Payment Stages — Billing Milestones
Large projects rarely get billed in a single invoice. Payment stages let you break a project's total price into scheduled milestones tied to actual progress — like collecting a deposit upfront, billing when the foundation is complete, and invoicing the final balance at handover.
Who Can Access This
- Admin and Team Member — Full access to create, edit, and manage payment stages.
- Field Users — Cannot see billing details.
What Are Payment Stages?
Payment stages are billing milestones for a project. Each stage has a name, amount, and can be linked to invoices as work progresses. For example:
- Deposit — $5,000
- Foundation Complete — $15,000
- Framing Complete — $20,000
- Final Walkthrough — $10,000
This gives both you and your client a clear payment schedule tied to real deliverables.
Setting Up Payment Stages for a Project
- Open the project detail page.
- Navigate to the Billing tab.
- Click the Payment Stages sub-tab.
You have three ways to add stages:
Method 1: Add Manually
- Click "Add Stage".
- Fill in the details:
- Name — A clear milestone name (e.g., "Rough Plumbing Complete")
- Description — Additional context about what this stage covers
- Amount — Either a fixed dollar amount or a percentage of the project price
- Due Date — A specific date, or set Days From Project Start for relative scheduling
- Order — Where this stage falls in the sequence
- Repeat for each stage.
Method 2: Import from a Template
- Click "Import from Template".
- Select a saved payment stage template from the list.
- The stages are added automatically, with amounts calculated based on the project price.
Method 3: Import from a Quote
If the project was created from an approved quote that included payment stages:
- Click "Import from Quote".
- The stages from the original quote are pulled in, preserving the billing structure your client already agreed to.
Pro Tip: Importing from a quote is the fastest way to ensure your billing milestones match exactly what was proposed and approved. No re-entering data, no discrepancies.
Reordering Stages
Stages can be reordered by drag and drop. Simply grab a stage and move it to the desired position in the sequence.
Linking Stages to Invoices
When you create an invoice for the project, you can select which payment stage(s) the invoice covers. This creates a direct connection between your billing milestones and your actual invoices.
Stage Status Tracking
Each stage's status updates automatically based on its linked invoice:
| Invoice Status | Stage Status | |---|---| | No linked invoice | Not Yet Billed | | Linked to unpaid invoice | Invoiced | | Linked to partially paid invoice | Partially Paid | | Linked to fully paid invoice | Paid |
This gives you a clear view of which milestones have been billed and paid without any manual status updates.
Payment Stage Templates
If you use the same billing structure across multiple projects, save time by creating templates.
Creating a Template
- Navigate to Settings > Templates > Payment Stages tab.
- Click to create a new template.
- Give it a name — for example, "Standard 5-Stage Residential".
- Add your stages, each with:
- Name
- Percentage of total project price
- Days from project start for relative scheduling
- Save the template.
When you import this template into a project, the amounts are auto-calculated based on that project's price. A 20% stage on a $100,000 project becomes $20,000 automatically.
Good to Know: Templates use percentages, so they scale perfectly regardless of project size. Build one great template and reuse it across projects of any value.
Subcontractor Payment Stages
BuilderMate also supports separate payment stages for tracking what you owe subcontractors. These work on a per-subcontractor, per-project basis and can be linked to supplier invoices — giving you milestone-based tracking on both the revenue and expense sides of a project.