This article covers Contract Price invoicing, called Fixed Price invoicing in North America. You'll learn how to set up your claim stages, save them as a preset, issue and 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 |
Contract Price (this article) | Fixed Price (North America) | Fixed-price contracts billed in agreed stages | A set % of the contract at each milestone (e.g. deposit, base, frame) |
— | 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
Contract Price invoicing splits the agreed contract amount into milestone claims that are set out in advance. In North America this is usually called Fixed Price invoicing.
💡 Watch the video below to see this in action, or keep reading for step-by-step details.
Set up a Contract Price job
Go to Estimates in the left-hand menu and open the estimate.
Click Create job.
Choose Contract Price from the invoice type drop-down.
Leave the default invoices box ticked. It adds stages that follow a standard building contract: deposit, base, frame, lockup, fixing and completion.
If you need retention, tick the retention box too (see Retention below).
Click Create job.
We recommend using the default invoices even if you plan to change the stages. They give you a good starting point, and you can edit or delete any stage afterwards.
Edit the claim stages
To rename a stage
Click the stage name and change the text in the Description field.
To change a stage's percentage
Your stages can't add up to more than 100% of the contract. So if you're increasing one stage, first open another stage and lower its % of contract amount.
Open the stage you want to increase and enter the higher percentage.
For example, to increase Completion from 15% to 20%, first lower Lockup from 35% to 30%. If you lower a stage, add the leftover percentage to another Pending stage, or create a new one, so the total stays at 100%.
Save your own preset
If you often use different stages, save them as a preset and reuse it on other jobs.
To save a preset
Set up the stages the way you want them on a job.
On the job's Invoicing tab, click the Presets drop-down in the top right.
Click Save as preset.
Enter a name for the preset and click Save.
To apply a preset to another job
On the job's Invoicing tab, click the Presets drop-down.
Select your saved preset.
⚠️ Note: Applying a preset replaces the job's current invoice list, and you can only apply one while every invoice is still Pending.
To rename or delete saved presets, click Presets > Manage preset.
A preset saves:
Stage names
Percentages: the dollar amounts recalculate for each job based on its contract value
Comments: handy for reusable notes like "Base stage covers these items"
Create and issue a claim
Open the claim you want to issue (e.g. Deposit).
Assign any approved variation (change order) amounts to this claim, if needed. See our variations article for more on this.
Add comments. These appear on the invoice.
Change the status to Invoiced to set the invoice date and due date.
Click Save & Close to preview it first, or Save & Send to go straight to sending.
Tip: If you're new to Buildxact, use Save & Close so you can preview the invoice before it goes out.
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 Contract Price job, the statement shows all claims, including future ones, plus variations and what's been paid.
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.
Need help? Reach out to our support team — we're here to help!