This is part of our Invoicing and Payments series (Chapter 2 of the QuickBooks tutorial hub):

• Lesson 1: Creating and Sending Invoices in QuickBooks
• Lesson 2: Using Progress Invoicing in QuickBooks for Staged Jobs
• Lesson 3: Accepting Online Payments in QuickBooks
• Lesson 4: Setting Up Recurring Invoices and Reminders in QuickBooks

For bigger jobs billed in stages, progress invoicing lets you invoice a portion of the total as work progresses, rather than waiting until the end.

1. Setting up a progress invoice

Start from an estimate or quote, and choose to invoice a percentage or set amount rather than the full total.

2. A typical staged billing example

Common splits might be a deposit upfront, a progress payment partway through, and a final invoice on completion.

3. Tracking what has and has not been billed

QuickBooks keeps track of how much of the original quote has been invoiced, so nothing is accidentally billed twice or missed.

4. Why this helps cash flow on bigger jobs

Getting paid in stages means you are not funding materials and labour entirely out of your own pocket until the job wraps up.

QuickBooks Australia’s YouTube channel has a progress invoicing walkthrough: watch the official QuickBooks tutorial. Our tradie bookkeeping service can help set this up for your bigger jobs.