Check a construction loan draw request line by line against the budget and invoices with AI

Short answer

Use Copilot in Excel or Claude: The AI reconciles each requested line against the approved budget, your draw history and the invoice list, flags exceptions (missing backup, over budget, unapproved reallocation, retainage or prior-funded mismatch, duplicate invoices) and compares percent drawn with the inspector's percent complete that you enter. Draw reviews come down to the same checks every month: does each requested dollar sit on an approved budget line with an invoice behind it, does the remaining balance still cover the work left, and is retainage held the way the loan documents say. Paste the borrower's request, the approved loan budget, your own draw history and the invoice list into Copilot in Excel or Claude and have it build a line-by-line reconciliation with an exception list. The inspector's site report, title and lien checks, and the funding decision stay with the lender's team. A person still checks: the inspector's report, title, lien waivers, insurance and every exception before funding; the funding decision stays with the lender.

AI tie-in

Tool: Copilot in Excel or Claude

The AI reconciles each requested line against the approved budget, your draw history and the invoice list, flags exceptions (missing backup, over budget, unapproved reallocation, retainage or prior-funded mismatch, duplicate invoices) and compares percent drawn with the inspector's percent complete that you enter.

Prompt 1

Here is a construction draw request for this period: line, scheduled value, previously funded, requested this period, stored materials, retainage held [paste]. Here is our approved loan budget with approved reallocations [paste], our draw history of amounts funded per line [paste], and this period's invoice list: vendor, invoice number, amount, budget line [paste]. Our retainage rate from the loan agreement is [rate]. Build a table per line: budget, prior funded (ours and theirs), requested, supporting invoices, gap, percent drawn, remaining balance, and flags for missing or short invoice backup, over budget, budget changed without an approved reallocation, stored materials, prior-funded mismatch, retainage mismatch and duplicate invoice numbers. Use only these numbers. Do not recommend whether to fund.

Prompt 2

Here is the reconciliation table with the inspector's percent complete per line added [paste], and the borrower's stated cost to complete per line [paste]. List the lines where percent drawn exceeds the inspector's percent complete by more than [threshold] points, total the remaining budget plus remaining contingency against the stated cost to complete, and draft a short exception list for the borrower with one question per item. Use only these numbers. Do not judge whether the loan is in balance or whether to fund.

Human check: The inspector's report, title, lien waivers, insurance and every exception before funding; the funding decision stays with the lender.

The problem

Check a construction loan draw request line by line against the budget and invoices with AI. This is a common, time-consuming task for a construction lender.

What this workflow does

Draw reviews come down to the same checks every month: does each requested dollar sit on an approved budget line with an invoice behind it, does the remaining balance still cover the work left, and is retainage held the way the loan documents say. Paste the borrower's request, the approved loan budget, your own draw history and the invoice list into Copilot in Excel or Claude and have it build a line-by-line reconciliation with an exception list. The inspector's site report, title and lien checks, and the funding decision stay with the lender's team.

How it works: AI drafts or analyzes. A person operates the tools, checks the work, and takes action.

Your checkpoint: The table only reconciles the numbers you paste. Physical progress comes from the inspector's site visit, and title, lien, insurance and loan-covenant checks follow your loan procedures and counsel. Not lending, legal or accounting advice. Keep borrower files in tools your institution has approved.

Before you start

Access to the named tool; confirm license, version and cost with the vendor.
A small, non-confidential sample to try the workflow on first.
A qualified person to review the output before it is used.

Tools and access

Follow the steps

Keep one workbook per loan: the approved budget by line, approved reallocations and change orders on their own tab, your draw history (what was actually funded per line) and a tab for the current request. Leave the borrower's original files untouched in a separate folder.
Paste the current request (line, scheduled value, previously funded, requested this period, stored materials, retainage) and the period's invoice list (vendor, invoice number, amount, budget line billed to).
Ask Copilot or Claude to build the reconciliation per line: budget, prior funded (your history next to the borrower's figure), requested, supporting invoices, gap between request and invoices, percent drawn and remaining balance.
Ask for flags on: missing or short invoice backup, lines drawn past budget, budget values that moved without an approved reallocation or change order, stored materials, prior-funded mismatches, retainage that does not match the rate you enter from the loan agreement, and duplicate invoice numbers.
Enter the inspector's percent complete per line from their report yourself, then have the model list lines where percent drawn runs ahead of it and total the remaining budget and contingency against the borrower's stated cost to complete.
Send the exception list to the borrower for answers and run title, lien waiver and insurance checks the way your loan procedures require. The model never approves or funds a draw.

Try a small example

Replace the bracketed fields with your own project details. No tested sample run is published for this workflow yet.

Sample input

Fill in the bracketed [fields] in the text below with your project data.

Starter prompt

Here is a construction draw request for this period: line, scheduled value, previously funded, requested this period, stored materials, retainage held [paste]. Here is our approved loan budget with approved reallocations [paste], our draw history of amounts funded per line [paste], and this period's invoice list: vendor, invoice number, amount, budget line [paste]. Our retainage rate from the loan agreement is [rate]. Build a table per line: budget, prior funded (ours and theirs), requested, supporting invoices, gap, percent drawn, remaining balance, and flags for missing or short invoice backup, over budget, budget changed without an approved reallocation, stored materials, prior-funded mismatch, retainage mismatch and duplicate invoice numbers. Use only these numbers. Do not recommend whether to fund.

Expected output

Not published yet. Treat any output as a draft and check it against the source documents.

Check the result

Every value, citation or quantity traces back to a source document.
Missing information is marked as missing, not filled in.

Limits and recovery

The table only reconciles the numbers you paste. Physical progress comes from the inspector's site visit, and title, lien, insurance and loan-covenant checks follow your loan procedures and counsel. Not lending, legal or accounting advice. Keep borrower files in tools your institution has approved.
Check your organization’s data policy before sharing project files with third-party tools.

Stop or switch when: The source cannot be verified, permissions are missing, or the result contains unsupported facts.

Frequently asked questions

How does AI help with this?

Copilot in Excel or Claude: The AI reconciles each requested line against the approved budget, your draw history and the invoice list, flags exceptions (missing backup, over budget, unapproved reallocation, retainage or prior-funded mismatch, duplicate invoices) and compares percent drawn with the inspector's percent complete that you enter. A person still checks: The inspector's report, title, lien waivers, insurance and every exception before funding; the funding decision stays with the lender.

How do I check a construction loan draw request line by line against the budget and invoices with AI?

Keep one workbook per loan: the approved budget by line, approved reallocations and change orders on their own tab, your draw history (what was actually funded per line) and a tab for the current request. Leave the borrower's original files untouched in a separate folder. Paste the current request (line, scheduled value, previously funded, requested this period, stored materials, retainage) and the period's invoice list (vendor, invoice number, amount, budget line billed to). Ask Copilot or Claude to build the reconciliation per line: budget, prior funded (your history next to the borrower's figure), requested, supporting invoices, gap between request and invoices, percent drawn and remaining balance. The full step list is above.

Does this use an AI agent or regular software?

It is labeled AI assists: AI drafts or analyzes. A person operates the tools, checks the work, and takes action.

What tools do I need?

Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Copilot, Claude, ChatGPT. Confirm license, version and cost with the vendor, and try it on a small non-confidential sample first.

Has this workflow been tested?

Workflow guide · not independently tested. Written from vendor documentation and practitioner use. Labels apply to the steps described here, not every feature of a product. Links were checked when the page was written.

Evidence and maintenance

Written from vendor documentation and practitioner use. Labels apply to the steps described here, not every feature of a product. Links were checked when the page was written.