Accounts Receivable/ Pay Applications Specialist
About the role
Red Cedar Construction Services is seeking a detail-oriented, organized, and proactive Construction Accounts Receivable / Pay Applications Specialist to join our finance and accounting team. This position will be responsible for managing the accounts receivable process from the preparation and submission of pay applications through payment collection. The role will work closely with Construction Managers, project leadership, clients, investors, and internal accounting team members to ensure billings are accurate, complete, submitted on time, and actively followed through to collection. The ideal candidate has hands-on experience with construction billing, pay applications, change orders, accounts receivable, and collections. This person must be comfortable taking ownership of outstanding receivables, building productive client relationships, identifying payment obstacles, and driving timely resolution with minimal direction. Success in this role will be measured by the accuracy and timeliness of pay applications, the quality of supporting documentation, consistent follow-up on outstanding receivables, improved collection timelines, and the ability to maintain clear visibility into the status of every outstanding invoice.
Then Responsibilities: we need to list duties as- . The duties are long; we can break into two categories: Pay Applications and Construction Billing, Accounts Receivable and Collections, Accounts Payable and General Accounting Support. But we can just list each bullet as a line item. However we need to preserve all substantive information; we can't omit details. But we can group into subheadings? Not required; we can just list all duties as list items. However that would be huge list; still okay.
We need to ensure we don't lose any detail. Let's extract duties from the text.
From "Essential Duties & Responsibilities" section:
Pay Applications and Construction Billing:
- Prepare and submit accurate, complete, and timely pay applications for assigned construction projects.
- Work directly with Construction Managers and project leadership to obtain the information required to complete each billing cycle.
- Independently determine appropriate billing periods and bill-through dates based on project activity, contractual requirements, and supporting documentation.
- Review project contracts, schedules of values, approved change orders, and billing requirements before preparing pay applications.
- Ensure each pay application includes the documentation required by the client, lender, investor, or contract.
- Track pay application deadlines and proactively follow up with internal team members to avoid delays.
- Identify missing, incomplete, or inconsistent billing information and resolve issues before submission.
- Maintain organized and complete billing files, including pay applications, invoices, approvals, change orders, lien waivers, and supporting documentation.
- Prepare, issue, and track change orders promptly and accurately.
- Confirm approved change orders are incorporated into the appropriate billing cycle and accounts receivable records.
- Monitor the status of submitted pay applications and promptly address client questions, requested revisions, or rejected documentation.
Accounts Receivable and Collections:
- Own the accounts receivable process from initial billing through collection and payment application.
- Record accounts receivable invoices accurately and timely in the applicable accounting system.
- Monitor outstanding receivables, aging reports, funding status, retainage, and expected payment dates.
- Contact clients by telephone and email to obtain payment updates and resolve outstanding balances.
- Build professional working relationships with client accounting teams, project contacts, investors, and other payment stakeholders.
- Develop and maintain a consistent collections follow-up process for current and delinquent receivables.
- Identify issues delaying payment and coordinate with internal and external stakeholders to resolve them.
- Take proactive steps to shorten the time between pay application submission, approval, funding, and receipt.
- Escalate collection concerns, disputed balances, documentation deficiencies, or material payment delays to management.
- Maintain clear notes regarding collection activity, client commitments, disputed items, and next steps.
- Establish and maintain reporting that provides management with visibility into outstanding receivables and collection status.
- Prepare accounts receivable aging and collection status reports for leadership.
- Analyze collection trends, payment timelines, and recurring obstacles and recommend process improvements.
- Record cash receipts and apply payments to the appropriate client, project, invoice, and entity.
- Confirm transactions cleared through company bank accounts are legitimate and properly recorded.
- Monitor shared accounts receivable inboxes and respond to internal and external inquiries promptly and professionally.
- Research and resolve payment discrepancies, unapplied cash, short payments, and disputed balances.
- Coordinate the collection and release of retainage when contract and project requirements have been satisfied.
Accounts Payable and General Accounting Support:
- Review vendor and trade partner invoices for accuracy, appropriate documentation, coding, and approval before payment.
- Record approved invoices in the accounts payable subledger.
- Prepare accounts payable aging reports and identify amounts due for payment.
- Receive, review, and obtain approval for internal ACH and payment requests.
- Process approved payments from the appropriate legal entity.
- Maintain relationships with vendors and trade partners and respond to payment inquiries in a timely manner.
- Research and resolve vendor statement discrepancies and outstanding invoice issues.
- Process non-invoice and purchase-order transactions and perform standard subledger maintenance.
- Assist with monthly accrued expenses, deferred revenue, account reconciliations, and recurring account rollovers.
- Support month-end closing by reviewing assigned accounts, researching discrepancies, and ensuring transactions are complete and accurate.
- Provide information needed for payment applications, investor capital calls, cash planning, and other accounting processes.
- Maintain effective communication between accounting, construction, project management, and company leadership regarding billing and payment status.
- Support other accounting and finance team members as needed.
- Identify and recommend improvements to billing, collections, accounts receivable, accounts payable, documentation, and reporting processes.
