A work-in-progress (WIP) schedule lists every open job with its contract value, estimated total cost, cost to date, percent complete, earned revenue, billed to date and the resulting over or under billing. It’s the bridge between job cost and the financial statements, and the first report sureties and lenders ask for.
Why it matters
The WIP schedule shows whether reported profit is real. It exposes jobs where billing has run ahead of work, jobs where cost forecasts haven’t been updated, and margin that is fading month over month. Most contractors recognize revenue over time under ASC 606, and the WIP is where that calculation lives.
Worked example
Illustrative numbers for Riverside Medical Center:
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Contract (incl. approved COs) | $49,300,000 |
| Estimated total cost | $43,680,000 |
| Cost to date | $31,700,000 |
| Percent complete (cost-to-cost) | 72.6% |
| Earned revenue | $35,780,000 |
| Billed to date | $37,200,000 |
| Over billing | $1,420,000 |
Earned revenue is 72.6% of $49.3M. Billed minus earned is positive, so the job is over billed.
Common mistakes
- Using a stale estimated total cost, which makes percent complete and earned revenue wrong at the same time.
- Building the WIP in a spreadsheet re-keyed from three systems every month.
- Ignoring unapproved change orders entirely, or counting them as revenue before they’re probable.
How os.construction handles it
We’re building the WIP to calculate from live job cost, forecasts and billing on one record, so month-end becomes review instead of reassembly. Founding contractors are helping us get the review workflow right.