Construction Payment Software with AI

Construction payment workflows have long been a pain point for general contractors, developers, and owners alike. Between manual pay applications (payapps), lien waiver coordination, and compliance document tracking, teams often struggle to keep up with volume and complexity. Delays and errors are common, leading to cash flow issues and strained subcontractor relationships.

That’s where construction payment software comes into play, offering automation, real-time visibility, and now, AI-driven capabilities that are reshaping the way payments are processed in the construction industry.

Top construction payment platforms:

• GCPay: cuts processing time by automating pay applications and electronic lien waiver collection for general contractors.

• Oracle Textura Payment Management: simplifies the draw process, streamlines workflows, and accelerates payments with integrated compliance.

• Buildertrend: combines job data with built-in ACH and autopay options to help vendors get paid faster.

• Built: offers a collaborative platform for lower-tier vendor tracking, invoicing, and automated lien waiver generation.

• Payapps: provides real-time visibility of progress claims and standardizes submission formats across projects.

Core features to look for:

• Lien waiver automation: electronically request, sign, and track waivers to prevent payment delays.

• Compliance tracking: flag non-compliant vendors on insurance or licensing before releasing funds.

• ERP and accounting integration: sync transactions with systems like QuickBooks, CMiC, or Sage to avoid duplicate data entry.

• Digital approvals: let project managers review and sign off on bills or draw requests directly from the jobsite.

What Is Construction Payment Software?

Construction payment software refers to a digital platform designed to manage and automate financial workflows across a construction project. These systems typically handle everything from submitting and reviewing pay applications to verifying lien waivers and ensuring compliance documentation is up to date.

Traditional solutions like Textura (Oracle), Procore, and GCPay have been widely adopted in recent years, but the rise of AI is ushering in a new generation of tools that offer greater efficiency, standardization, and scalability.

Why Traditional Payment Processing Falls Short

In most construction projects, the process of managing payapps is still largely manual. Project teams must review each subcontractor’s billing line by line, verify that amounts match progress milestones, and confirm that all legal documentation is in place before releasing payment.

These tasks are often completed using spreadsheets, scanned PDFs, or email threads—resulting in bottlenecks, human error, and compliance risk. The construction industry is among the least digitized sectors globally, and poor productivity continues to cost companies billions each yea

The Role of AI in Construction Payment Software

AI is now addressing many of these inefficiencies by automating document analysis, accelerating approvals, and flagging missing information in real time. By integrating AI into payment systems, firms gain faster throughput, fewer errors, and better cash flow management.

Automating Pay Application (Payapp) Processing

AI-enabled platforms can extract structured data from unstructured payapp documents, including scanned PDFs and Excel files. Details such as billing periods, amounts due, retainage, and change orders can be automatically parsed and routed into accounting platforms or ERP systems. This eliminates the need for manual entry and reduces the risk of input errors.

A recent report by AutoDesk emphasizes how AI could bring a cost savings of 15% for construction projects (Autodesk, 2024).

Lien Waiver Validation and Compliance Tracking

Before releasing funds, construction teams must ensure that all subcontractors and suppliers have submitted proper lien waivers. AI tools can compare incoming documents against predefined checklists, confirm their validity, and generate automated reminders for missing or expired forms. This process improves compliance and protects against legal disputes.

Monitoring Expiring Compliance Documents

AI also plays a critical role in tracking documents like Certificates of Insurance (COIs), contractor licenses, and W-9 forms. These agents can flag approaching expiration dates and automate renewal requests, reducing the burden on project coordinators and compliance teams.

Broader Applications of AI in Construction Finance

Beyond payment processing, AI is being used to streamline a wide range of construction finance tasks:

• Generating investor-ready offering memorandums with dynamic financial models
• Abstracting lease terms and clauses for real estate developers
• Analyzing change order histories to identify project risk patterns
• Forecasting payment delays using historical data and project variables

Selecting the Right Construction Payment Platform

When evaluating construction payment software, firms should look for the following capabilities:

• AI and OCR tools for automated document extraction
• Native integrations with accounting software like Sage, QuickBooks, or Viewpoint
• Real-time dashboards and approval workflows with audit trails
• Automated lien waiver and compliance document workflows
• Transparent performance metrics to monitor AI output quality

• Compliance tracking that flags non-compliant vendors on insurance or licensing before releasing funds

• Digital approvals that let project managers review and sign off on bills or draw requests directly from the jobsite

Leading Construction Payment Platforms

Alongside these capabilities, several established platforms are worth comparing when narrowing down your shortlist:

• GCPay: cuts processing time by automating pay applications and electronic lien waiver collection for general contractors.

