This article covers Completion Percent invoicing. You'll learn how to set up a Completion Percent job, create progress invoices, handle variations, share claims, record payments and use retention.
A note on terms: Variations and change orders are the same thing. Australia, New Zealand and the UK usually say variations, and North America usually says change orders. This article uses "variations", but everything applies to change orders too.
Types of invoicing in Buildxact
Buildxact supports three ways to invoice your clients. You choose one when you create a job from an estimate.
Type | Also called | Best for | How the invoice amount is worked out |
Fixed Price (North America) | Fixed-price contracts billed in agreed stages | A set % of the contract at each milestone (e.g. deposit, base, frame) | |
Completion Percent (this article) | — | Fixed-price contracts billed on a regular cycle (e.g. monthly) | The % of each cost category completed since the last invoice |
Time and Materials, Do and Charge | Jobs with a budget rather than a fixed contract price | What you've actually spent (purchase orders and work orders), plus your markup |
How it works
Completion Percent is also based on a fixed contract. The difference is that you don't set up milestone stages in advance. Instead, you invoice on a regular cycle, such as monthly or fortnightly, and tell the client how much of each cost category has been completed.
For example, if plastering is budgeted at $10,000 and you've completed 20%, that month's invoice includes $2,000 for plastering.
💡 Watch the video below to see this in action, or keep reading for step-by-step details.
Set up a Completion Percent job
Go to Estimates in the left-hand menu and open the estimate.
Click Create job.
Choose Completion Percent from the invoice type drop-down.
If you need retention, tick the retention box (see Retention below).
Click Create job.
Create a progress invoice
Go to the job's Invoicing tab and add a new invoice.
Give it a name the client will recognise, e.g. "September invoice".
For each cost category, enter the percentage to bill on this invoice. Or click the green arrow to bill whatever balance is left.
Bill any variations in part or in full (see Variations (change orders) below).
Add comments if needed. These appear on the invoice.
Leave the status as Pending if the client needs to review the claim first. Otherwise change it to Invoiced.
Click Save & Close to preview it, or Save & Send to go straight to sending.
How each invoice draws down
Each invoice builds on the one before it. Every cost category shows its total budget, how much has been billed so far, and the balance left.
Percentages are cumulative. If you billed 40% of preliminaries on the last invoice and bill another 40% now, you've billed 80% in total.
If you compare invoices to your schedule, use the total billed % for each category, not the amount on a single invoice.
⚠️ Important: Once you create a new invoice, the previous invoice's amounts are locked and can't be edited, even if you change its status. This is because each invoice's figures depend on what was billed before it.
Variations (change orders)
Variations sit in their own group, separate from your cost categories. This keeps the original budget clean, so you can clearly see what was budgeted, what's been billed, and which extras have been added. You can bill a variation in part or in full.
Sharing a claim for discussion
On commercial jobs especially, clients often review a monthly claim before agreeing to it. In that case, share the invoice while it's still Pending:
Open the Pending invoice and click Share.
When asked whether to change it to Invoiced, choose to keep it as Pending.
Agree the figures with the client and update the invoice if needed.
Open the invoice again, change the status to Invoiced and save.
This also stops you creating the next invoice too early and locking the current one before it's final.
Send invoices and record payments
Invoice statuses
Pending: a draft. It prints as a Progress Claim with a DRAFT watermark, and has no invoice date or due date.
Invoiced: issued. It prints as a Tax Invoice with an amount due and due date.
Part Received / Received: payment recorded. The balance updates, and fully paid invoices show a PAID watermark.
If you share a Pending invoice, Buildxact will ask if you want to change it to Invoiced. You can choose to keep it as Pending if you want to discuss the claim with your client first.
Check your payment terms
Payment terms print at the bottom of every invoice. Check them before you send your first invoice:
On the job's Invoicing tab, click the cog icon.
Click Manage Payment Terms.
Read through the default terms and edit them to suit your business. The most common change is adding your payment methods, such as bank details, cheque instructions, or "Call our office to pay by credit card".
Click Save.
These terms apply to all jobs, so you only need to set them up once. Update them if your bank details or payment methods change.
Share invoices and statements
Open the invoice and click Share.
Choose what to send: the invoice, the statement, or both.
Choose the recipients, and whether to publish to the client portal.
Edit the email text if needed. You can save it as a preset to reuse. Add any extra attachments.
Click Send.
We recommend sending the invoice and statement together. The invoice shows what's due now, and the statement gives the client the big picture of the job. On a Completion Percent job, the statement shows invoices to date, the variation value on each, and payment status. It lists all variations except pending ones, including rejected ones.
To print the statement at any time, click the cog icon on the job's Invoicing tab and choose the statement.
Record payments
Open the invoice and change the status to Received.
Enter the amount received. Anything less than the total is recorded as a part payment, which is useful if a client pays in instalments or underpays.
Add a reference, such as a transaction or cheque number.
Click Save.
Reprint or reshare the invoice and it updates automatically. A part-paid invoice shows the remaining balance, so you can resend it as a reminder. A fully paid invoice shows a PAID watermark, so you can use it as a receipt.
You can also record a payment with the Add Payment Receipt button.
Connected to Xero or QuickBooks? When a payment is received in your accounting software, the invoice status can update to Received automatically, with the payment details added. This only works if the invoice was created in Buildxact and then synced to your accounting software.
Retention (holdback)
Retention is available on Contract Price and Completion Percent jobs. It holds back part of each invoice as security for the client, for example to cover defects, and pays it to you later. It's most common on commercial projects, and the terms are usually set out in your contract.
Set up retention
Go to Estimates and open the estimate.
Click Create job.
Choose Contract Price or Completion Percent from the invoice type drop-down.
Tick the box to calculate retention.
Enter the retention percentages and choose whether to include or exclude variations (explained below).
Click Create job.
The retention settings are:
Retention total: the maximum amount held, e.g. 5% of the contract.
Retention per invoice: how much is held from each invoice. For example, holding 10% per invoice up to a 5% total front-loads the retention, so later invoices have nothing held back when cash may be tighter. Set both to 5% to hold back evenly from every invoice.
Including or excluding variations (change orders): whether the retention total also applies to variations. You can switch from excluding to including during the job by clicking Change to include variations in the retention section, but you can't switch back.
How retention builds up
Each time you mark an invoice as Invoiced, its retention is added to the Held to date amount in the retention section, until the total is reached.
Claim retention back
When your contract allows it, click the + button in the retention section to add a retention invoice.
Name it (e.g. "50% on completion") and enter the percentage. This is a percentage of the retention held, not of the contract.
Issue it like any other invoice: mark it Invoiced, then Received when you're paid.
When retention is on, the statement includes an extra box showing the client how much has been held, how much has been invoiced back, and the balance still held.
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