Construction payment management system and method with automated electronic document generation features

• US 20080046350A1
• Filed: 09/12/2007
• Published: 02/21/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Textura LLC (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Textura LLC (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Bagley, Matthew, Eichhorn, William, Niden, Howard, Allin, Patrick, Cherry, Charles
• Granted Patent: US 7,672,888 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/18 Legal services

Abstract

A system and method for managing a construction payment process. One method embodying the invention can include generating a budget for a construction project, receiving an invoice amount from at least one participant in the construction project, generating at least one of an automated invoice and an automated sworn statement based on the invoice amount and the budget, generating at least one automated lien waiver based on at least one of the automated invoice and the automated sworn statement, and electronically executing at least one of the automated invoice, the automated sworn statement, and the at least one automated lien waiver to create at least one of a legally-binding invoice, a legally-binding sworn statement, and a legally-binding lien waiver. Another method embodying the invention can include electronically receiving a lien waiver from a participant in a construction project, electronically transmitting payment to the participant in response to receipt of the lien waiver, and releasing the lien waiver in response to the payment.

Claims

1. A method of managing a construction payment process, the method comprising the acts of:

generating a budget for a construction project;

receiving an invoice amount from at least one participant in the construction project;

generating at least one of an automated invoice and an automated sworn statement based on the invoice amount and the budget;

generating at least one automated lien waiver based on at least one of the automated invoice and the automated sworn statement; and

electronically executing at least one of the automated invoice, the automated sworn statement, and the at least one automated lien waiver to create at least one of a legally-binding invoice, a legally-binding sworn statement, and a legally-binding lien waiver.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the invoice amount includes at least one of a percentage of work completed and a dollar amount of work completed.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the generated budget includes a plurality of line items and wherein the automated invoice includes at least one of the plurality of line items.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the generated budget includes at least one of costs of an organization not employed by a general contractor of the construction project and costs of an organization employed by the general contractor.

5. The method of claim 1 and further comprising the act of transmitting a notification regarding approval of the automated invoice.

6. The method of claim 1 and further comprising the act of ensuring that the automated sworn statement and the at least one automated lien waiver correspond to the at least one automated invoice.

7. The method of claim 1 and further comprising the act of ensuring that a sum of invoice dollar amounts included in the automated invoice equals a sworn statement dollar amount included in the automated sworn statement.

8. The method of claim 1 and further comprising the act of ensuring that an invoice dollar amount included in the automated invoice equals a lien waiver dollar amount included in the at least one automated lien waiver.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the acts of generating at least one of an automated invoice and an automated sworn statement and generating at least one lien waiver include customizing at least one of the automated invoice, the automated sworn statement, and the at least one lien waiver according to at least one of participant requirements and state legal requirements.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the acts of generating at least one of an automated invoice and an automated sworn statement and generating at least one automated lien waiver include generating the automated invoice, approving the automated invoice, subsequently generating the automated sworn statement, approving the automated sworn statement, and subsequently generating the at least one automated lien waiver.

11. The method of claim 1 and further comprising the act of storing electronic copies of at least one of the legally-binding invoice, the legally-binding sworn statement, and the legally-binding lien waiver.

12. The method of claim 11 and further comprising the act of generating a hard copy of at least one of the legally-binding invoice, the legally-binding sworn statement, and the legally-binding lien waiver.

13. The method of claim 1 and further comprising the acts of receiving the legally-binding lien waiver from a participant in a construction project and transmitting to a payment system an instruction to pay the participant.

14. The method of claim 13 and further comprising the act of releasing the legally-binding lien waiver after the participant receives payment from the payment system.

15. A construction payment management system comprising:

an electronic signature service; and

an application server that stores a budget module and a draw module, the budget module generating a budget for a construction project, the draw module receiving an invoice amount from a participant of the construction project, generating at least one of an automated invoice and an automated sworn statement based on the invoice amount and the budget, and generating at least one automated lien waiver based on at least one of the automated invoice and the automated sworn statement,

the electronic signature service electronically executing at least one of the automated invoice, the automated sworn statement, and the at least one automated lien waiver to create at least one of a legally-binding invoice, a legally-binding sworn statement, and a legally-binding lien waiver.

16. The construction payment management system of claim 15 wherein the invoice amount includes at least one of a percentage of work completed and a dollar amount of work completed.

17. The construction payment management system of claim 15 wherein the budget module generates a budget including a plurality of line items and the draw module generates an automated invoice including at least one of the plurality of line items.

18. The construction payment management system of claim 15 wherein the budget module generates a budget including at least one of costs of an organization not employed by a general contractor of the construction project and costs of an organization employed by the general contractor.

19. The construction payment management system of claim 15 and further comprising a notifications manager stored in the application server, the notifications manager transmitting a notification regarding approval of the automated invoice.

20. The construction payment management system of claim 15 wherein the draw module ensures that at least one of the automated sworn statement and the at least one automated lien waiver correspond to the automated invoice.

21. The construction payment management system of claim 15 wherein the draw module ensures that a sum of invoice dollar amounts included in the automated invoice equals a sworn statement dollar amount included in the automated sworn statement.

22. The construction payment management system of claim 15 wherein the draw module ensures that an invoice dollar amount included in the automated invoice equals a lien waiver dollar amount included in the at least one automated lien waiver.

23. The construction payment management system of claim 15 wherein the draw module customizes at least one of the automated invoice, the automated sworn statement, and the at least one automated lien waiver according to at least one of participant requirements and state legal requirements.

24. The construction payment management system of claim 15 wherein the draw module generates the automated invoice, ensures that the at least one automated invoice is approved, subsequently generates the automated sworn statement, ensures that the automated sworn statement is approved, and subsequently generates the at least one automated lien waiver.

25. The construction payment management system of claim 15 and further comprising a database management system stored in the application server and a database server connected to the application server, the database server storing electronic copies of at least one of the legally-binding invoice, the legally-binding sworn statement, and the legally-binding lien waiver.

26. The construction payment management system of claim 15 wherein the draw module generates a hard copy of at least one of the legally-binding invoice, the legally-binding sworn statement, and the legally-binding lien waiver.

27. The construction payment management system of claim 15 wherein the application server stores an electronic holding bin, the electronic holding bin receiving and storing a lien waiver from a participant in a construction project and the draw module generating and transmitting to a payment system an automated instruction to pay the participant.

28. The construction payment management system of claim 27 wherein the electronic holding bin releases the lien after the participant receives payment from the payment system.