Invoice Template for Contractors

On site all day, quoting in the evening — the last thing a contractor needs is invoicing software with a login, a subscription, and a learning curve. Speed Invoices is a free contractor invoice template you fill in online and download as a PDF. No signup, no watermark, no ads, and your figures never leave your browser.

Labour, materials, and everything in between

A contractor invoice earns trust when the client can see exactly where the money went. Typical line items:

• Labour — 32 hrs @ hourly rate (or day rate × days on site)
• Materials — timber, fixings, plasterboard, paint; itemised or as a single supplied-materials line with a markup
• Plant and equipment hire — mini digger, scaffold tower, skip
• Subcontracted work — electrician second fix, waste removal
• Call-out or site visit fee

Rich-text line descriptions let you break a "first fix carpentry" line into the actual rooms and tasks, which is exactly the detail that stops a client querying the bill.

Progress billing on longer jobs

Anything beyond a few days of work usually gets staged payments rather than one bill at the end:

1. Deposit — commonly 10–30% to book the job and cover initial materials.
2. Progress invoices — at agreed milestones ("first fix complete", "watertight") or simply weekly/fortnightly.
3. Final balance — on completion, sometimes with a small agreed retention.

Number the stages in the invoice itself — "Payment 2 of 4 — kitchen extension, Elm Road" — so the paper trail is obvious. Consistent invoice numbering (which the template handles for you) matters even more when one job produces five invoices.

One habit that protects your cash flow

Never let the gap between work done and work invoiced grow past a week. Contractors get burned when a month of labour and materials sits uninvoiced and the client balks at one big number. Small, regular invoices are easier to approve, easier to pay, and easier to chase — and if a payment stalls, you find out after one missed stage, not four.

Deposits, taxes, and totals — handled

Add tax where it applies and the totals calculate themselves; discounts and deposits are just as easy to show. Working with an overseas developer or client? Pick from 46 currencies. Trades that quote first can generate a quote from the same editor, then turn the agreed figures into the invoice. Painters and decorators have their own version of this page — see the invoice template for painters.

Get the invoice out tonight

Open the template, key in the labour and materials, download the PDF, and send it before you knock off. Free, no account required.