Schedule of Values vs Bill of Quantities: Which Fits Your Build
Last Updated: November 2, 2026
Quick Summary
A schedule of values is a billing document built after contract award that tracks percentage complete per line to draw down progress payments, while a bill of quantities is a pricing document built before tender that lists measured quantities at unit rates. Use the schedule of values for pay applications and the BoQ for pricing tenders.
- The schedule of values line values must sum to the contract sum.
- A BoQ line combines a measured quantity, a unit rate, and a scope description.
- The AIA schedule of values feeds the G702 application and G703 continuation sheet.
- On lump-sum contracts, BoQ lines are often rolled up into trade-level SOV lines.
- The BoQ belongs to pre-contract tendering; the SOV belongs to post-award billing.
Table of Contents
- Schedule of Values vs Bill of Quantities: The Core Difference
- Side-by-Side Comparison: SOV and BoQ at a Glance
- How to Read a Bill of Quantities Example
- What Belongs in a Schedule of Values Template
- The AIA Schedule of Values and Progress Billing
- Construction Progress Billing: How Each Document Drives Payment
- Where Each Document Fits Across the Project Lifecycle
- Set Up Your Next Pay Application in PayAppHub
- Frequently Asked Questions
Schedule of Values vs Bill of Quantities: The Core Difference
A schedule of values and a bill of quantities answer two different questions. The schedule of values (SOV) asks "how much of the contract have we earned?" while the bill of quantities (BoQ) asks "how much work is there, and what does each unit cost?" The schedule of values is a billing document, built after the contract is signed and used to draw down progress payments. The bill of quantities is a pricing document, built before the contract exists, used to bid and compare tenders.
What a Schedule of Values Actually Does
An SOV is an itemized breakdown of the contract sum into line items, each assigned a value that adds up to the total contract price. It becomes the backbone of construction progress billing. Every month, the contractor reports the percentage complete for each line, and the payment application calculates work in place, retainage, and the amount due. It is not a measurement document.
What a Bill of Quantities Actually Does
A BoQ is a measured, itemized list of the work required under a construction contract, priced at unit rates. An estimator or quantity surveyor performs a quantity takeoff, applies unit rates to measured quantities, and totals the result. That total becomes the tender price and, once agreed, the contract sum. The BoQ supports bid pricing, cost control, and variation valuation.
Side-by-Side Comparison: SOV and BoQ at a Glance
The fastest way to see the split is to line them up against the same criteria. Here is how the two documents differ on the points that actually matter in practice.
| Criterion | Schedule of Values | Bill of Quantities |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Progress billing and payment | Tendering and pricing |
| Created | After contract award | Before tender |
| Basis of payment | Percentage complete per line | Measured quantities at unit rates |
| Prepared by | Contractor, approved by owner | Quantity surveyor or estimator |
| Units of measure | Dollars per line item | Metres, cubic metres, tonnes, each |
| Detail level | Trade breakdown, sometimes summarized | Full measured takeoff |
| Changes handled via | Change orders adjusting line values | Variation re-measurement |
| Common contract type | Lump-sum and stipulated sum | Re-measurement and BoQ-based contracts |
The short answer: if you are filling out a payment application, you need an SOV. If you are pricing a tender, you need a BoQ. Some projects use both, and that is where teams get tangled.
How to Read a Bill of Quantities Example
Take a simple concrete package to see how a BoQ line is built and how the same scope appears later in an SOV.
Reading a BoQ means reading three things at once: the measured quantity, the unit rate, and the description that defines scope. Miss the description and you can price the wrong thing entirely. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors guidance on bills of quantities is a useful reference for how measured quantities and descriptions are standardized across markets.
The same scope in an SOV
In the SOV, that same concrete scope typically appears as a single billable line: "Concrete to foundations, scheduled value [total]." The cubic-metre quantity and unit rate are not carried into the SOV; the SOV tracks percentage complete against the scheduled value. If the concrete package is 40% complete, the SOV line shows 40% of its scheduled value earned, regardless of how many cubic metres were placed.
Common preparation errors and quality checks
When reading or preparing either document, check for scope coverage, measurement units, arithmetic, front-loading, duplicated items, and alignment with contract documents. A common pattern is to find a BoQ line with a description that does not match the drawing scope, or an SOV line whose scheduled value does not sum to the contract sum. These errors surface at payment time and are easier to fix before the first application.
What Belongs in a Schedule of Values Template
A workable SOV template has one row per billable line, and each row carries the same fields. Get these right and the rest of the billing cycle falls into place.
- Line number and trade description
- Scheduled value (the dollar amount for that line)
- Previous applications (amount billed to date)
- This period (work in place this month)
- Total completed and stored to date
- Percentage complete
- Retainage held
- Balance to finish
The line values must sum to the contract sum, and the percentage complete must reflect actual work in place, not a hopeful guess. Schedule of values lets you add, edit and balance the lines you bill against. Before you build your own, learn how to avoid schedule of values mistakes that delay progress billing.
