Invoicing a Project

Once a project has been booked with CostCertified, you can start sending invoices to your client and collecting payments. NOTE: In order to accept payments through CostCertified, you must verify your account and bank details first. Once this is completed you will also have the option of connecting your QuickBooks Online account to automatically track the invoices that are created and paid through CostCertified.

1. Open the project that you wish to invoice, and go to the “Invoice” tab at the left side of the screen.

   1. This will show any previous or pending invoices that have been created for the project.

2. To create a new invoice, click the large “Invoice this project” button at the top of the screen.

   1. Alternatively, you can go to the pipeline page, click the 3 dots on the Invoices tab, and select “create new.”

   2. This will launch the invoicing screen and give you a drop-down menu to select the project that you wish to create an invoice for.

3. Once you begin creating an invoice, the system will display the total price of the project, as well as any amounts that have already been paid by the client.

4. You can generate the invoice based on a set dollar amount, a percentage of the project total, or a percentage of the remaining balance (the system will do the calculations automatically based on your input).

   
5. After setting the invoice amount, you can select the invoice date and the due date.
   
6. Next you can decide if you would like to cover the 2.9% credit card and/or the 0.7% transaction fee. (These settings can also be adjusted in your company-wide payment settings).
   
   

   a. If you leave the toggles off, the fees will automatically be added to the client’s invoice and shown as transaction fees.

   1. 1. NOTE: If you would like to pass these charges to the client without showing them on the invoice, then you will need to either add a fee item to the proposal, or adjust the overall profit margin.

   2. If you choose to cover the fees, the client will not see them and they will automatically be deducted from your payout.

7. The final input is the Message/description. This will display on the client’s view of the invoice.

   
8. Once you have verified all of your invoice details, click the red Save button in the bottom right corner of the screen. NOTE: once an invoice has been saved, the invoice numbers cannot be changed. If you need to make an adjustment to the amount, you will have to delete the invoice and create a new one.

9. This will save the invoice and launch a pop-up asking if you wish to send the invoice to your client.

Client view of the invoice.

1. Your client will get an email saying that they have an invoice from your company. The email will have a link to open a “live invoice” similar to their proposal.

2. The top of the invoice has the project details (also similar the the proposal.

   1. There is a button to “View proposal” that will take them to the proposal that is being invoiced so they can easily reference the scope of work, pricing details, etc.

3. The invoice will show previous invoices (marked as paid or unpaid), the current invoice, and the remaining balance.

   1. It also shows the current invoice amount and its percentage of the project total.

      
4. Next it will show the invoice message and a summary of the total and taxes.
   

5. The final stage for the client is to select their method of payment.

   1. If they wish to use a bank transfer, then they will need to connect their bank.

   2. The transaction fees will automatically be displayed for each payment method, unless you chose to cover them as the contractor.

      

6. Once they have verified their form of payment, they can click “Pay Invoice” to complete the transaction.