Guides

How to bill a general contractor in North Carolina and South Carolina

Updated November 2, 2026.

General information, not legal advice. Laws change and your contract matters. Check the linked statutes and talk to an attorney about your situation.

This guide walks a North Carolina or South Carolina subcontractor through billing a general contractor: the monthly cycle, the schedule of values, the pay application itself, retainage, change orders, stored materials, lien notices and the payment deadlines the law sets.

Each point is labelled so you know where it comes from:

• Law points link to the statute on the North Carolina General Assembly's or South Carolina Legislature's website.
• AIA points come from the AIA's own instructions for its pay application forms.
• Practice points are common practice, not law. Your subcontract and your GC's billing instructions decide.

1. The monthly billing cycle

• Practice: most subcontracts bill monthly against a cutoff date the GC sets, often somewhere around the 20th to the 25th. Some GCs want a draft ("pencil") copy first. Your subcontract sets how often you bill.
• Law (SC): the prompt-payment chapter doesn't require payments more often than the construction documents say (S.C. Code § 29-6-40).
• Law (NC and SC): once the GC is paid, it has 7 days to pay you for your work (G.S. 22C-3 on private jobs; G.S. 143-134.1(b) on public jobs; S.C. Code § 29-6-30).
• Law (owner to GC): in South Carolina the owner must pay the undisputed amount of a pay request within 21 days of receiving it (S.C. Code § 29-6-30). On North Carolina private jobs, Chapter 22C sets no owner deadline, so the contract governs. On North Carolina public jobs, periodic payments follow the contract and the final balance is due within 45 days of acceptance, certified completion or occupancy (G.S. 143-134.1(a)).
• Law (NC and SC): pay-if-paid clauses are unenforceable. The owner paying the GC isn't a condition for the GC paying you (G.S. 22C-2; S.C. Code § 29-6-230).

Paid late? The late payment interest calculator works out the 1%-a-month interest these sections allow.

2. The schedule of values

• Practice: the schedule of values (SOV) breaks your subcontract sum into lines that add up exactly to it. Get it approved before your first pay app, because every pay app bills against it.
• AIA: the AIA says it "does not publish a standard schedule of values form" (AIA G702 instructions).
• Practice: avoid front-loading (putting more value on early work than it's worth). Add each approved change order as its own line.

3. The application summary page and continuation sheet

Most GCs ask for a two-part pay application: a one-page summary and a continuation sheet with one row per SOV line, in the style of the AIA's G702 and G703 forms.

• AIA: the AIA describes its subcontractor version (G702S) as a way for subcontractors to apply for payment by documenting work completed, including stored materials, retainage, previous payments and change orders. The continuation sheet breaks the contract sum down by portions of the work. Fill in the continuation sheet first, then carry its totals to the summary page (AIA G702S instructions).
• Practice: the summary math, in our words:
• original subcontract sum, plus or minus approved change orders, gives the current sum;
• work completed plus materials stored, to date;
• minus retainage;
• minus what was certified on earlier pay apps, gives the amount due this period;
• the current sum minus what you've earned less retainage is the balance to finish (including retainage).
• Practice: each continuation-sheet row usually carries the scheduled value, work from previous periods, work this period, materials stored now, total to date, percent complete, balance to finish and retainage.
• Practice: many GCs require their own template, a billing portal (such as GCPay, Textura or Procore) or their own form instead of AIA documents. Use whatever your subcontract specifies.

The pay application template sets this out in a spreadsheet that does the math.

4. Retainage

• Law (NC private): the GC may hold "a reasonable amount for retainage not to exceed the initial percentage retained by the owner" (G.S. 22C-4).
• Law (NC public): no retainage at all when the total project cost is under $150,000; otherwise no more than 5%; retainage stops at 50% completion with the surety's consent; your percentage can't exceed the owner's; and there are release rules after substantial completion (G.S. 143-134.1(b1) to (b3)).
• Law (SC): the chapter allows "a reasonable amount for retainage" and sets no percentage (S.C. Code § 29-6-40). On state construction, no more than 3.5%, released by division, with the prime passing your share on within 10 days of receiving it (S.C. Code § 11-35-3030(4)).
• Practice: a retainage reduction at 50% usually has to be applied on your own pay app. It isn't automatic, so check the percentage each month.
• Practice: bill the release of retainage on a separate final or retainage application.

The retainage calculator and tracker checks one pay app and tracks retainage across a job. More detail is in the North Carolina and South Carolina guides.

