The contractor's guide to the WIP schedule
If your bonding agent, banker or CPA has asked for a "WIP," they want a work-in-progress schedule: a one-page view of every open job showing how much you've earned, how much you've billed, and whether margins are holding. It's the most important financial report a construction company produces — more telling than the P&L, because it shows where profit and cash actually stand job by job. This guide explains each column of the free Excel WIP schedule above in plain language.
Why the WIP schedule matters
Construction revenue doesn't line up with invoices. You might bill 40% of a contract up front for mobilization and materials, or fall behind billing because change orders haven't been approved. If you recognized revenue only when you invoiced, your income statement would swing wildly and tell you nothing about job performance. The WIP schedule fixes that by measuring revenue earned — based on how much of the work is actually done — and comparing it with what you've billed.
Three groups care about it:
- You — to catch fading jobs early, manage cash, and know your true backlog.
- Your CPA — to book revenue under percentage of completion and put over/under billings on the balance sheet.
- Your surety and bank — to set bonding capacity and credit lines. Many sureties require a WIP quarterly, some monthly.
Cost-to-cost percentage of completion (ASC 606) in plain language
Under ASC 606, most construction contracts recognize revenue over time as work is performed. The most common way to measure progress is the cost-to-cost input method:
- % complete = cost to date ÷ estimated total cost. Spent $600,000 of an $800,000 estimate? The job is 75% complete.
- Earned revenue = % complete × revised contract value. 75% of a $1,000,000 contract is $750,000 earned.
- Compare with billings. Billed $820,000? You're over-billed by $70,000. Billed $700,000? You're under-billed by $50,000.
The method depends entirely on a good estimate at completion. If costs run over and you don't update the estimate, % complete is overstated, earned revenue is overstated, and the job looks healthier than it is. Updating estimated cost every month is the single most important WIP discipline.
Column-by-column: what goes in the template
| Column | What it means |
|---|---|
| Original Contract / Approved COs / Revised Contract | Contract value at award, plus approved change orders. Leave pending COs out until they're approved (or ask your CPA how they treat them). |
| Original Est. Cost / Approved CO Cost / Revised Est. Total Cost | Your bid budget plus the cost side of approved changes. Update it whenever your forecast changes. |
| Est. Gross Profit / GP % | Revised contract minus revised estimated cost. |
| Cost to Date | All job cost posted through the WIP date — labor with burden, material, subs, equipment. |
| % Complete | Cost to date ÷ revised estimated cost (cost-to-cost). |
| Earned Revenue | % complete × revised contract. |
| Billed to Date | Everything invoiced, including retainage billed. |
| Over-billing | Billed minus earned, when positive. Also called billings in excess of costs and estimated earnings. A liability. |
| Under-billing | Earned minus billed, when positive. Also called costs and estimated earnings in excess of billings. An asset. |
| Cost to Complete | Revised estimated cost minus cost to date. |
| Remaining Revenue (backlog) | Revised contract minus earned revenue — work you still get to earn. |
| Fade / Gain | Current estimated GP % minus the GP % you bid, in points and dollars. |
The template's Flag column marks loss jobs, jobs where cost to date already exceeds the estimate, and jobs fading or gaining two or more points.
Reading your over/under billing position
The Summary tab rolls every job into a net position and writes a plain-English interpretation that updates as your numbers change.
- Net over-billed — you've billed ahead of the work. Good for cash, but that cash is owed back as work. Don't spend it as profit.
- Net under-billed — you're financing your jobs. Common causes: unapproved change work, missed pay-app line items, slow billing, or cost overruns inflating % complete. Sureties often discount under-billings when they calculate working capital.
Watch the trend, not just the number. A job that fades a point or two every month is usually headed for a loss. When a job projects a loss, GAAP requires recognizing the entire projected loss right away — flag it for your CPA.
Common WIP mistakes
- Stale estimates at completion. The number-one problem. Re-forecast cost to complete every month with your PMs.
- Uninstalled materials in cost to date. A big switchgear delivery can jump % complete by 20 points with no work done. Many CPAs exclude uninstalled materials until installed.
- Unapproved change orders in contract value. Including them inflates earned revenue and profit.
- Leaving finished jobs off. Keep a job on the WIP until it's closed out and final-billed.
- Not tying to the financials. Total earned revenue, over-billings and under-billings should match the income statement and balance sheet.
Related tools
- Schedule of Values (AIA G703) template — the billing side of the WIP
- Earned value calculator — CPI, SPI and estimate-at-completion for a single job
- Construction cash flow calculator — see how billing timing and retainage hit cash
- Construction job costing software — live cost to date by cost code
- Browse all free construction templates
From spreadsheet to live WIP
The hardest part of a WIP isn't the formulas — it's getting accurate cost to date and a current estimate at completion from every job each month. Field PM captures labor hours, T&M, material and vendor invoices from the field against your budget by cost code, and keeps billing and change orders in the same place, so the numbers that feed your WIP are current instead of reconstructed at month-end. Start a free 30-day trial — no credit card required.
This template is an internal management tool, not accounting or tax advice. Your CPA may adjust the methodology to your contracts and reporting framework.