- Exercise integrity, discretion, and confidentiality when handling company, client, vendor, and financial information.
- Perform other duties as assigned.
We'll include these as list items.
Then Requirements: Required Skills & Qualifications.
List:
- Minimum of three years of experience in accounts receivable, construction billing, bookkeeping, or a related accounting role.
- Hands-on experience preparing construction pay applications with limited direction
- Experience with schedules of values, change orders, retainage, lien waivers, bill-through dates, and supporting billing documentation.
- Demonstrated experience managing accounts receivable and collections from invoice preparation through final payment.
- Ability to proactively follow up on outstanding balances, resolve discrepancies, and help reduce payment timelines.
- Construction industry experience required; general contracting, homebuilding, multifamily, or Build-to-Rent experience preferred.
- Strong understanding of accounts receivable, accounts payable, bookkeeping, and basic GAAP principles.
- Strong organizational skills with the ability to maintain accurate and complete billing documentation.
- Excellent communication and relationship-building skills when working with clients, Construction Managers, vendors, and trade partners.
- Strong attention to detail, follow-through, problem-solving ability, and personal accountability.
- Proficiency in Microsoft Excel and experience with QuickBooks Online or a comparable accounting system.
- Experience with Procore, Smartsheet, AIA-style billing, or construction billing portals preferred.
- Ability to manage multiple deadlines, work independently, and take ownership in a fast-paced environment.
- Associate’s or bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance, business, or a related field preferred; relevant experience may be considered in place of a degree.
We'll put as
- .
Benefits:
- 100% Medical, Dental, & Vision insurance covered to the employee and their children
- 401k with a Safe Harbor match formula of 100% of employee contributions up to 3% of their compensation, then 50% matching contribution of the next 2% of employee's compensation
- Company-paid holidays
- 120 hours paid time off annually
- Growth potential
Pay:
- Compensation $40,000-65,000 annually based on experience
Schedule:
- Schedule Monday-Friday, standard daytime hours; 8 am - 5 pm
- Job Type Full-time position, averaging 40 hours per week
We could combine schedule and job type but schedule section only if posting actually states them. It does state schedule and job type. We'll include schedule.
We must not include "Ability To Commute/Relocate" etc? That's substantive but not a heading; we could include as a short paragraph maybe under About the role? But it's not under any of the allowed headings. The instruction: use headings for section headings (e.g. About the role, Responsibilities, Requirements, Qualifications, Skills, Benefits, Pay, Schedule). It doesn't forbid other paragraphs outside headings. We can include a
for commute info. However they said "do NOT put Job ID / requisition numbers as headings — fold minor metadata into a short
or drop it." So commute info is minor metadata; we can fold into a short
. We'll include a paragraph after schedule maybe. Also work location etc. Could be minor metadata; we can include a short paragraph. We must not include boilerplate like EEO, application instructions, etc. So we will omit those. Now produce HTML fragment. Let's craft:
About the role
Red Cedar Construction Services is seeking a detail-oriented, organized, and proactive Construction Accounts Receivable / Pay Applications Specialist to join our finance and accounting team. This position will be responsible for managing the accounts receivable process from the preparation and submission of pay applications through payment collection. The role will work closely with Construction Managers, project leadership, clients, investors, and internal accounting team members to ensure billings are accurate, complete, submitted on time, and actively followed through to collection. The ideal candidate has hands-on experience with construction billing, pay applications, change orders, accounts receivable, and collections. This person must be comfortable taking ownership of outstanding receivables, building productive client relationships, identifying payment obstacles, and driving timely resolution with minimal direction. Success in this role will be measured by the accuracy and timeliness of pay applications, the quality of supporting documentation, consistent follow-up on outstanding receivables, improved collection timelines, and the ability to maintain clear visibility into the status of every outstanding invoice.
Responsibilities
- Prepare and submit accurate, complete, and timely pay applications for assigned construction projects.
- Work directly with Construction Managers and project leadership to obtain the information required to complete each billing cycle.
- Independently determine appropriate billing periods and bill-through dates based on project
- .
Benefits:
- 100% Medical, Dental, & Vision insurance covered to the employee and their children
- 401k with a Safe Harbor match formula of 100% of employee contributions up to 3% of their compensation, then 50% matching contribution of the next 2% of employee's compensation
- Company-paid holidays
- 120 hours paid time off annually
- Growth potential
Pay:
- Compensation $40,000-65,000 annually based on experience
Schedule:
- Schedule Monday-Friday, standard daytime hours; 8 am - 5 pm
- Job Type Full-time position, averaging 40 hours per week
We could combine schedule and job type but schedule section only if posting actually states them. It does state schedule and job type. We'll include schedule.
We must not include "Ability To Commute/Relocate" etc? That's substantive but not a heading; we could include as a short paragraph maybe under About the role? But it's not under any of the allowed headings. The instruction: use headings for section headings (e.g. About the role, Responsibilities, Requirements, Qualifications, Skills, Benefits, Pay, Schedule). It doesn't forbid other paragraphs outside headings. We can include a