• Oracle Textura Payment Management: simplifies the draw process, streamlines workflows, and accelerates payments with integrated compliance.

• Buildertrend: combines job data with built-in ACH and autopay options to help vendors get paid faster.

• Built: offers a collaborative platform for lower-tier vendor tracking, invoicing, and automated lien waiver generation.

• Payapps: provides real-time visibility of progress claims and standardizes submission formats across projects.

Kolena offers a flexible AI agent platform that can be customized for your specific workflow, whether you’re processing standard AIA G702/G703 forms or handling draw requests for multifamily developments. Learn more at kolena.com.

Construction Payment Platforms at a Glance

The table below summarizes the key differences between the platforms covered in this section. We explore each one in more detail below.

Notable Construction Payment Platforms

How we selected these platforms: We shortlisted construction payment platforms based on pay application processing, lien waiver and compliance automation, ERP and accounting integration, payment disbursement, and AI-assisted document review.

AI-Driven Payment Document Review

1. Kolena

Best for: AI review of G702/G703 pay applications and draw packages

Strengths: Document parsing with validation rules, citations, confidence scores

Things to consider: Prebuilt workflows target real estate, insurance, and banking

Kolena is an AI agent platform for document-heavy workflows. Teams upload pay applications, invoices, and supporting files, and the platform detects document types and extracts the fields they need. For construction payments, a free PayApp review agent takes uploaded G702 and G703 forms and returns a review checklist covering general contractor and subcontractor submissions.

Agents are built without code from natural language prompts, and Kolena rewrites those prompts for clarity before they run. Every extracted value carries reasoning, a confidence score, and a citation back to the source document, so a reviewer can check where a number came from. Results export to Excel, CRMs, and SharePoint, or push into connected systems.

Key features include:

• Document understanding: Parses PDFs, spreadsheets, emails, scans, and audio, detecting document types automatically rather than relying on fixed templates.

• Validation against business rules: Applies cross-checks to each field, comparing values across documents and flagging anomalies before a reviewer sees them.

• Transparent reasoning: Attaches explanations, confidence scores, and citations to every extraction so each value can be traced to its source.

• No-code agent creation: Users define tasks in natural language, and the platform optimizes the prompt automatically without prompt engineering.

• Prebuilt automations: Ships with workflows for real estate, insurance, banking, and finance that can be adapted to a firm's policies, templates, and reporting formats.

• Parallel processing: Runs hundreds or thousands of documents at once to handle portfolio-level volume.

• Integrations: Connects to Excel, Google Drive, Yardi, CoStar, Amazon S3, Salesforce, OneDrive, Box, SharePoint, Azure, Teams, and Dropbox.

Limitations (based on publicly available sources):

• Construction-specific integrations: The published integration list centers on storage, CRM, and real estate systems rather than construction ERPs such as Sage 300 CRE or CMiC.

• Domain templates: Prebuilt automations are documented for real estate, insurance, banking, and finance, so construction payment workflows are configured rather than shipped ready-made.

• Pricing visibility: Pricing is not published, so cost requires a conversation with the vendor.

2. Rabbet

Best for: Lenders and developers reviewing and funding construction draws

Strengths: AI document routing, budget matching, automated covenant checks

Things to consider: Built around loan administration, not GC-to-sub pay apps

Rabbet is a construction finance platform for real estate developers and construction lenders. Draw requests arrive through a central inbox or a borrower portal, often as one combined PDF, and Rabbet splits the package, classifies each document, and matches line items to the project budget for a person to verify.

The platform stores contracts, invoices, lien waivers, and draw documents together, extracting and coding vendor and project data as documents land. A rule engine enforces loan covenants and internal review steps, flagging missing documents, waiver gaps, and covenant breaches before funds move.

Key features include:

• Central inbox: Gives vendors a single email address for documents, with an AI document router suggesting the correct project and draw for one-click confirmation.

• Document splitting and coding: Splits combined PDFs into individual documents, categorizes them, and extracts vendor and project information for later reporting.

• Lien waiver tracking: Sorts and confirms partial, full, conditional, and unconditional waivers, and supports search by contractor name, document type, or vendor.

