The rough-in is finished, the walls are open and the fixtures are still boxed. Plumbing progress billing tells the office what can be invoiced now without claiming unfinished work.
What plumbing progress billing pays for
A progress invoice bills an agreed part of a larger plumbing job before the whole job is complete. It suits projects where labour, materials and site work run across distinct stages.
The quote or contract sets the full scope. The plumbing payment schedule divides that scope into billable results. Each result needs a clear trigger, a value and evidence that the crew reached it.
Bill an agreed result, not time spent
Write each trigger so a customer, site supervisor or project manager can inspect it. “Rough-in complete in the listed rooms” is stronger than “rough-in stage” because it identifies a result and a location.
Crew hours do not prove completion. Neither does the planned finish date. If the trigger cannot be checked against the scope and the site record, rewrite it before work starts.
Decide whether the job needs progress invoices
A short service call may only need a final invoice. A longer replacement, renovation or new installation may need progress invoices because the contractor carries labour and material costs before final completion.
Use progress billing when the job has separate results that can be described and checked. Do not add stages merely to create more invoices. Each stage creates another record to prepare, approve and reconcile.
Lock the plumbing scope before dividing the price
Start with the accepted quote or signed contract. You cannot build sensible billing stages from a loose description of the job.
List the systems, fixtures, equipment and connections included. Identify the rooms, units, floors or work areas. Record who supplies each fixture and who handles opening, patching, electrical connections, controls and finished surfaces.
Write exclusions beside the included work. Common trouble starts where one contractor assumes another contractor owns the task.
Define installed, tested and complete
Give these words a job-specific meaning.
Installed might require the specified pipe, fittings, supports and equipment to be fixed in the listed locations. Tested might require the agreed test record or site acknowledgement. Complete might require insulation, labels, cleanup or other scope items tied to that stage.
Do not use a completion word that ignores a required inspection or record. Ask your project contact what proof they expect before work starts or before the first progress invoice, as the agreement requires. Put the answer in the agreement.
Check local requirements before building the payment schedule
Check your municipality for building permit questions. Record required inspections in the job plan. Include an inspection in a payment trigger only when the contract or a current rule makes it a condition of billing or completion.
Ask the provincial or territorial trade licensing body which plumbing licence covers the work. Ask the provincial or territorial workplace-safety regulator about safety duties for the job and crew. Keep those answers separate because a licence, a permit and a workplace-safety requirement do different jobs.
Construction payment, lien and holdback rules differ across Canada. Check the signed contract and the official source for the province or territory where the work takes place before setting payment terms or holdback treatment. Use the federal provincial and territorial government directory (opens in a new tab) to find the correct government site.
Contractors working in Quebec can use the Quebec plumbing contractor licence guide to organize the questions before checking the current official requirements. Do not let the plumbing progress billing schedule promise payment before a required trigger has been met.
Build a plumbing payment schedule around visible milestones
Good plumbing progress billing follows the installation sequence without pretending every project has the same sequence. Choose stages from the actual scope, permit requirements and site plan.
Possible milestone names include mobilization, underground work, rough-in, equipment installation, fixture installation, testing and closeout. Use only the stages that produce a distinct result on your job.
A rough-in trigger could identify the work areas, included piping and required test record. A fixture stage could identify which fixtures must be installed and connected. A closeout trigger could require deficiencies to be cleared and the agreed records handed over.
Assign the contract value to the stages
Build the original quote from labour, materials, subcontractor costs, overhead and markup. Then allocate that quoted value across the billing stages without changing the total contract price.
Do not make the stage values match supplier invoices by accident. A progress invoice is not just a materials reimbursement unless the agreement says it is. It bills the agreed value of completed scope.
Check that every quoted task appears in a stage. Check that the stage values add back to the accepted contract amount. Keep GST/HST outside the contract-value check if your documents show tax separately.
Choose all-or-nothing or partial stage billing
State whether each stage must be fully complete before billing or may be billed in measured parts. Do not switch methods after the crew starts.
If partial billing is allowed, define the measurement method in the contract. Use an installed fixture count, an accepted work area, a measured quantity or another method tied to the scope. Each invoice must show the stage value billed before, the current measured value and the cumulative billed value for that stage.
If the contract makes a stage all-or-nothing, leave it unbilled until its completion trigger is met. Time spent and materials delivered do not turn an incomplete stage into a completed one.
State the evidence required
Write down what the office needs before it can invoice each stage. Keep the list short and specific:
- A site report naming the completed area and work
- Photos showing concealed work before the walls close
- Delivery or material records where the agreement requires them
- Test or inspection records tied to the stage
- A customer or site acknowledgement where the contract calls for one
- A note identifying incomplete rooms, missing fixtures and deficiencies
Fixtures arriving on site do not mean fixture installation is complete. Several fixtures may still be boxed while the crew works elsewhere. State in the agreement whether delivered but uninstalled materials can be billed, what evidence is required and how those materials will be identified.
Use a blank schedule before the job starts
Copy this structure into the job file. Complete it from the accepted scope, not from memory after the work begins.
