How builders should invoice: a practical guide

At each milestone, the day it is signed off — not at month end. A stage invoice that arrives two weeks after the stage completed invites the question of whether the stage really completed when you said it did. Itemise labour and materials separately, put a real due date on it rather than "on receipt", and send it as a PDF the client can forward to whoever actually pays. For builders, the detail that matters most: stage payments need the stage named on the invoice — "second payment" means nothing to a client six weeks later.

How to price the work

Stage payments against named milestones, always. A single invoice at the end on a twelve-week job is an unsecured loan to the customer for three months.

What the lines should look like

For a staged extension, a line that reads well is:

Stage 2 of 4 — foundations complete and signed off

Specific enough that the person approving payment — often not the person who hired you — can see what they are paying for. Here is the same job as a finished invoice line:

Stage 2 of 4 — foundations complete and signed off
Excavation, concrete, DPC and building-control inspection passed 14 Sep — £6,400.00

Deposits

A mobilisation payment before work starts is normal on anything with plant hire or a skip. Be precise about what it covers.

Materials and markup

On staged work, materials are usually inside the stage price rather than listed separately. Where a customer supplies their own materials, say so on the invoice — it prevents an argument later about what the price included.

The mistake builders make most

Stage payments need the stage named on the invoice — "second payment" means nothing to a client six weeks later.

Variations. Extra work agreed verbally on site and never documented is the single largest source of unpaid money in construction. A one-line message confirming a variation and its price, sent before the work happens, is worth more than any clause in your terms.

Retention, and getting it back

Commercial work often holds back a percentage until practical completion and again until the defects period ends. That is money you have earned sitting on someone else's balance sheet for a year. Show it explicitly on the invoice as a deduction with the release date named, and diarise both releases — unclaimed retention is one of the most commonly written-off sums in the trade, and nobody will remind you.

Getting paid, in this trade specifically

Construction runs on retention and on everybody waiting for someone above them. If you are a subcontractor, your payment is often gated by the main contractor's own application cycle, so find out their valuation dates before you agree terms — missing one by a day can cost you a month.

The rest is the same for everyone: what has to be on the document, how to number it, how to chase it and how long to keep it. If you are registered for tax, the rate and the label depend on your country.

EstimateBill tracks what is unpaid, reminds you on the due date, and writes the follow-up message for you in three tones. See how the reminders work.