Free Construction Invoice Templates & Examples

Construction invoice sample formats by billing method

Progress billing and retainage are payment arrangements, not separate pricing types: a fixed-price job can also use progress claims and retainage.

For terminology, US Federal Acquisition Regulation Part 16 describes firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee and time-and-materials contracts in sections 16.202-1, 16.306 and 16.601. Those definitions concern federal procurement, not mandatory rules for every private construction job. The selection advice below is practical guidance; follow your actual contract. Source checked 25 September 2026.

Example 1 — Lump-sum job with a deposit

Sample only: Alder Build invoices a completed fixed-price garage fit-out for $18,000 under contract AB-026. The customer has already paid a $4,500 deposit, recorded as receipt R-004. This example has no change orders, retainage or tax amount; it illustrates the payment calculation, not a tax exemption.

The invoice references the agreed scope and completion milestone. It does not rebuild a fixed price from the supplier’s actual labor and material costs. If a scope change has been approved, show that change separately instead of silently changing the original contract price.

Example 3 — Progress Claim #3 with retainage

Sample only: Grant & Sons Carpentry bills Harding Constructions for the Willow St Townhouses framing package, contract HC-2261. Invoice INV-1047, dated 3 August 2026, covers 1–31 July. This preserves the page’s progress-claim example; the names and figures are illustrative, not a reported customer job.

The $65,000 original schedule comprises site preparation $6,000 at 100%, wall framing $34,000 at 100%, roof framing $18,000 at 85% ($15,300 earned), and blocking/bracing $7,000 at 0%. That gives $55,300 completed before the approved $2,400 variation CO-02. Its approval reference is 18 July.

Claims #1–2 already billed $38,000 of work. Subtract that billed value to avoid billing it twice; do not substitute cash received into this calculation. If an earlier invoice remains unpaid, track its balance separately. The assumed retention is 10% of this sample’s $19,700 current work claim. Add tax only when it applies.

When to use the other four layouts

Cost Plus: show the costs recoverable under your agreement and the agreed fee or markup separately. Reference invoices, receipts or job-cost records so the billed items can be traced. A fixed fee and a percentage markup are different arrangements; do not substitute one for the other.

Unit Price: show measured quantities and the agreed unit rate. Name the unit and the record used to check it, such as a measurement sheet or delivery docket. Keep a new rate or changed scope separate from the original agreed rate.

Standard blank construction invoice: use it when you need a straightforward construction work invoice with separate material, labor, equipment and other lines, without a cumulative schedule of values. Add only the fields the job requires.

Retainage Invoice: reconcile the amounts held against earlier claim references, deduct any amount already released, and identify the release condition you are relying on. It requests withheld money; it is not a second bill for the same completed work. Check the contract and applicable law before treating the amount as due.

Choose the lines for your trade

The same masonry job might be fixed-price, unit-price or staged; a template does not change that agreement.

What a construction invoice should include

These are practical fields, not a claim that one form satisfies every jurisdiction. Tax IDs, licence numbers, tax treatment and supporting documents depend on the parties, location and contract.

Retainage, retention and the rate in your contract

Keep money withheld from a claim separate from the value of completed work. Use the label and release conditions in your contract; seeing “retainage”, “retention” or “holdback” does not establish one universal rate or legal treatment. The 5% and 10% figures in the examples above are illustrative assumptions.

FAR 32.103 addresses US federal construction progress payments: when satisfactory progress has not been achieved, withholding is assessed case by case, and retainage under that provision cannot exceed 10% of the approved estimated amount. It is not an instruction to withhold 10% on every job. Private, state and other contracts may follow different rules. Source checked 25 September 2026.

Do not treat a retention label as a mechanics-lien document or an adjudication application. Payment disputes and release rights need the applicable contract and applicable rules.

NSW: a payment claim has rules beyond the invoice layout

For covered NSW construction progress payments, section 11 of the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 sets a due date 15 business days after a Part 3 payment claim for a payment from a principal to a head contractor, and 20 business days for a payment to a subcontractor, or an earlier contractual date. Both rules exclude exempt residential construction contracts.

Under section 11(1C), an exempt residential construction contract follows its express payment terms, or a 10-business-day default after the Part 3 claim where no express provision exists. Check the Act’s definitions and which rules apply to your contract; these numbers are not general Australian invoice terms.

Section 13 requires the payment claim to identify the work or related goods/services, state the claimed amount and state that it is made under the Act. Head contractors have an additional supporting-statement requirement. Section 14 separates the payment-schedule response deadline: the contractual period or 10 business days after service, whichever expires earlier. A generic invoice file is not a guarantee of a valid statutory claim. Source checked 25 September 2026.

England, Wales and Scotland: payment notices are a separate step

For contracts covered by Part II of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, distinguish the payment due date, the payment notice and the final date for payment. Section 110A requires the contract’s applicable payer/specified-person or payee notice arrangement no later than five days after the payment due date; the notice states the sum and how it was calculated. That is not a rule that every invoice must be paid within five days.

Section 111 generally requires payment of the notified sum by the final date for payment, subject to its provisions, including a compliant pay-less notice. The pay-less notice period comes from the agreement or the applicable Scheme for Construction Contracts; it is not one universal period stated here.

This Part concerns construction operations in England, Wales and Scotland, with excluded operations and a residential-occupier exception. It is not an all-UK rule or a rule for every homeowner job. Check the contract and applicable legislation before treating an ordinary invoice as the required notice. Source checked 25 September 2026.