Invoicing for contractors
Progress billing, deposits & retainage built in
Bill a job in stages by percent complete, withhold 10% retainage on each progress invoice, and release it in one final invoice — with the permit # and change order # printed on the invoice.
- Industry Terminology
- Job · Change order · Customer
- Priced for Lines
- Labour · Materials · Equipment
- Standard Settlement
- Net 15 days
A workspace that starts with the words, fields and terms your contracting business already uses.
Everyday billing
Get paid before you leave the job
Whether it is a $250 service call or a $25,000 remodel, there is one path from estimate to payment: the quote, the approval, the deposit, the invoice and the follow-up if it stays unpaid.
- Estimate or quote
- Customer approval
- Deposit
- Labor
- Materials
- Service charges
- Job address
- Invoice by email
- Payment link
- Automatic reminders
Bigger job? Deposits, progress draws, change order numbers and retainage are next.
Bigger jobs
Deposit, progress draws and retainage, on one job
Bill a remodel the way it is paid: a deposit when the customer approves, a draw as the work goes, and the retainage released at the end.
- Deposit up front. A percentage of the job as its own invoice, with a pay link, the day the customer says yes.
- Progress draws. Each draw is worked out against what you have already billed, so the job's total stays true.
- Retainage held, then released. Hold a share back on each draw and bill its release as a separate invoice when the work is signed off.
Deposits, progress draws and retainage are part of jobs: included in the trial, then on the plans that list jobs.
A sample document
How an invoice looks in the real world
An illustrative invoice with Contractor line items and terms. The names, amounts and notes on it are made up; the notes are the business’s own wording, not BillingMart’s.
JOB-2026-0142
Horizon Commercial Real Estate LLC
Project: Westside Innovation Center, Bldg B
BLD-2026-8911 / CO-02
A field printed on the invoice
Net 15 Days (Due October 31, 2026)
Cadence: +1d, +7d, +14d
How it bills
The contractor billing flow
From the estimate to the payment, the steps this kind of work usually follows.
Itemized Job & Upfront Deposit
Itemize labor, equipment, materials, mobilization, and permits. Invoice the 30% deposit against the job total before setting boots on site.
Progress Invoices & Retainage
Bill progress by percent complete: each invoice bills earned-to-date minus what the job already billed, and withholds 10% retainage in its totals.
Completion & Retainage Release
At completion, one release invoice bills exactly the retainage the job withheld.
Built for this trade
Architected for General Contractors & Trade Specialists
Eliminate cash flow stalls from dispute-prone construction billing
Construction cash flow is uniquely vulnerable to billing disputes. In many billing tools, retainage is typed in by hand as a discount or a manual line, and the amount withheld drifts from what is finally released.
BillingMart computes retainage on the server for every progress invoice and keeps a running total per job of what was billed and what was withheld. The release invoice bills exactly that withheld amount, once.
The permit # and change order # are fields printed on the invoice, so the paperwork your customer checks against is on the bill itself.
What it does for this trade
- Retainage withheld per progress invoice (10% by default) and released once
- Percentage-of-completion progress billing against a job total
- Job address, permit # and change order # fields on every invoice
- A deposit invoice per job (30% by default)
Instant Configuration
Selecting this industry profile pre-populates all terminology, custom fields, and dunning cadences in your workspace. You retain complete control to edit or expand any setting at any time.
The preset
It already knows the words
Pick this trade when you sign up and everything below is pre-filled. Every value is fully customizable in your settings.
What things are called
- job
- Job
- change order
- Change order
- client
- Customer
- invoice
- Invoice
- estimate
- Estimate
On every invoice
- Job address
- Permit #
- CO #
First-class structured fields rather than an unstructured notes box, printed on the invoice and its PDF.
Terms it starts with
- Payment terms
- Net 15 days
- Numbering
- JOB-2026-0001
- Deposit
- 30% up front
- Retainage
- 10% withheld
- Reminders
- day 1, day 7, day 14 after the due date
Deposits, progress draws and retainage are part of jobs: included in the trial, then on the plans that list jobs.
Common Line Item Presets
Frequently billed items for contractor work. Click-to-add on any invoice to save repetitive typing.
- + Labour
- + Materials
- + Equipment
- + Permit
- + Disposal
- + Mobilization
Questions
Frequently asked questions about contractor invoicing
What people ask before they bill this way, answered from what the product does.
How does BillingMart calculate and track construction retainage?
When retainage is set (10% by default), BillingMart computes the withheld amount server-side on each progress invoice and keeps the job’s running total. At completion, a release invoice is drafted for exactly what was withheld.
Can I bill percentage-of-completion progress invoices?
Yes. Enter the job total and the percent complete; each progress invoice bills earned-to-date minus what the job has already billed, including the deposit. You can also bill a stage with your own line items.
How are change orders handled?
Each invoice has a change order # field and a permit # field, printed on the invoice. Bill the extra scope as its own lines or its own invoice.
Start billing your contracting business
Start on the free plan, with no credit card required to sign up. Every plan and its monthly send limit are on the pricing page.