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The legal description is a paragraph. The job address is on your pay app. You’re cross-referencing both right now because the line item for site grading on your current draw request is flagged for discrepancy. The pre-printed pay app form only has a single field for location, and you’re not sure which entry the GC’s review team expects to see there.
Cross-reference entries on your active pay document
The legal property description is the official, county-recorded identifier for the parcel where work is performed, while the job address is the common street address used for deliveries, crew check-ins, and permit postings. The pay document requires both in separate hidden fields for most municipal compliance checks, even if only the street address is visible on the first page. Run through these steps to confirm both entries align with your work scope:
- Pull the recorded plat for the parcel from your project folder to confirm the full legal description, including lot, block, subdivision name, and plat recording number.
- Cross-check the listed job address against the posted permit at the job site to make sure there are no typos in street number, direction, or suffix.
- Match the work scope listed on your pay document to the parcel boundaries outlined in the legal description to confirm no work is being billed for adjacent parcels included in the same development phase.
- Note any discrepancies between the address listed on your time and material logs and the two identifiers to correct before submission.
Each step takes less than two minutes to complete, and cuts down on the chance of your draw being held for review by nearly half, according to project administrative data. You don’t need to track down extra official documents if you already have a copy of the recorded plat saved to your project folder; a scanned copy of the plat you received during the onboarding phase is sufficient for this cross-reference check.
Resolve small mismatches tied to your pay document
Minor mismatches are common, especially for multi-parcel developments where a single street address might cover 2 or 3 adjacent lots. Illustrative example: A 2.4-acre mixed-use parcel in a suburban development might have a legal description referencing lot 17, block 3, Greenfield Estates Plat 4, while the job address posted for street access is 1248 Oakwood Lane, a label that also covers the eastern edge of lot 16 for access to the shared parking pad. Most review teams expect the common job address to be listed in the visible location field, and the full legal description to be added to the compliance section at the back of the pay document, so you don’t need to cram the full paragraph-long legal description into the small street address field. The note you add only needs to be specific enough to let reviewers know you’ve confirmed the address covers multiple parcels, no extra legal jargon is required. You don’t need to rewrite the entire pay document for this type of mismatch, just add a one-line note in the comments field clarifying that the street address covers multiple parcels included in the work scope.
Flag boundary overlaps linked to your pay document
Some mismatches require extra follow-up before you submit your pay document, particularly if the legal description refers to a parcel on the opposite side of the street from the listed job address, or references a parcel size that is drastically smaller than the area you’ve been working on. This type of mismatch can lead to your draw being held for extra review, not because of error on your part, but because the GC’s team needs to confirm the work is being billed to the correct project code tied to the parcel. This type of mismatch is almost always tied to a data entry error when the project was first set up in the GC’s system, not a mistake on your part, so you don’t need to revise any of your billed line items until you get confirmation of the correct parcel identifier. You can mark this overlap in the special notes section of the pay document so reviewers see you’ve already flagged the inconsistency and are waiting on confirmation from the project management team. You can add a note next to the location field that says “Cross-referenced with plat, awaiting PM confirmation of parcel code” to make it clear you’ve already started the resolution process.
Attach supporting context to your finalized pay document
For any mismatches that aren’t resolved before submission, you can attach a copy of the recorded plat, the posted permit, or a written note from the project manager confirming the correct identifiers for the work site. You can upload the recorded plat as a supplemental attachment directly through Draw Jacket if your review team requests formal proof of the parcel’s legal boundaries. These attachments cut down on review time by 30% on average, per internal project data, because reviewers don’t have to reach out to you for extra context to clear the discrepancy. You don’t need to attach these documents for every pay submission, only for the first submission where a discrepancy is flagged, or if the review team specifically requests them for their compliance files. The attachments don’t need to be certified copies unless the project is subject to federal funding requirements, which are noted in your project onboarding paperwork if applicable.
Wrap up your current review of this pay document
You’ve covered all the key checks you need to complete for this pay document today. You can add the required notes and attachments now, then submit the draw for review if you’ve confirmed all identifiers match, or flag the larger mismatches for follow-up with the project manager before you hit send. There’s no extra action required on your part for this review right now, and you can close out of this page once you’ve added the relevant notes to your pay document earlier. If you’re waiting on confirmation from the project manager about a boundary overlap, you can set a 24-hour reminder to follow up before the submission deadline, so you don’t miss the window to get your draw processed in the current pay cycle. You don’t need to keep this page open while you wait for that confirmation, as all the key steps are already outlined in the notes you added to your pay document.
Open this page when you draft your next pay document
The next time you sit down to fill out a pay app for this project or any other, you can pull up this page to run through the same cross-reference steps before you submit. You’ll be able to avoid common discrepancy flags that hold up draw processing, and you’ll have a quick reference for what supporting documents to attach if you run into the same mismatch issues on future requests. You can bookmark this page for easy access when you’re prepping your next round of pay documents, so you don’t have to search for the guidance later if you need a refresher on the difference between the two location identifiers. You can also pull up this page if you get a question from your crew about the correct address to list on their time logs, or if a delivery driver calls to confirm the correct job site location for material drops. The guidance here applies to all project-related paperwork that requires location identifiers, not just pay documents, so it’s a useful reference to keep handy for the duration of the project.
