Track payment applications in a free Excel sheet.

A practical payment application tracker for subcontractors

The workbook gives you 50 blank application rows, a status dropdown, simple commercial totals and two calculated visibility fields: applied less certified, and certified less recorded paid. It also includes spaces for the certificate or assessment reference, expected payment date, follow-up date and next action.

No email gate. The workbook opens locally in Excel-compatible spreadsheet software and remains under your control.

What the free workbook tracks

Use one row per application or valuation period. Record the project, application number, valuation date, applied value, certified value, retention recorded, amount paid, the dates you use internally and the next action. Conditional formatting highlights overdue follow-up dates and certified amounts that remain recorded as unpaid.

How to use a payment application tracker

1. Start one row for each application or valuation period. Keep the application number, project and valuation date consistent with the paperwork you actually submit.
2. Record the amount applied for when the application goes out. This gives you a fixed reference point rather than trying to reconstruct the figure later from emails or draft spreadsheets.
3. Add the certified or assessed value when you receive it. The tracker shows the difference between what you applied for and what has been certified or assessed so the gap stays visible.
4. Record retention and payments separately. Keep the amount certified distinct from the amount actually recorded as paid, then add the next follow-up action if there is still money outstanding.
5. Carry unresolved items forward deliberately. If a variation, daywork or assessment difference still needs action, record the next step instead of relying on memory before the next valuation.

Keep the records behind each application together

A tracker is most useful when each row points back to the records behind the number. Keep the submitted application, assessment or certificate, relevant notices, supporting instructions and evidence, plus the dayworks and variations that make up the value. CertKeep’s free digital daywork sheet can capture labour, plant, materials and site acknowledgement, while the free variation register keeps quoted, submitted and agreed values visible before they feed into an application.

That creates a simple commercial chain: record the extra while it is fresh, keep the variation status visible, then track what was applied for, certified and ultimately paid.

What it deliberately does not calculate

Payment timetables depend on the relevant contract and circumstances. The workbook does not calculate contractual or statutory due dates, payment-notice deadlines, pay-less-notice deadlines, entitlement or sums payable. Enter dates from your own contract/process and keep the underlying applications, certificates, notices and evidence.

Use the spreadsheet first. Upgrade only when the chasing outgrows it.

Free Excel: one local workbook for applied, certified, retention, paid and follow-up figures. You keep the file and manage the supporting records yourself.

CertKeep Pro · £12/month or £120/year: save payment applications against live projects, link them to variations and supporting dayworks, keep private evidence with the source dayworks, record assessment differences and retention follow-up, and print a support summary that indexes the records behind the application.

The saved workflow is for the point where reconstructing the commercial trail from spreadsheets, PDFs, photos and messages is costing more time than keeping the links together as the job develops.

Launch offer: enter LAUNCH20 in Stripe Checkout for 20% off the first invoice while available. CertKeep is an organisational tool, not legal or contractual advice. Check the relevant contract, notices, certificates and your own commercial procedures.