5. Change orders

• Practice: bill only executed change orders. Bill pending or disputed extra work separately, so it doesn't hold up the rest of the pay app.
• Law (NC public): additive change orders can't be used to delay the release of retainage (G.S. 143-134.1(b1)).

6. Stored materials

• Practice: GCs usually want backup for stored materials: an invoice or bill of sale, delivery tickets, photos, where they're stored and proof of insurance. Many contracts restrict billing for materials stored off site.
• Law (NC public): for the 50%-complete retainage test only, materials stored off site don't count, and materials stored on site count up to 20% of gross invoices (G.S. 143-134.1(b1)).

7. Lien rights and notices

This section only covers notices we could check against the statute text. It doesn't cover lien filing deadlines; read the linked statutes and ask an attorney about those.

• Law (NC): for private improvements costing $40,000 or more, the owner must designate a lien agent, with an exception for an owner-occupied single-family home (G.S. 44A-11.1).
• Law (NC): one of the conditions for a lien claimant to perfect a lien claim is that the lien agent received a Notice to Lien Agent from them no later than 15 days after they first furnished labor or materials (G.S. 44A-11.2(l)). The statute also sets what the notice contains and how it can be delivered, and the lien agent's contact details are usually on the posted building permit or a job-site sign (G.S. 44A-11.2).
• Practice: send a Notice to Lien Agent at the start of every North Carolina private job of $40,000 or more.
• Law (NC): an agreement to waive lien rights made in anticipation of, and in exchange for, being awarded the contract is against public policy and unenforceable (G.S. 44A-12(f)).
• Law (SC): a person contracting with the owner may file a Notice of Project Commencement within 15 days of the start of work, and a notice is posted at the site (S.C. Code § 29-5-23).
• Law (SC): for sub-subcontractors and suppliers to subcontractors, a lien is limited to what the GC owes their subcontractor unless they sent the contractor a notice of furnishing labor or materials by certified or registered mail (S.C. Code § 29-5-20).
• Practice: most GCs want lien waivers each month: a conditional waiver for this payment, an unconditional waiver for the previous payment once the funds have cleared, and waivers from your own subs and suppliers. Use the form your GC or contract requires.

8. Signatures and notarization

• AIA: the AIA's G702S instructions say the subcontractor should sign the form, have it notarized, and submit it with the continuation sheet to the contractor (AIA G702S instructions).
• Practice: notarization comes from the form or the contract. It's often required by the GC's form, so check yours.

9. South Carolina: put the interest notice on every pay app

• Law (SC): no interest is due on a late payment unless the payer was told about § 29-6-50 at the time payment was requested (S.C. Code § 29-6-50). The statute gives no wording. A line like this one, in our words, on each pay request does the job:

This payment request is subject to S.C. Code § 29-6-50, which provides for interest on late payments.

10. Common reasons GCs send pay apps back

All of these are common practice, not law, in no particular order:

1. Missing backup: lien waivers, stored-material documents or the change order log.
2. Lien waiver errors: the wrong form, an amount that doesn't match the pay app, or missing lower-tier waivers.
3. Billing change orders that haven't been executed.
4. Overbilling or front-loading.
5. Math errors in the contract sum, previous billing or retainage.
6. A schedule of values that doesn't match the approved one.
7. Retainage errors: the wrong percentage, or a reduction not applied.
8. Compliance gaps, such as an expired insurance certificate or missing certified payroll.
9. Late submission, or submission through the wrong channel.
10. A missing signature, date or notary block.

The pay application checklist turns these into a list to run through before you send.

AIA, G702 and G703 are registered trademarks of The American Institute of Architects. PayClear is not affiliated with or endorsed by the AIA.

Sources

• N.C. Gen. Stat. Chapter 22C (ncleg.gov)
• N.C. Gen. Stat. § 143-134.1 (ncleg.gov)
• N.C. Gen. Stat. § 44A-11.1 (ncleg.gov)
• N.C. Gen. Stat. § 44A-11.2 (ncleg.gov)
• N.C. Gen. Stat. § 44A-12 (ncleg.gov)
• S.C. Code Title 29, Chapter 6 (scstatehouse.gov)
• S.C. Code Title 29, Chapter 5 (scstatehouse.gov)
• S.C. Code Title 11, Chapter 35 (scstatehouse.gov)
• AIA: G702S instructions (help.aiacontracts.com)
• AIA: G702 instructions (help.aiacontracts.com)