Contractor invoicing and payment answers
These are the questions contractors actually ask about billing: how to write an invoice that gets paid, what a fair deposit looks like, who is allowed to pass the card fee to the customer, and what to do when a payment is 60 days late. Every answer is written to be read in under a minute, cites its sources, and says plainly when something is a matter for your own attorney or CPA rather than an invoicing app.
Invoicing for Contractors
Contractors need invoices that hold up as records and get paid quickly, whether the job is a one-day handyman repair or a multi-phase remodel. Here's how to write, send, and manage invoices that look professional and get paid.
17 questionsEstimates, Quotes, and Bids
A well-built estimate wins jobs and prevents disputes later, and converting it directly into an invoice keeps your paperwork consistent from quote to payment. This section covers how to build, price, and manage estimates and bids.
12 questionsGetting Paid Faster, Late Payments, and Collections
Slow payment is one of the biggest cash-flow risks in construction, with most contractors now waiting well past their expected due dates. Here's what actually shortens that gap, and what to do when a customer stalls.
12 questionsPayment Methods and Processing Fees
Contractors take payment in more ways than ever, but each method carries different costs, speed, and risk. Here's how card, ACH, check, and cash compare, and what they actually cost to accept.
14 questionsWho Pays the Credit Card Fee: Surcharging Legality
Passing card fees to customers is legal in most states but banned or restricted in a few, and the rules around disclosure and caps come from both state law and card network rules. Here's what's currently allowed and what to check before enabling a surcharge.
8 questionsDeposits and Progress Billing
Breaking a large job into a deposit plus milestone payments protects your cash flow and matches payment to work completed. Here's how contractors commonly structure deposits and progress billing.
6 questionsRetainage
Retainage — the portion of a payment withheld until a job is fully complete — is standard in construction contracts but varies in percentage and legality by state and project type. Here's what to know before you sign a contract with a retainage clause.
5 questionsLien Waivers and Mechanics Liens
Lien waivers and mechanics liens are legal tools that protect payment rights in construction, but the rules differ by state and BCTM does not prepare or file either. Here's the general landscape and where to go for the legal specifics.
6 questionsLicensing and Insurance Basics
Licensing and insurance requirements for contractors are set entirely at the state and sometimes local level, so there's no single national standard. Here's the general landscape and how to document what you have on your invoices.
5 questionsContractor Pricing: Markup, Margin, Overhead, and Labor Burden
Pricing mistakes — confusing markup with margin, underestimating labor burden, or ignoring overhead — are among the most common reasons contractors stay busy but never build real profit. Here's how to think about each piece.
8 questionsHourly vs. Flat-Rate Pricing
Whether to bill by the hour or a flat rate affects customer trust, your margin predictability, and how fast you can quote a job. Here's how contractors weigh the trade-offs.
4 questionsChange Orders
Extra work outside the original scope needs its own documented paper trail, or it becomes the most common source of payment disputes. Here's how change orders work and how to bill for them cleanly.
4 questionsW-9/1099, Taxes, and Sales Tax
Tax rules for contractors — 1099 reporting, sales tax on labor versus materials, and cash-job income — change periodically and vary by state, so BCTM sticks to informational basics and defers to the IRS and your CPA for anything specific. As of 2026, several federal thresholds recently changed.
8 questionsBookkeeping and QuickBooks
Invoicing software and full accounting software solve different problems, and knowing which one you actually need — or whether you need both — saves money and confusion. Here's how BCTM's reporting fits alongside tools like QuickBooks.
4 questionsScheduling and Dispatch
Keeping job scheduling and invoicing in the same system avoids double data entry and missed billing. Here's what to expect from BCTM on scheduling, customer notifications, and offline job-site use.
3 questionsCustomer Communication and SMS Consent
Texting invoices and reminders is effective, but U.S. law requires proper consent before sending marketing or automated texts to customers. Here's what BCTM does to capture consent and what remains your legal responsibility.
4 questionsReviews and Getting More Jobs
A professional invoicing experience and a simple review-request process both influence whether a customer calls you again or recommends you to a neighbor. Here's how to turn finished jobs into repeat business and reviews.
3 questionsPer-Trade Invoicing and Pricing Specifics
Every trade has its own invoicing quirks, from permit numbers to insurance claim documentation to volume-based pricing. Here's how invoicing and pricing needs differ across common trades.
14 questionsSoftware Comparison and Alternatives
Contractors comparing invoicing tools are usually weighing simplicity and cost against the broader feature sets of field-service platforms like Jobber or Housecall Pro, or general accounting tools like QuickBooks. Here's how to think about the trade-offs honestly.
9 questionsCustomer Payment Plans and Financing
Letting a customer pay over time can win jobs a competitor loses on price — but "payment plan" and "financing" are not the same thing legally, and the difference determines whether you need a licence. Here is how contractors commonly think about splitting a job into payments.
10 questionsBilling glossary
24 plain-English definitions of the terms that show up on contracts, invoices, and payment applications — retainage, lien waiver, net 30, labor burden, chargeback, and the rest.
Read the glossary