Most subcontractors start with a spreadsheet template for their monthly payment applications, and most of those templates grow into something only one person understands. Whether you use a spreadsheet or software, these are the parts a good application needs, and how to lay them out so they are quick to prepare and hard to argue with.
1. The header
- Your company name, address and logo, and your client's.
- The project, the subcontract or order reference and the contract sum.
- The application number, the valuation date (the date the work is valued to) and the date it is sent.
- Who it is addressed to: the person or address your subcontract names for applications.
2. The valuation, line by line
One row for each line of the contract sum analysis, with these columns:
| Column | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Ref and description | As in the agreed contract sum analysis |
| Line value | From the contract |
| Previous % | Last month's percentage, so movement is easy to see |
| This month % | The percentage complete to date |
| Value to date | Line value multiplied by this month's percentage |
Always value cumulatively, to date, not just the work done this month.
3. Variations
A separate section, one row per variation, with the instruction reference, a short description, the value to date and its status (agreed, submitted or pending). Keep unagreed variations visibly apart so a dispute over one does not hold up the rest.
4. Materials and dayworks
Materials on site at cost, materials off site only where your subcontract allows (with the evidence it requires), and dayworks with the signed sheets attached.
5. The summary
| Contract work to date |
| Plus variations to date |
| Plus materials and dayworks |
| Gross valuation |
| Less retention (rate and any cap from your subcontract; see how retention works) |
| Less main contractor's discount, if any |
| Less previous payments (the amounts certified or paid, not applied for) |
| Amount due this application |
| VAT, or the domestic reverse charge wording where it applies |
Where the Construction Industry Scheme applies, show the labour and materials split so the deduction is taken from the labour only.
6. The dates
A short line with the due date, the deadline for the payment notice and the final date for payment helps everyone, and is a gentle reminder that the dates are being watched.
Where spreadsheet templates go wrong
- Formulas get overwritten, and nobody notices until a figure is wrong.
- Rows get added, but missed in the sum formula range.
- Last month's file is copied and edited, so previous payments drift from what was actually paid.
- Variations get added to the contract lines and become impossible to track.
- There is no record of when the application was sent, or who received it.
Constructicore builds each application in this format from your contract sum analysis, with last month's percentages alongside, variations, materials, retention, discount and VAT handled the same way every time, and a record of when it was sent and opened. See how payment applications work in Constructicore.
Published 15 October 2026.