• Automated compliance checks: Flags missing documents, lien waiver gaps, and loan covenant violations, and enforces a firm's own review sequence.

• Budget and draw management: Tracks budgets against actuals, packages lender-ready draws, and shows draw schedules and cost breakdowns by division.

• Duplicate and change control: Keeps a record of all changes and updates so duplicate invoices and missing documentation surface during approval.

Limitations (based on publicly available sources):

• Human review still required: Rabbet's own guidance describes AI reading of draw packages as an accelerator rather than touchless automation, with messy or non-standard forms routed to a person as exceptions.

• Audience fit: Both products are built for lenders and developers, so general contractors managing subcontractor pay applications may find the model less direct.

• Limited public review coverage: Capterra lists no verified user feedback on support experiences, so response times are hard to assess before buying.

3. Built

Best for: Owners and GCs combining draws, payments, and lien waivers

Strengths: Free digital payments with lien waivers inside the same workflow

Things to consider: Breadth of the platform brings a learning curve for admins

Built is a real estate and construction finance platform covering construction loan administration, draw management, and payments. Its Payment Management module collects G702 and G703 styled progress bills or one-time invoices from subcontractors and suppliers, then handles lien waivers, compliance documents, and payments in the same place.

Built Payments with Lien Waivers sends digital payments at no cost and generates the waiver in the same workflow when a project requires one. Subcontractors connect their own bank accounts, and an integrated ACH facility handles high-volume payment runs. An AI Draw Agent reads draw documents and identifies risk during review.

Key features include:

• Invoice collection: Gathers AIA styled and direct cost invoices in one place, with guardrails and approval workflows applied before amounts are accepted.

• Lien waiver workflow: Creates custom or state-compliant conditional and unconditional templates individually or in bulk, sends them digitally, and collects e-signatures at the time of payment.

• Waiver status tracking: Shows the status of every primary and lower-tier waiver in one view and follows up on missing signatures.

• Compliance document requests: Collects certificates of insurance, safety reports, notices, and financials through standardized requests across all projects.

• Draw and budget management: Creates and submits draws, shows draw schedules in one place, and monitors budgets at contract and portfolio level.

• AI draw review: Runs automated checks on permits, insurance, lien exposure, budget overages, inspection requirements, and other risk triggers.

• Accounting sync: Pushes payables to QuickBooks, Sage Intacct, Yardi, and Procore.

Limitations (as reported by users on GetApp):

• Onboarding curve: Users describe a learning curve for both end users and administrators when the platform is first rolled out.

• Discoverability of features: Reviewers note that not everything is intuitive and that reaching full use of the software means asking the vendor questions.

• Breadth versus focus: The product spans lending, origination, and portfolio reporting alongside payments, so contractors wanting payments alone take on a wider platform.

Pay Application and Lien Waiver Exchange Platforms

4. GCPay

Best for: General contractors automating subcontractor pay app workflows

Strengths: Deep ERP integration and escrowed lien waiver exchange

Things to consider: Screen navigation between pay applications can be repetitive

GCPay is a cloud platform that manages the application, assessment, and payment process between general contractors and subcontractors. Subcontractors submit billings online in the AIA G702 and G703 format, and the platform performs the percentage, retainage, and total calculations, then routes items to the contractor for review and approval.

Lien waiver management sits inside the billing process rather than beside it. Contractors can require a waiver at pay application submission, and GCPay holds the signed unconditional or final waiver in escrow until payment has been received. The platform has been in the market since 2003 and is now part of Autodesk.

Key features include:

• Workflow automation: Centralizes applications for payment, supporting documentation, and approval routing, with configurable handling of schedules of values, change orders, and retainage.

• Lien waiver templates: Builds custom waiver templates that pull more than 80 data points from project records so contract and payment values populate automatically.

• Online notarization: Provides notarized waivers through an online notary agent, compliant in the states that require notarization, without leaving the desk.

• Compliance gating: Restricts payment automatically when requirements such as insurance are unmet, and alerts both contractor and subcontractor beforehand.

• ERP integrations: Pushes and pulls contract, change order, compliance, and payment data with systems including Sage 300 CRE, Viewpoint Vista, CMiC, and QuickBooks.

• Electronic payments: Replaces paper checks with ACH transfers, holding the signed waiver in escrow until funds are released.

