How to Track Payments on a Building or Trade Project
By Boksit Editorial Team ·
On a one-day job, payment tracking is trivial. On a project running over weeks, with a deposit, stage payments, approved extras and a final account, it is very easy to lose track of what is genuinely outstanding — and even easier for the customer to lose track.
Most of the difficulty disappears if you maintain the same five figures throughout.
1. Original project value
This is the accepted quote total, and it should not change. Resist the temptation to edit the original quote when work is added; keeping the original figure fixed is what makes the rest of the picture auditable.
2. Approved additional works
Only work the client has actually approved belongs here. Pending requests are not agreed money and should never be added to a total the client sees as owed.
Keeping pending and approved amounts separate also gives you something useful commercially: a live view of how much value is sitting unanswered with the customer.
3. Revised project total
Original value plus approved extras. This is the number that should match the sum of everything you will eventually invoice, and it is the figure most worth showing the customer as work progresses.
4. Payments received
Record each payment with its date and what it relates to: deposit, stage payment, an invoice number, or a specific approved extra. A single lump "paid to date" figure is fine for a summary but unhelpful when something needs checking.
Allocate payments against the amount due — the net figure after any discount, VAT and deductions — rather than against gross line totals, or your outstanding balance will drift.
5. Outstanding balance
Revised total minus payments received. This is the figure that causes arguments when it is wrong, so it deserves to be visible on both sides rather than recalculated from memory at the end.
Stage payments
Stage payments work best when each stage is defined by something observable — first fix complete, plastering complete, handover — rather than by a date alone. Agree the stages in the quote, then invoice against them as they are reached.
Where a stage is partially complete, invoice the completed part rather than the whole stage. Partial invoicing keeps trust intact far better than an optimistic full-stage invoice.
Keeping client-facing totals clear
Customers are not tracking your job in a spreadsheet. If they can see the same five figures you can, most payment conversations stop being conversations at all.
- Show the revised total, not just the original quote.
- Show what has been paid and when.
- Show what is outstanding and when it is due.
- Show approved extras as separate lines, described in the words used when they were approved.
How Boksit handles project money
Boksit's Project Centre keeps the original value, approved Additional Works, revised total, payments received and outstanding balance together on the Project. Balances are calculated from the amount due, so discounts, VAT and CIS deductions are reflected consistently in the UI, the PDFs and the Project Report.
Because payments and approved changes sit on the same record as the documents, the client-facing Project Report and Portal show the same figures you are working from internally.
Frequently asked questions
- Should pending additional works be included in the project total?
- No. Only approved work should affect approved totals. Keep pending requests visible but separate so the figure the client sees remains reliable.
- How should part payments be allocated?
- Against the amount due on specific invoices or stages, with the date recorded. Allocating to specific items keeps the outstanding balance accurate and makes queries easy to answer.
- Can clients see payment progress?
- In Boksit, project progress, payments and approved Additional Works can be shared with the client through a secure Project Portal or Project Report.