Progress billing
Progress billing is invoicing for the portion of a contract completed so far, rather than issuing one invoice when the job ends.
Also known as: Progress claim · Progress draw · Partial billing
Almost no construction contract of any size is billed once at the end. Progress billing splits the contract into claims raised as the work advances — by percentage complete, by milestone, or against the line items in a schedule of values.
The mechanics matter because they decide whether a builder is financing the client. A claim raised monthly against verified completion keeps cash moving. A claim raised late, disputed on quantity, or missing the documentation a lender requires does the opposite.
Three things make a progress claim hard to argue with: it ties to an agreed schedule of values, it shows what was billed previously so the running total is visible, and it separates the holdback as its own line rather than burying it in the arithmetic.
In Canada vs the United States
In Canada a progress claim usually carries a statutory holdback and, on financed projects, has to satisfy the lender's draw requirements as well as the client's. GST, HST or PST is applied per province on the claim; in the US the equivalent is state sales tax where applicable.
Related
Run the job, not the paperwork
Estimates, job costing, progress billing and the tax for your province, in one system.