• Dashboards and reporting: Provides custom dashboards showing approved items, outstanding payments, and change order status for contractors and subcontractors.

Limitations (as reported by users on G2):

• Screen navigation: Reviewers report that the browser back button returns to the main project page rather than the subcontractor being reviewed, requiring a fresh search to open the next pay application.

• Reporting depth: A recurring theme in reviews is that reporting options could be broader than what is currently offered.

5. Oracle Textura Payment Management

Best for: Enterprise draw management across owners, GCs, and subs

Strengths: End-to-end draw workflow with enforced compliance controls

Things to consider: Subcontractor side is often described as hard to navigate

Oracle Textura Payment Management handles invoicing, approvals, lien waiver collection, compliance management, and disbursement for owners, general contractors, and subcontractors. It guides participants through each stage of a draw: initiating the draw, submitting a pay application, markups and approvals, owner billing, waiver and document collection, payment authorization, and disbursement.

Compliance rules are enforced rather than advisory. The system blocks progress when a schedule of values does not balance to the contract amount, prevents billing for unapproved change orders, and applies automatic payment holds when a subcontractor or sub-tier waiver is missing. Signed unconditional waivers are exchanged digitally to release ACH payments.

Key features include:

• Draw workflow management: Tracks draw deadlines, invoice submission, markup, and approval routing across every tier on a project.

• Lien waiver holds: Applies payment holds automatically for missing prior period or current period sub-tier waivers, with hold status shown on dedicated waiver management pages.

• Compliance document control: Collects and tracks insurance certificates, licenses, and other requirements, and prevents unapproved or noncompliant payment activity.

• Sub-tier visibility: Nests sub-tier organizations beneath their prime subcontractors so downstream payment and waiver status is visible to the contractor.

• Audit trails: Captures user actions, electronic signatures, and payment documents, and removes period-to-period calculation errors.

• Accounting integration: Transfers financial data between Textura and common accounting systems, with integrations set up by Oracle at no extra charge.

• Payment acceleration: An optional Textura Payment Accelerator module runs early payment programs through the existing invoicing and payment workflow.

• Supplier tracking: Records supplier diversity information and automates compliance reporting with scheduled notifications.

Limitations (as reported by users on Capterra):

• Subcontractor experience: Subcontractors describe the submission process as confusing and time-consuming, particularly when tracing which document is holding up a payment.

• Compliance navigation: Reviewers report that moving between compliance sections for a company and its sub-tiers is not organized in a way that is easy to follow.

• Permission model: Administrative access controls are described as unclear, with limited documentation explaining what each permission or role does.

• Support responsiveness: Several reviewers report long waits for support, with some calls unanswered and callbacks not returned.

6. Trimble Pay

Best for: GCs standardizing billing math and subcontractor compliance

Strengths: Automatic billing calculations with locked submission forms

Things to consider: Sits within the Trimble Construction One ecosystem

Trimble Pay is the product formerly sold as Flashtract, acquired by Trimble in 2024 and rebranded. It manages payment applications, lien waivers, and other compliance and billing documentation electronically between general contractors and subcontractors, replacing document transfers by email.

Subcontractors enter their labor and materials costs and the platform calculates the billing amounts, generating documents in the AIA style formats contractors expect. General contractors can lock the system down so subcontractors cannot introduce billing mistakes, and all pay apps and waivers are stored together for approval in a single click.

Key features include:

• Automatic billing calculations: Computes payment application amounts from entered labor and materials costs, then generates the required documents populated with that data.

• AIA style form generation: Produces documents modeled on the standard AIA payment application forms as well as other pay app formats a contractor requires.

• Locked submission controls: Lets general contractors constrain what subcontractors can change, and lets subcontractors store client requirements once for reuse.

• Waiver escrow: Stores lien waivers securely in escrow and makes them accessible on demand.

• Smart compliance: Collects insurance requirements, reviews certificates, notifies subcontractors before documents expire, and blocks billing submission until items are current.

• Approval routing: Sends billing submission reminders and routes pay requests to the correct reviewer on the team.

• Payments and holds: Sends payments to subcontractors, manages approvals, and applies holds where requirements are outstanding.

• ERP integration: Integrates with Trimble Viewpoint Vista as part of the Trimble Construction One suite.

Limitations (based on publicly available sources):

• Product transition: The move from Flashtract to Trimble Pay means documentation, support routes, and third-party review listings are split across both names.

