48| Construction Finance
73|What Is a WIP Schedule and Why Your Surety Wants One
74| 75| 80| 81|Part of our SBA surety bond guide series.
What Is a WIP Schedule?
A Work-in-Progress schedule lists every open contract, its value, costs to date, billings to date, and percentage complete. That's it. It's a snapshot of how much work you have on your plate and whether you're making money on those jobs. Sureties treat it as one of the most important documents in your packet because it tells them whether you can handle more work.
Why Sureties Need It
The surety is extending credit. They need to know you can handle the workload before they back you on another project. The WIP tells them four things:
- Capacity — how much work is already on your books
- Profitability — are you making money on current jobs?
- Billing accuracy — are you billing correctly, or over/under billing?
- Backlog — how much unbilled work remains?
What a WIP Schedule Looks Like
A WIP schedule doesn't need to be complicated. Here's what a basic one looks like:
| Contract | Value | Costs to Date | % Complete | Billed to Date | Backlog |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Riverside Library | $850K | $510K | 60% | $510K | $0 |
| Main St. Sewer | $1.2M | $360K | 30% | $360K | $240K |
| Eastside Parking | $400K | $100K | 25% | $80K | $20K |
If you've never seen one before, that's the whole concept. Contract name, value, what you've spent, how far along it is, what you've billed, and what's left to bill.
Common Mistakes
- Not maintaining one at all (most common)
- Using cash-basis numbers instead of percentage-of-completion
- Not updating it regularly — stale data is useless
- Excluding change orders from the contract value
Need Help With Your WIP?
If you've never prepared a WIP schedule, or the one you have isn't what a surety underwriter would accept, Bond-Ready builds one as part of the document preparation service. Learn about Bond-Ready.
83|Need help getting bond-ready?
87|Bond-Ready gets SBA-program contractors application-ready — clean financials, complete paperwork, and the packet in your surety agent's hands. Book a free triage call and we'll give you an honest go/no-go the same day.
88| Explore Bond-Ready 89|