Free Construction Invoice Template (PDF Generator)

How to create a construction invoice

1. Add your business and license or registration number

   Company details, logo and the license number your state requires on construction paperwork.

2. Enter the owner and the project address

   Name, contact details and the job address — the permit and any lien rights attach to the property.

3. Number it as a pay application and set the billing period

   The number is prefilled and increments after each download. Put the application number and period in the job line: 'Pay Application #3 (Aug 1–31)'.

4. Bill each schedule-of-values line with this period's earned value

   One row per SOV line with the percent complete and the amount earned this period in the details; materials stored on site as a separate row.

5. Add change orders by number and pass-throughs at cost

   Signed change orders as their own rows by number and date; permit fees and other pass-throughs at cost; allowance reconciliations when the selection is final.

6. Show retainage and the contract summary

   Retainage withheld this application and to date, previous applications under Payments received, and the original sum, approved changes and revised sum in the notes.

7. Download the PDF and send it with the lien waiver

   Download and email it with the lien waiver you are exchanging; the number bumps for the next application.

What to include on a construction invoice

What should a construction invoice include?

The status of the whole contract, not just this month's work. That separates it from a service invoice: the owner needs to see where this application sits against the contract sum, approved changes, previous applications and retainage held. Miss one and the owner's bookkeeper — or lender — sends it back.

A progress billing maps onto the generator's line items once each schedule-of-values division is a line: the rate is the scheduled value, the qty is the fraction earned this period (0.6 for 60%), the unit is "lot," and the amount is this period's earned value. The details line carries the history — "Scheduled value $6,200 · 40% billed previously · 60% this period · 100% to date." Stored materials, change orders, pass-through fees and the retainage deduction each get their own line; the notes block holds the contract totals.

How does progress billing against a schedule of values work?

You break the contract sum into divisions before the job starts, then each month you bill the percentage of each division completed, plus materials stored on site, minus retainage. The breakdown is the schedule of values; the monthly document is a pay application. Commercial work usually rides on AIA forms — AIA Contract Documents calls G702 and G703 "the industry standard for monthly payment releases," with G702 summarizing the contract sum, change orders, previous payments, retainage and the amount due, and G703 carrying the line-by-line detail.

The G703 columns are the logic whether or not you use the form. Per AIA's G703 instructions, each line carries a scheduled value, work completed from the previous application, work completed this period, materials presently stored, the total completed and stored to date, and — where the contract allows it line by line — retainage. The breakdown must stay "consistent with the schedule of values submitted to the Architect at the commencement of the Project or as subsequently adjusted" — do not reshuffle your divisions mid-job.

AIA's instructions move a stored item's value out of the stored column and into work completed "only as materials are incorporated into the Project" — so the cabinets delivered on the 22nd are billed as stored this month and as installation next month, never both. Bill stored materials only when the contract allows it, they are on site or in a bonded warehouse, insured, and the supplier invoice is attached.

How do you show retainage on an invoice?

As a deduction line, so the total on the page is the amount actually due. In the generator that is a line item with a negative rate — "Less retainage withheld — 5% of this application," rate −$1,507.25 — with the running total held to date in the details. Label it retainage rather than using the discount field — it is not a discount — and state the release condition in the notes. The owner's check then matches the balance-due box; the final application shows the release as a positive line.

How much you can withhold depends on the state and the contract. Ten percent was the private-work habit for decades and is now illegal in some places: California's SB 61, effective January 1, 2026, caps retention on most private construction contracts at 5% of each progress payment and 5% of the contract price (summaries: Buchalter and Holland & Knight) — with an exception for residential projects that are not mixed-use and do not exceed four stories, which covers most home remodels, and a penalty of 2% per month on amounts improperly withheld. Other states set their own caps and release deadlines; check yours before you print a percentage, and hold from subcontractors no more than is held from you.

How do change orders, allowances and permit fees show up on the invoice?

Each on its own line, never blended into a schedule-of-values division. A change order is billed by number with the date both parties signed: "Change Order #2 — under-cabinet lighting circuit — signed Aug 12 — $1,650." California's CSLB puts it bluntly for home improvement work — a change to price or scope "MUST be done with a written 'Change Order,' signed by the customer and contractor prior to the change" — and whatever your state's wording, an unsigned change is an unpaid change. The free change order template on this site produces the signed document with the revised contract total; the invoice then quotes its number.

Allowances close where the selection becomes final. Show the allowance, the actual cost and the difference on one line — "Tile allowance $1,260 · actual $1,540 · overage $280" — with the supplier invoice available. Under-allowance selections are a credit line; owners notice whether you show those as readily as the overages.

Permit, inspection and utility-connection fees are pass-throughs: billed at cost, receipts attached, non-taxable, no markup. Subcontractor work usually sits inside its SOV division; if you bill a sub's invoice through at cost plus a stated fee, keep the sub's invoice number in the details. Either way the owner can trace each dollar to a document — the reason a general contractor's invoice is longer than everyone else's.

Should you exchange a lien waiver with every progress payment?

Yes — a conditional one, and collect the same from every sub and supplier paid out of that draw. A conditional waiver protects you because it only takes effect when the payment clears; the owner gets proof that paying you clears that period's lien exposure. California spells this out with four statutory forms, and its Contractors State License Board is explicit: for a conditional release, "the release is only binding if there is evidence of payment to the claimant," while the unconditional forms are for a claimant who "asserts in the waiver that they received" the payment. The four forms — conditional and unconditional, progress and final — are Civil Code sections 8132, 8134, 8136 and 8138.

Other states have their own forms or none, but the mechanics hold everywhere: send a conditional waiver with the invoice, the unconditional one after the funds clear, and never sign an unconditional waiver for money you have not received. If a payment goes bad, the escalation playbook covers the demand letter, the lien window and small claims in order. Collecting waivers from your subs each draw is the same protection running downhill — it keeps a sub you already paid from liening the owner's property.

Full disclosure, TrustPro is ours. It will not produce a G702, but our CRM for general contractors sends each progress invoice by text or email with a card or ACH link, takes 3.1% on card payments (4.1% for instant payout), runs reminders on the ones that sit, and syncs to QuickBooks Online on every plan. Teams is $149 a month for up to five users, Core is $29, both with a 14-day free trial and no credit card. This generator stays free; the generic contractor invoice generator and the construction estimate generator work the same way.

FAQ

• AIA Contract Documents — AIA G702 and G703 pay applications for contractors
• AIA Contract Documents — Instructions: G703-1992 Continuation Sheet
• CSLB — Conditional and unconditional waiver and release forms (Civil Code §§ 8132–8138)
• CSLB — What should be in a home improvement contract (written change orders, down-payment limit)
• Buchalter — Effective January 1, 2026, California SB 61 caps retention at 5% on private construction projects
• Holland & Knight — California expands 5 percent retainage cap to private construction projects (April 2026)