• Ecosystem alignment: ERP integration was introduced first for Trimble Viewpoint Vista, so firms on other systems should confirm current coverage.

• Regional support: Published support hours and contact routes are United States business hours, which suits North American operations.

7. Payapps

Best for: Contractors managing progress claims, variations, and retention

Strengths: Standardized claim format with automated retention calculation

Things to consider: Terminology follows Australian, New Zealand, and UK practice

Payapps standardizes progress claims between main contractors and subcontractors. Claims are submitted in one consistent format from any device, previously approved amounts are reconciled automatically, and both parties can see where each claim sits in the approval cycle in real time.

Retention and variations are handled inside the claim cycle. Retention is calculated on each claim from contract settings, and variations are recorded line by line with reasons for modification or rejection. Built-in reminders support submission and approval deadlines under security of payment legislation, and payment schedule documents are generated automatically.

Key features include:

• Standardized progress claims: Applies one submission format across all subcontractors so claims are prepared consistently and assessed the same way each cycle.

• Variation management: Captures variations from either party, assigns approved, pending, or rejected status, and allows retention withholding and tax treatment to be set per variation.

• Retention tracking: Calculates retention automatically, configures release conditions by percentage of completion and defect liability period, and reports outstanding amounts through an aging report.

• Compliance repository: Stores licenses, insurances, supporting evidence, comments, and images against each claim in one location.

• Deadline reminders: Prompts subcontractors to submit and contractors to assess, with an audit trail supporting security of payment requirements.

• ERP integration: Imports contract details, retention settings, supplier records, and tax configuration from a construction ERP, syncs variations and retention back, and generates reconciliation reports.

• Reporting dashboard: Provides retention aging, compliance, contract summary, variations by project, and claims by project reports.

• Multi-entity support: Manages multiple legal entities, projects, and currencies in one account with unlimited users and configurable permissions.

Limitations (based on publicly available sources):

• Regional model: The workflow is built around progress claims, variations, retention, and security of payment acts, with GST and ABN validation, reflecting Australian, New Zealand, and UK practice rather than AIA G702 and G703 conventions.

• Scope boundaries: The platform covers claim submission, assessment, and approval rather than executing the payment, so disbursement stays with the accounting system.

• Integration dependency: Much of the value comes from ERP synchronization, so standalone use gives up automated contract setup and reconciliation.

8. Siteline

Best for: Commercial trade subcontractors billing multiple GCs

Strengths: Generates any GC-specific pay app form and matching waivers

Things to consider: Built for the subcontractor side rather than for GCs

Siteline is billing software built for commercial trade contractors. It generates pay applications to each general contractor's own specification, whether that is a standard AIA G702 and G703 or a custom form, and handles the calculations and carry-over from previous months, including single or multiple tax rates.

Lien waivers sit alongside billing rather than in a separate system. Siteline determines which waiver is required and when, generates it, collects digital signatures from the subcontractor and its lower tiers, and packages everything for submission to the contractor's portal. Marking an invoice as paid triggers the correct unconditional waiver.

Key features include:

• GC-specific form generation: Produces digital versions of each contractor's required pay application and waiver forms, matching the appearance of the paper originals.

• Lien waiver automation: Creates and sends primary and lower-tier waivers, runs reminders and collections in bulk, and tracks status across every job.

• AI waiver validation: Checks waivers for missing signatures, incorrect amounts, and mismatched details before they can hold up a payment.

• Lien rights tracking: Monitors state-specific notice and filing deadlines so compliance windows are not missed.

• Change order visibility: Tracks unapproved change orders, identifies which are proceeding with work anyway, and adds approved ones to the schedule of values.

• Accounts receivable reporting: Shows invoice aging, current billing status, and which contractors pay fastest and slowest.

• Billing forecasting: Builds billing projections and cash flow forecasts across a project backlog to anticipate payment dates and monitor billing against goals.

• Portal and accounting connections: Integrates with subcontractor accounting systems and with contractor payment portals including Textura, GCPay, and Procore Pay.

Limitations (based on publicly available sources):

• Single-sided design: The product is built for subcontractor billing workflows, so general contractors assessing and disbursing payments need a different tool.

• Portal coverage: Direct connection is described for some contractor payment portals rather than all, so portal support should be confirmed per client.

• Form licensing: Official AIA forms remain licensed separately, and users completing them through the software must hold or obtain those forms.

