Construction Draw Reviewer
Reconcile a draw request against the schedule of values, retainage and lien waivers before you fund.
Install it in one line — paste a single command into Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor and it writes the skill into your project.
Free, and about thirty seconds: a work email and a six-digit code.
Downloading shares your name, firm, role, and email with The Helvetica Group. That introduction is what keeps every skill here free.
What this skill does
Reviews a construction or rehab draw request before you fund it and tells you what to fund, what to hold, and what releases the held amount. It also answers the question the request never does: after this draw, is there still enough left to finish the job?
What it does
- Reconciles every line of the draw to the schedule of values and the inspector's percent complete
- Funds the lesser of requested and earned on each line, and works out retainage and net payable two ways so they cross-check
- Tracks lien waivers per contractor, per draw — conditional for this draw, unconditional for the last
- Spots front-loading, over-billing, stored materials billed as installed, and contingency spent too early
- Runs the balance test — remaining budget against cost to complete — and sizes any deposit needed to bring the loan back in balance
When to use it
- A draw request has come in and needs a funding decision
- The inspection report is in and needs reconciling to the request
- You suspect the contractor is billing ahead of the work
- Cost to complete keeps rising and you need to know if the loan is still in balance
What to have ready
- The draw request
- The schedule of values, with approved change orders
- Prior draw history
- The inspection report or dated progress photos
- Retainage terms and the lien waivers received
- Invoices and the contractor's cost to complete, if you have them
How to use it
- Download it with the button above. You'll sign in with a work email — that's how the creator knows who is using their skill.
- Copy the install prompt from the "Run it in Claude" box, and paste it into Claude along with the file. Claude installs the skill, fills in your firm's details where the file has
[BRACKETED]placeholders, and runs a quick test with you. - Then just ask in plain English. Claude picks the skill up on its own when a request matches it. Anything it still needs, it asks you for — it won't invent a number.
"Draw [N] came in on [PROPERTY ADDRESS]. Here's the request, the SOV, the inspection report and the lien waivers — how much should we fund?"
What you get back
A draw review memo: an approve / approve-partial / hold recommendation with the dollar amount to fund now, a line-item reconciliation table, numbered exceptions each with its dollar amount and release condition, the balance test, and the conditions that release anything held.
Good to know
- Output quality tracks input quality. A missing figure is flagged as missing — it is never estimated to fill a gap.
- Every draft is a starting point for your own review, not a finished decision.
- Runs anywhere Claude does: the Claude app, Claude Desktop, or Claude Code.
- Percent complete always comes from the inspector, never from a photo, and state-specific lien and retainage questions are flagged for counsel or title rather than answered as a general rule.
Legal disclaimer
This skill drafts; it does not decide. Its output is not legal, tax, accounting, appraisal, or investment advice, and using it creates no attorney-client, fiduciary, or advisory relationship. Nothing it produces is a commitment to lend or an offer to sell a security. Verify every number, date, citation, and conclusion against the source documents, and have a qualified professional licensed in the relevant jurisdiction review the work before you rely on it or send it to a borrower, investor, counterparty, or regulator. Laws, rates, and market data change. The final work product is yours.
Inside this skill
The actual file you get. Members can read it in full before saving it.
Construction Draw Reviewer
Reviews a borrower's construction or rehab draw request before funding and produces a memo that says: fund this dollar amount, hold that dollar amount, and here is the line item and the document that releases it.
The job is not adding up the request. The job is answering one question the request itself never answers: if we fund this, is the remaining budget still enough to finish the project? A draw that reconciles perfectly to the schedule of values can still be the draw that puts the loan out of balance. Both tests have to pass.
Not an inspection and not a legal opinion. Percent complete is what a qualified inspector observed, not what this skill concluded from a photo. Lien rights are governed by state statute and by the contract. This skill reconciles the paper and flags what does not tie.
What you produce
A draw review memo, in Markdown, with five parts:
- Recommendation band — APPROVE · APPROVE-PARTIAL · HOLD, with the dollar amount recommended for funding and the amount held.
- Line-item reconciliation table — budget, prior draws, percent complete, earned, requested, variance, and a per-line disposition.
- Exceptions — one numbered item per problem, each with the dollar amount attached to it and the specific document or event that releases it.
- Balance test — remaining budget against cost to complete, with contingency shown separately.
- Release conditions — what must arrive before the held amount funds.
Deliver the memo in chat, and write it to the user's own draw folder if they name one. Never write into a path this skill invented.
Step 1 — Intake
| Input | Required? | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Draw request / application for payment | ✅ | The amounts being asked for, by line |
| Schedule of values (original, plus approved change orders) | ✅ | The budget every test runs against |
| Draw number and prior draw history | ✅ | Cumulative funded, by line |
| Inspection report and/or dated progress photos | ✅ | Independent percent complete |
| Retainage terms from the loan and construction contract | ✅ | The percentage, and when it releases |
| Lien waivers received with this draw and the prior draw | ✅ | Conditional for this draw, unconditional for the last one |
Reading the full skill counts as a download. The contributor receives your name, company, and email.
Ratings & reviews
No written reviews yet. If you run this on a live file, say how it went. The next lender reading this page is deciding whether to trust it.
Examination record
Run it in Claude
- Copy the install command above
- Paste it into Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor
- It writes the skill in, fills in your firm’s details, and test-runs it with you
Prefer the file? The prompt above is for a package you already downloaded.
Details
More from The Helvetica Group
They publish here under a verified work email. Their other skills, and how to reach them, are on their contributor page.