Skip to main content

Pay Request Rules and Workflow

The pay request statuses, how to move a pay request through approval, the pay-period ordering rules, and who can do what.

This article covers how a pay request moves from draft to paid, who can move it, the pay-period ordering rules, and how a pay request locks the daily inspections it bills.

The pay request statuses

Status

What it means

Draft

An editable working copy. Yours to build and adjust.

Pending Approval

Submitted and waiting for the engineer to review and approve.

Approved

Approved by the engineer. The daily inspections it billed are locked.

Paid

Marked paid by the owner. The billed inspections are finalized.

Completed

The pay request is finalized and closed.

How to update the status of a pay request

Open the pay request from the list or the review screen, then use the status control to choose the next step.

  • From Draft, choose Submit to Pending to move it to Pending Approval.

  • From Pending Approval, choose Approve to approve it, or Back to Draft to reopen it.

  • From Approved, choose Mark as Paid to record payment, or Back to Pending Approval to reopen it. Reopening is available on the most recent pay request.

  • From Paid, choose Back to Approved to reverse the payment.

After you submit a pay request, it is the engineer's turn to approve it. After approval, it is the owner's turn, ending in Paid.

Note: Only Administrators and Project Managers see the status controls. For a group pay request, changing the status applies to every project's pay request in that pay period.

Pay-period ordering rules

Pay requests are handled in pay-period order.

  • You cannot approve or mark a later pay request paid until earlier ones have caught up.

  • You cannot move a pay request back to Draft while a later one has already moved past Draft.

  • A new pay request always starts one day after the end date of the previous pay request on the project.

How items and inspections are billed and locked

  • Work is billed from the completed daily inspections in the pay period, item by item.

  • Withheld quantities do not bill by default. They show on the pay request for context at a zero amount until you release them. See Releasing Withheld Items.

  • Once a pay request captures an inspection and moves past Draft, that inspection is locked and cannot be edited, so its billing stays in sync with the pay request.

Who can do what

Action

Administrator

Project Manager

Other roles

View pay requests

Yes

Yes

Yes

Create pay requests

Yes

Yes

No

Edit the latest draft

Yes

Yes

No

Change status

Yes

Yes

No

Delete the latest draft

Yes

Yes

No

Export

Yes

Yes

Yes

Creating, editing, and deleting apply only to the most recent pay request, and only while it is a Draft.

Troubleshooting

I cannot submit, approve, or mark a pay request paid. Only Administrators and Project Managers can change the status. Pay requests are also handled in pay-period order, so make sure earlier pay requests have advanced far enough before you advance a later one.

I cannot move a pay request back to Draft. You cannot reopen a pay request to Draft while a later pay request has already moved past Draft. Move the later one back first.

Did this answer your question?