Construction Management Platforms with Integrated Payments

9. Procore Pay

Best for: Procore users paying subcontractors inside existing invoicing

Strengths: Waiver exchange and compliance rules inside Procore invoicing

Things to consider: Available in the United States for GCs and owner-builders

Procore Pay extends Procore's Invoice Management to handle payment between general contractors and specialty contractors. It centralizes lien waivers, payment requirements, payment holds, and invoice payments for the paying side, and lets the receiving side link a bank account to be paid.

Lien waivers are powered by Levelset, a Procore company, and no separate Levelset account is required. Waiver templates are created at company level and enabled per project, and Procore Pay generates the appropriate conditional or unconditional waiver on each invoice. Payments are sent through Goldman Sachs Transaction Banking.

Key features include:

• Automatic waiver generation: Creates the required waivers on a subcontractor invoice from the project's default template, and regenerates them automatically when the amount due changes.

• Waiver locking: Keeps a signed unconditional waiver locked until the invoice is paid in full, so it is not available to the contractor before payment.

• Compliance templates: Defines which compliance documents are collected during invoicing, with conditional rules driven by custom checkbox and single-select fields.

• Duplicate prevention: Shows templated invoice requirements on the commitment compliance tab and blocks duplicate document uploads.

• Payment holds: Centralizes payment requirements and holds so funds are not released while items are outstanding.

• Bank account linking: Lets payees connect bank accounts securely to receive disbursements.

• Sworn statements: Supports sworn statement fields on first-tier and sub-tier waivers in the Chicago Title Waiver Format.

• Permission controls: Restricts waiver template administration and disbursement to designated payments administrator and disburser roles.

Limitations (based on publicly available sources):

• Geographic and role scope: The product is available in the United States and is designed for general contractors and owner-builders acting as their own general contractor.

• Prerequisites: Waiver management requires the modernized subcontractor invoicing experience and Procore Pay enabled as payor, so it is not available to every Procore account by default.

• Signature coverage: The Procore and DocuSign integration collects signatures for invoices but not for an invoice's lien waivers.

• Cost and onboarding: Independent comparisons place Procore at the higher end on price and note that onboarding takes longer than many firms budget.

10. Buildertrend

Best for: Residential builders paying subs and invoicing homeowners

Strengths: ACH, check, and autopay with waiver signing before release

Things to consider: Processing limits and per-transaction fees apply

Buildertrend combines project management with payment tools for residential builders and remodelers. Bill Pay handles outbound payments to subcontractors and vendors, while Client Payments handles inbound invoicing to homeowners. Job information syncs from the project so bills are approved and paid against completed work.

Payments are released only after outstanding lien waivers are signed. When a waiver is attached to a bill, the payee reviews and signs it, and once the waiver is accepted the payee chooses how to receive funds. Recipients link bank accounts through Plaid for ACH deposit, or take a self-printed or mailed check where the builder enables it.

Key features include:

• Bill Pay for subcontractors: Pays subcontractors and vendors by ACH or check, with bulk payment runs that require multi-factor authentication once per batch.

• Waiver gating: Blocks release of a payment until any lien waiver attached to the bill has been reviewed and signed by the payee.

• Bank account requests: Sends bank setup requests to subcontractors individually or in bulk before a payment is issued.

• Client Payments: Accepts ACH, credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay from homeowners, with visibility into when invoices are viewed, paid, or overdue.

• Card limits: Sets caps on how much a customer can charge to a credit card globally or per job.

• Accounting sync: Syncs payments with QuickBooks and Xero to avoid double entry.

• Bill to invoice linking: Ties individual subcontractor bills and receipts to owner invoices so payments to subs can follow client receipts.

Limitations (based on publicly available sources):

• Processing caps: Each account starts with a monthly processing limit based on its financial profile and a per-transaction cap of $120,000, which may rise as the account matures.

• Settlement timing: ACH and credit card processing takes three to five business days, so payments are not immediate.

• Transaction fees: Fees are charged per transaction or per subcontractor, with ACH priced as a percentage of the transaction subject to a minimum and a maximum.

• Regional gaps: ACH is not offered as a payment option in Canada, where card payments are used instead.

11. Knowify

Best for: Smaller contractors needing AIA billing with QuickBooks Online

Strengths: Automated schedule of values, retainage, change order sync

Things to consider: Built around QuickBooks Online rather than construction ERPs

Knowify is a construction business management platform whose billing module produces AIA style pay applications. It generates detailed schedules of values, and the user enters completed work as dollars or percentages plus any stored materials while the platform handles the remaining calculations.

