payroll at risk, per payroll date.

7. **Pay-App Checklist** — 12 pre-submit checks with an automatic READY / NOT READY verdict.

## What's inside (v1.0, 21 files)

- 11 workbooks — English, Mandarin (Simplified), French, Spanish, Arabic (RTL), Russian, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Hindi, Italian. Same 7 sheets, same formulas.

- QUICK-START-GUIDE.md (English) + QUICK-START-GUIDE-ES.md (Spanish)

- WORKED-EXAMPLE.md — one complete FICTIONAL subcontractor (Riverline Electrical LLC): Schedule of Values → pay apps → retainage release → lien deadlines → cash-flow gap, with every calculation shown.

- FAQ.md + FAQ-ES.md — 14 product-specific Q&As each

- LIMITS.md + LIMITS-ES.md — honest limits

- WHATS-INSIDE.md — file-by-file inventory

- FREE-SAMPLE-Pay-App-Retainage.xlsx — free sample workbook (3 sheets, EXAMPLE-labeled)

## Free sample (try before you buy)

Inspect the free sample workbook — Schedule of Values, Pay Application, and Lien Deadlines sheets with live formulas — before buying:

https://github.com/fexo9/subcontractor-pay-app-retainage-system/blob/main/FREE-SAMPLE-Pay-App-Retainage.xlsx

## FAQ (product-specific)

1. **Does it guarantee I will get paid?** No. It removes the delays on your side — rejected applications, forgotten retainage, missed deadlines. The GC still has to pay.

2. **Is this an official AIA form?** No. It is an ORIGINAL tracker. It does not reproduce AIA G702/G703 forms and does not claim to be one. If your GC requires an official AIA form, transfer the kit's numbers onto the GC's required form.

3. **Does it tell me my lien deadline?** No. Every deadline is USER-ENTERED. The kit contains no lien-law deadline database and never guesses a deadline. Verify every deadline against your state law or with an attorney.

4. **Is this legal advice?** No. This kit is not legal advice. Consult an attorney for legal questions.

5. **Why is retainage charged on earned PLUS stored materials?** That is the normal convention: the GC holds back a percentage of the total value billed in the period, including billed stored materials. If your contract says otherwise, adjust to match it.

6. **Why aren't previous payments subtracted from the current amount due?** Because they were already paid. The current amount due is the current period's work after retainage. Previous payments are shown for reference.

7. **Different retainage % per project?** Yes — enter each project's own percentage on Setup; the other sheets look it up per project.

8. **My GC requires a specific pay-app format?** Use this kit as your calculation layer, then transfer the numbers onto the GC's required form.

9. **Google Sheets?** Opens and calculates; layout designed and tested for Excel (desktop & web). No macros, no add-ins.

10. **More than two projects?** Yes — add rows and copy the formulas down; extend the lookup ranges if you add many rows.

11. **What does "Weeks of Payroll at Risk" mean?** If the float gap is negative on a payroll date, the shortfall divided by that payroll amount. 1.00 = one full payroll. A planning number, not a prediction.

12. **Where do the statistics come from?** Siteline's "State of Subcontractor Billing in 2026" (n=492), via Contractor Magazine, September 4, 2026. No other statistics are claimed.

## Honest limits

- No payment guarantee. No outcome guarantee.

- NOT legal advice. No lien-law deadline database. Deadlines are USER-ENTERED.

- NOT an official AIA form. Does not reproduce AIA forms.

- Does not send, file, or contact anyone. You do all of that.

- Does not predict whether a GC will pay. Gap figures depend on your inputs.

- Does not replace your contract, accounting software, or attorney.

- Formulas compute whatever you type — check inputs before you send.

- Excel-first; Google Sheets "opens and calculates."

- Sample data is fictional. Replace with your own before relying on any number.

- No sales, review, or testimonial claims.

## Details

- Price: $39 one-time. Commercial license.

- Format: ZIP download (21 files: 11 workbooks + docs + sample). Excel desktop & web; no macros, no add-ins.

- Version: v1.0 (2026-10-18).