Progress Invoice
A progress invoice bills for a portion of a bigger job at a defined milestone — materials delivered, a phase completed — rather than waiting for one invoice at the end. It keeps cash moving in step with the work instead of you financing weeks of it yourself.
What it means
Bigger jobs create a cash-flow problem if you bill only once, at the finish: you’re buying materials and paying for your own time for weeks before a cent comes back. Progress invoices break the total into stages tied to something visible and checkable — “framing complete,” “materials on site” — so payment tracks the work instead of trailing miles behind it.
Tie each stage to a milestone the client can see for themselves, not a date on a calendar. A date-based schedule invites arguments about whether the stage was “really” done by then; a milestone-based one is just true or not yet true.
A $12,000 deck build is split into three progress invoices: $4,000 on the deposit, $4,000 when the framing’s inspected and passed, $4,000 on completion. You’re never more than a third of the job’s cost out of pocket at once.
Setting progress-invoice dates by the calendar instead of by milestone — so an invoice goes out for “week two” even though a client-caused delay means week two’s work hasn’t actually happened yet.
See also
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- guide What to put on an invoice so you actually get paid Seven fields cover most late-payment causes before a single reminder is needed.
- tool Free Invoice Generator Fill in your business and client details, add line items, and watch a clean invoice build itself — then download it as a PDF.
- tool Materials up-front check Type in your quote price, your materials and parts cost, the deposit you plan to take, and the days between paying your supplier and getting paid — see your own cash in the job, and whether the deposit covers it.