Change orders and retainage are reconciled as the job progresses. Approved change orders are pulled into the correct billing period, with a warning when a change order is about to be billed in the wrong period, and retainage is tracked by phase with reminders to raise separate invoices when retained funds are collectable.

Key features include:

• Schedule of values generation: Builds the schedule automatically from the estimate or contract, then calculates each application from percentage of completion and stored materials.

• Official AIA forms: Produces branded G702 and G703 forms through a partnership with AIA Contract Documents when a client requires the official versions.

• Change order reconciliation: Includes approved change orders in the correct billing period and warns when billing falls outside it.

• Retainage by phase: Tracks retainage per phase and prompts for separate retainage invoices once amounts are releasable.

• Contract-aware invoicing: Configures invoices for the selected contract type, pulling items from the estimate for time and materials, fixed price, or pay application billing.

• Payment acceptance: Takes ACH and card payments directly from invoices through a connected QuickBooks Payments account.

• QuickBooks sync: Syncs pay application and retainage data with QuickBooks Online in both directions.

• Pay app advances: Offers advances against approved pay applications through a third-party financing partner.

Limitations (based on publicly available sources):

• Accounting dependency: The billing workflow is built around QuickBooks Online, so firms running a construction ERP get less from the integration.

• Market position: Independent comparisons place Knowify with small and mid-size contractors rather than enterprise general contractors, with entry tiers limited by active project count.

• Payment scope: Payment acceptance runs through a connected QuickBooks Payments account rather than a construction-specific disbursement network.

12. Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate

Best for: Contractors running accounting and AIA billing in one system

Strengths: Deep construction accounting with compliance controls

Things to consider: Steep learning curve and largely on-premise deployment

Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate, previously Sage Timberline Office, is a construction accounting and project management suite. Payment work sits inside integrated job costing, with AIA style billing, purchase orders, and reporting drawing on the same contract and cost records.

Subcontractor compliance is handled as part of the accounting workflow, covering lien waivers, insurance, and certified reporting alongside retainage on both the receivable and the payable side. The platform runs on-premise or in a private cloud and ships with a large library of prebuilt reports.

Key features include:

• AIA style billing: Generates progress billing from job cost records, with retainage calculated on the pay application and posted to the correct accounts.

• Subcontractor compliance tracking: Monitors lien waivers, insurance, and certified reporting requirements so payments are not released to noncompliant vendors.

• Retainage on both sides: Handles retainage withheld from customer invoices and retainage held from subcontractors, with release workflows.

• Integrated job costing: Links billing, purchase orders, commitments, and costs to the same job records for cost-to-complete visibility.

• Construction payroll: Includes payroll built for construction requirements, including union and certified payroll.

• WIP reporting: Automates work in progress reporting from live job cost data.

• Document management: Stores compliance paperwork in an organized repository for internal control and reporting.

• Report library: Provides more than 1,400 prebuilt reports across accounting, project, and equipment modules.

Limitations (as reported by users on Capterra):

• Learning curve: Reviewers describe the interface as unintuitive at first, with new users needing training and some firms engaging external consultants.

• Setup and updates: Configuring the system to behave like a client-server application is described as tricky, and the update process as awkward.

• Concurrent access: Users report file locking, where one person working in job cost entry blocks another from logging in.

• Performance and cost: Reviewers note slow response during daily work and pricing that is high for smaller operations.

The Financial Impact of AI in Construction Payment Workflows

The business case for AI in construction payments is increasingly clear. According to a recent KPMG survey, companies that adopted AI for back-office tasks reported a 30 to 50 percent reduction in processing time and fewer legal disputes arising from payment errors (KPMG).

Faster processing also means better subcontractor relationships, improved project cash flow, and greater financial visibility for leadership teams.

Conclusion

As the construction industry pushes toward digital transformation, payment workflows remain one of the most impactful areas to modernize. AI-powered construction payment software helps eliminate manual processes, ensure compliance, and accelerate project timelines.

For firms ready to gain operational efficiency and improve financial outcomes, platforms like Kolena deliver proven automation at scale. If you’re tired of chasing down lien waivers, wrangling Excel sheets, and waiting on payment approvals, it’s time to automate.