Draw Schedule for a $1,000,000 Job
Each progress draw
$200,000.00
10% deposit at signing, four equal progress draws, 10% final payment at completion, no retainage held.
When the figures look right, the payment schedule downloads as a real PDF with your business details on it, built inside your own browser. Nothing you type is uploaded anywhere.
How that number is worked out
These are the figures this page was built with and every line the calculator produces from them. Change anything above and all of it moves.
- Contract amount1000000 $
- Deposit at signing10 %
- Number of progress draws after the deposit4
- Final payment at completion10 %
- Retainage held from each draw0 %
Each progress draw$200,000.00
| Deposit at signing | $100,000.0010% |
|---|---|
| Draw 1 | $200,000.00cumulative $300,000.00, 30% of contract |
| Draw 2 | $200,000.00cumulative $500,000.00, 50% of contract |
| Draw 3 | $200,000.00cumulative $700,000.00, 70% of contract |
| Draw 4 | $200,000.00cumulative $900,000.00, 90% of contract |
| Final payment at completion | $100,000.0010% |
The draw schedule this produces
| Deposit at signing | 1 |
|---|---|
| Progress draw 1 | 1 |
| Progress draw 2 | 1 |
| Progress draw 3 | 1 |
| Progress draw 4 | 1 |
| Final payment at completion | 1 |
Number of progress draws compared
More draws means smaller amounts more often, which is usually easier to collect and always easier to survive.
| Number of progress draws | Each progress draw |
|---|---|
| 2 draws | $400,000.00 |
| 3 draws | $266,666.67 |
| 4 draws | $200,000.00 |
| 5 draws | $160,000.00 |
| 6 draws | $133,333.33 |
What else matters here
A hundred thousand at signing, four draws of $200,000 and a hundred thousand at completion. Eight draws pays $100,000 a time and twelve, which is monthly on a year long build, pays $66,666.67.
At a million dollars the schedule is a financing document. What decides whether the job is survivable is not the total or the margin, it is the maximum gap between money spent and money collected, and that gap is a real number you can work out before signing. Lay the cost curve and the payment curve on the same timeline, subtract one from the other month by month, and find the worst month.
That worst figure is the working capital this job requires, and on a million dollar contract billed monthly with a four week approval cycle it is routinely six figures. The comparison is simple once you have it: if the low point is $180,000 and your available cash plus line of credit is $120,000, this job cannot be run at this payment schedule, and the answer is more draws, faster terms, a deposit, or not signing. That is a decision to make at the contract stage, because at month five the only remaining option is borrowing at whatever rate is available that week.
What this calculator assumes
- Several states cap the deposit a residential contractor may take, some at 10 percent and some at a flat dollar figure. Check your own state before you write a bigger number here.
- Draws should follow milestones you can point at, not dates. "On completion of rough in inspection" is collectable. "On 15 October" is an argument.
- A final payment under 10 percent gives the customer no reason to sign off, and one over 20 leaves you funding their job.
Questions people ask
What is a normal draw schedule for a $1,000,000 job?
Monthly applications against an approved schedule of values, not four fixed milestones. Twelve monthly draws on this contract would be $66,666.67 each with 10 percent at signing and 10 percent at completion.
How much working capital does a million dollar job need?
Work out the largest gap between cumulative cost and cumulative payment across the whole job. That low point is the requirement, it is routinely six figures on a monthly billed contract, and it should be compared against cash plus line of credit before the contract is signed.
How big should the final payment be?
Ten to twenty percent. Under 10 percent and the customer has no real reason to sign off and release you. Over 20 percent and you are funding their job through the punch list, which is the slowest and most argumentative part of any project.
The payment schedule calculator takes any dimensions you like and hands back the same list.