What are joint payments and joint checks?

 General Availability in Select Markets (United States)
flag-us.png Procore Pay icon-external-link.png  is available in the United States. It is designed for General Contractors and Owner-Builders who act as their own General Contractors on a job. Procore Pay extends the Invoice Management icon-external-link.png functionality in the Procore web application to handle the payment process between general and specialty contractors.
 Procore Pay Integrates with the Modernized Subcontractor Invoicing Experience
in Procore Pay, lien wavers are powered by Levelset, a Procore Company. To manage lien waivers with the Invoice Management tools in Procore, your Procore users must be using the modernized subcontractor invoicing experience. 

Answer

A joint payment is a single payment amount issued by one (1) payor to two (2) or more payees. With Procore's Invoice Management tools, there are two (2) ways to record joint payments: Joint Checks and Split Payments.

About Joint Checks

When processing invoice payments with Procore Pay, it's especially important to know about joint checks and how to record them:

What is a joint check?

A joint check (also called a two-party check) is the most common joint payment in construction. With a joint check, a single payor issues one (1) check to two (2) payees. Typically, the payor is a general contractor. The joint payees are (A) the first-tier subcontractor who entered into a commitment with the general contractor and (B) a sub-tier subcontractor.

What is a joint payment agreement?

A joint payment agreement is a tri-party agreement between a payor and two (2) payees. As a legal agreement, it provides the general contractor (and ultimately the project owner) with protection from potential compensation claims filed by the first- and sub-tier subcontractors. It also provides a general contractor with the added benefit of ensuring a sub-tier subcontractor gets paid on time.

Do joint checks require a joint endorsement?

A joint endorsement means both payees must endorse their joint check before a financial institution will cash it or before it can be deposited into a bank account. Most joint checks require joint endorsements. However, every payment agreement is unique. Some agreements may only require a single-party endorsement.

How do I record joint checks in Procore?

General contractors issuing joint checks typically handwrite or cut a joint check. An invoice administrator then records the check's amount as a new payment in the 'Payments Issued' tab of the first-tier subcontractor's commitment. For instructions, see Add a New Payment to the Payments Issued Tab of a Commitment. If your Procore company is integrated with an ERP system, your method of recording joint checks might differ. See How do payments made in Procore sync with an integrated ERP system? for details.

For customers using Procore Pay to pay subcontractor invoices, the 'Amount' added for the new payment immediately updates these fields in the Company level Payments tool:

These updates ensure that Payments Disbursers view accurate invoice data and invoice payment orders before authorizing a disbursement. See Authorize Disbursements.

Can I record other payment options besides joint checks in Procore? 

Yes. Procore's Invoice Management tools allow invoice administrators to record split payments. To learn more, see What is a split payment?

See Also