Blue Collar Trade Manager gives general contractors a way to turn an approved estimate into a staged invoicing schedule, track what's owed across multiple active jobs, and collect owner payments by card or ACH through a click-to-pay link — without a full construction-accounting platform's learning curve. Job records connect crew assignments, site details, actual-versus-estimated hours, and related invoices without making BCTM a payroll or advanced dispatch system.
Create an estimate for the project from scratch or pull line items straight from your general contracting price book, then send it for approval by text or email.
The customer reviews and approves the estimate online or by replying to a text — no printing, no in-person signature required.
Turn the approved estimate into an invoice in one step, so line items, pricing, and job details carry over without retyping anything.
The invoice goes out with a public click-to-pay link so the customer can pay by card or ACH from their phone, without creating an account.
If the invoice sits unpaid, automated payment reminders go out on a schedule you set, instead of you having to remember to chase it.
Paid, unpaid, and overdue invoices roll up into reports so you can see outstanding balances across every customer at a glance.
A GC juggling several active projects needs one place to see which customers owe what, and how overdue each balance is. Reports roll up outstanding invoices across every job and customer, so nothing falls through the cracks between projects.
Residential and light-commercial GC contracts are usually billed in stages tied to project milestones — permit/mobilization, framing, rough-in, finishes, final. Progress/milestone invoicing lets each draw go out as its own invoice tied to the same job.
When an owner withholds retainage — commonly 5–10% per draw — that amount needs to stay visible as owed, not written off. Track the withheld amount in reports and send a final retainage invoice once the project is signed off and the holdback is released (Levelset — Retainage in Construction).
Scope changes are constant on remodel and build projects, and undocumented changes are where payment disputes usually start. Adding a change order to the existing job, ideally approved before the extra work begins, keeps the record straight for both the GC and the owner.
GCs typically need invoicing that supports multiple concurrent jobs, staged/progress billing, and clear tracking of what each customer owes — BCTM covers invoicing owners directly; it does not manage subcontractor pay-when-paid workflows or lien administration.
BCTM is built for the GC-to-owner invoicing relationship: estimates, progress invoices, payment collection, and reports across jobs. It's not a subcontractor-payment or compliance-management platform, so if your business needs lien waiver collection from subs or pay-app software specific to bonded commercial work, that's outside BCTM's scope.
Progress billing means invoicing a project in stages tied to completed work — like framing, rough-in, and finishes — rather than one invoice at the very end.
This keeps cash flowing to the contractor throughout a project instead of concentrating all payment risk at the finish line. BCTM supports this by letting you create multiple invoices tied to the same job, each representing a milestone or draw.
Retainage typically runs 5–10% per progress payment, averaging around 7.59% on private projects, 5.56% on state projects, and 3.26% on federal projects.
Texas notably sets a statutory minimum of 10% retainage on private projects (Levelset — Retainage in Construction). These figures come from Clemson University research summarized by Billed; actual retainage percentages are set by the contract, not by BCTM.
Retainage withheld on each job's progress invoices shows up as an outstanding balance in reports, so you can see the total across all active projects in one view.
Once a project wraps and retainage is released, send a final invoice for that withheld amount rather than letting it disappear from your records as "already invoiced."
It's strongly recommended, though not something BCTM can enforce — getting written approval before starting unbudgeted work protects you if the owner later disputes the added cost.
Digital approval on a change order (customer accepts online or by text) creates a timestamped record of when the extra scope was agreed to. This is general information, not legal or tax advice — check with a licensed attorney or CPA in your state before relying on it.
BCTM supports data export/portability so you can hand your accountant clean invoice and payment records, though it doesn't sync live with QuickBooks or other accounting platforms.
For a GC running several jobs, exported reports covering revenue, outstanding AR, and payment history give an accountant what they need to reconcile books without a direct software integration.
Your invoice and payment history export as documentation of what was billed and what remains unpaid, which can support a lien claim, but BCTM doesn't prepare, file, or notarize liens or lien waivers.
If a project reaches the point of considering a mechanics lien, an attorney or a service like Levelset handles the filing itself; BCTM's role is limited to giving you a clean, exportable record of the invoicing history. This is general information, not legal or tax advice — check with a licensed attorney or CPA in your state before relying on it.
$0/mo — no subscription and no per-user seats. Card payments: 3.9% + $0.30 (1% BCTM platform fee + 2.9% + $0.30 Stripe). ACH bank payments: 1.8% (1% BCTM platform fee + 0.8% Stripe, Stripe portion capped at $5.00). Cash and check: no fees. Full fee breakdown.
No subscription. You pay a per-transaction fee only when a customer pays you.
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