The AIA Schedule of Values and Progress Billing
The AIA schedule of values is the version most US subcontractors work with, and it feeds directly into the G702 application and G703 continuation sheet. The G702 summarizes the totals, while the G703 carries the line-by-line detail from the SOV.
That reconciliation is where most manual spreadsheet billing breaks down. The AIA Contract Documents resources on G702 and G703 explain the intended structure.
Construction Progress Billing: How Each Document Drives Payment
Construction progress billing runs on the SOV. Each billing period, the contractor certifies percentage complete per line, applies retainage, subtracts previous payments, and submits the payment application. The owner or GC reviews, certifies, and issues a progress payment.
Stored materials add a wrinkle. See how to bill for stored materials on a pay application for the backup GCs usually require.
Where Each Document Fits Across the Project Lifecycle
The cleanest way to keep the two documents straight is to follow them through the project lifecycle, because they are not just different formats, they are different instruments used at different decision points. The BoQ belongs to the pre-contract phase: design quantification, tendering, bid comparison, and agreement of the contract sum. The SOV belongs to the post-award phase: billing setup, monthly progress payments, change order adjustments, retainage release, and final account.
Pre-contract: the BoQ drives pricing and tender comparison
During design and tendering, the BoQ is the common denominator that lets an owner compare bids on the same measured scope. An estimator performs a quantity takeoff, applies unit rates, and totals the tender price. On re-measurement contracts, the BoQ stays live after award because variations are valued against its rates. On lump-sum contracts, the BoQ may be a tender document only, with the agreed total becoming the contract sum.
Post-award: the SOV drives billing and payment
After award, the contractor builds the SOV from the contract sum, breaking it into billable line items that sum to the total. Each billing period, the contractor certifies percentage complete per line, applies retainage, subtracts previous payments, and submits the payment application. The SOV is not a measurement document; it tracks earned value against the contract price.
The handoff: how BoQ information becomes SOV lines
On a lump-sum contract with a BoQ-based tender, a common pattern is to roll up BoQ lines into billable trade packages. For example, a concrete package measured in cubic metres in the BoQ becomes a single SOV line with a scheduled value equal to the priced concrete scope. The quantity detail stays in the BoQ; the SOV carries the dollar value and the percentage-complete logic.
Change management: where the two documents must reconcile
Change management is the hinge between the documents. A variation priced against BoQ unit rates becomes a change order that adjusts an SOV line value. Stored materials add another wrinkle: materials delivered but not yet installed can be billed if the contract and the GC allow it, and they move through the payment application from month to month until incorporated into work in place.
Jurisdiction and contract-type differences
Terminology, required formats, and document use vary by contract form, procurement method, and jurisdiction. In some markets the BoQ is a contract document; in others it is a tender document only. The SOV is more common in US progress-billing practice, while BoQ-based re-measurement contracts are more common in other markets. Always confirm which document governs payment under the specific contract form before building either.
Set Up Your Next Pay Application in PayAppHub
The document that gets you paid is the SOV, and the paperwork around it is where subcontractors lose time. PayAppHub reads your subcontract and extracts the line data automatically, then carries forward previous work, stored materials, and retainage from last month so you are not retyping anything.
If manual spreadsheet math is costing you hours every billing period, you can start a free trial to see how PayAppHub handles your pay application. Get started with PayAppHub and send your next pay application in minutes, not days.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a bill of quantities be used as a schedule of values?
It can be adapted, but not dropped in unchanged. A bill of quantities prices measured quantities at unit rates, while a schedule of values splits the contract sum into line items billed by percentage complete. If you convert a BoQ into an SOV, collapse the measured quantities into trade-level line items, allocate overhead and profit, and confirm the total matches the contract sum before the first payment application. Most contracts expect the SOV to reconcile to the contract price, so check that alignment first.
When should a contractor prepare a schedule of values?
Before the first progress payment application, and ideally at contract signing. The schedule of values becomes the backbone of every billing period, so errors at the start repeat every month. Prepare it once the contract sum and scope of work are fixed, break it down by trade and cost type, and submit it to the owner or GC for approval. Any later change order should be added as a new line item rather than folded into existing ones, which keeps reconciliation clean.
How does a schedule of values support construction progress billing?
Each billing period, the contractor reports the percentage complete for every line item, and the earned amount is calculated from that percentage. The sum of earned amounts, less retainage and previous payments, becomes the amount due on the payment application. This is why the SOV needs accurate line items: a vague or front-loaded breakdown makes percentage complete hard to verify and invites disputes. A clear schedule of values speeds up payment certification because the reviewer can trace every figure.
What are the two types of bill of quantities?
Bills of quantities are commonly split into firm and approximate types. A firm BoQ is prepared from completed designs and measured quantities, and it forms the basis of a lump-sum tender. An approximate BoQ is prepared when designs are incomplete, so quantities are estimated and the document is used for budgeting or for re-measurement contracts. The distinction matters because an approximate BoQ shifts quantity risk, while a firm BoQ fixes it in the contract sum.
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