Job: [customer, address and project reference] Accepted scope document: [quote or contract reference] Original contract amount: [amount before approved changes] Payment due terms: [agreed terms] Holdback basis: [signed contract and current official provincial or territorial rule] Current holdback: [amount] Cumulative holdback: [amount] Authorized holdback release: [amount and authority] Person who may approve a change order: [name or role] Deposit treatment: [prepayment against contract value or separate agreed charge] Deposit credit method: [how and when a prepayment is credited] Approved change billing method: [separate invoice or next progress invoice] Billing stage: [stage name] Included work: [systems, locations and tasks] Completion trigger: [observable installed result] Required evidence: [site report, photos, tests or acknowledgement] Person who confirms completion: [name or role] Stage value: [amount] Partial billing allowed: [yes or no] Partial measurement method: [contract-defined method or not allowed] Prior billed value for this stage: [amount] Current billed value for this stage: [amount] Cumulative billed value for this stage: [amount] Delivered-material treatment: [what the agreement says] Invoice timing: [when the invoice may be issued] Final closeout trigger: [records, testing and deficiencies required]
Show the plumber deposit invoice as a credit
A plumber deposit invoice records money requested before or at the start of work. A progress invoice records a later billing event. Keep those events separate even if they appear in the same job ledger.
State whether the deposit is a prepayment against the contract value or a separate charge under the agreement. Record what it secures or funds and how it will be credited. Do not leave the office to guess.
Each later invoice should show the deposit billed, the amount received and any credit applied. Billed and paid are different facts. A deposit request can exist without payment, while earned contract value comes from completed work.
Use these fields to reconcile a deposit that the agreement treats as a prepayment before sending a progress invoice:
Original base contract value: [A] Deposit billed as a prepayment: [B] Deposit cash received: [C] Deposit credit applied on earlier invoices: [D] Deposit credit applied on this invoice: [E] Unapplied paid deposit: [C − D − E] Prior completed base-scope value: [F] Current completed base-scope value: [G] Cumulative earned base-scope value: [F + G] Other agreed credits on this invoice: [H] Current holdback: [I] Cumulative holdback: [J] Authorized holdback release on this invoice: [K] Current base-scope amount due before tax: [G − E − H − I + K] Remaining unbilled base contract: [A − F − G]
When the agreement treats the deposit as a prepayment, do not add it on top of the contract value. Applying the deposit credit reduces the amount now due without reducing the earned value of completed work. If the deposit is a separate agreed charge, keep it outside this prepayment calculation.
Apply each deposit credit only once. Calculate the remaining unbilled base contract from completed scope, not from cash received. Deduct current holdback and other agreed credits when calculating the amount due, and add only an authorized holdback release. Keep approved change orders outside this base-contract calculation and show them separately.
Capture installed work before the crew leaves
The rough-in is complete, but the walls are still open. This is when the crew should record the work. Once board goes up, a vague office note will not show what was installed behind it.
Use a daily site report to record each job stage. Name the rooms or work areas. Record completed piping, installed equipment, tests, missing items and work left open.
Attach clear photos to the same job record. Photograph concealed work before it disappears. Add delivery records when they support the agreed billing method. Add test records and site acknowledgements where the stage requires them.
Mark incomplete work as incomplete. If a room is waiting for a customer-supplied fixture, record that fact. Do not mark the whole fixture stage complete merely because the rest of the rooms are finished.
Give the office a firm handoff. The crew marks the milestone status. The project lead checks it against the scope. The office invoices the completed stage or the measured partial amount allowed by the contract.
Keep plumbing change billing outside the original scope
A customer moves a fixture after rough-in. The crew can see the extra piping, fittings and labour. The office cannot bill it cleanly if nobody records approval.
Stop before the extra work starts. Write the added scope, exclusions, price and effect on the schedule. Get approval from the person authorized to approve the change. Then state whether the change order will appear on a separate invoice or the next progress invoice.
Plumbing change billing should remain visible as its own line. Do not bury it inside a larger stage or silently revise the original contract amount. The original scope, approved change and current billing must still reconcile.
Oak Street change-order example
Oak Street is the house electrical example, not a plumbing rate card. All figures are sample currency units.
R. Chen’s quote Q-1847 at 14 Oak Street covered a bathroom exhaust fan and four LED downlights for 1,105. The ceiling was lined, and the quote excluded chasing. Extra cable and chasing were approved on site as a 160 change order, so invoice INV-1847 was 1,265.
The change stayed visible instead of disappearing into the original quote. That is the control to copy. Do not calculate profit from the 1,265 invoice because the costs of the 160 change order are not given.
Build each plumbing progress billing invoice from the site record
Open the accepted scope, payment schedule and current site record together. If they do not agree, stop and resolve the difference before issuing the invoice.
Each progress invoice should identify:
- The customer, job address and contract reference
- The billing stage and completed work areas
- The original contract amount
- Prior, current and cumulative billed value for a partially billed stage
- Prior contract billings
- The deposit billed, received and credited
- The current stage amount
- Approved changes as separate lines
- GST/HST shown under the agreed tax treatment
- Current holdback, cumulative holdback and any authorized release where the contract and current official rules require them
- Payments received, other agreed credits and the resulting current amount due
- The remaining unbilled contract balance
- Supporting records attached or available
The remaining contract balance is not earned revenue. It is work still to be completed and billed under the agreement. Keep it visible without describing it as currently due.
Do not confuse prior billings with prior payments. A customer may owe an earlier invoice. Show the contract billing position separately from the account balance so the current claim remains understandable.
For help laying out the document, use the field structure in the invoice writing guide, then add the contract-to-date fields needed for this job.
Handle GST/HST as a tax question
Check business-number, registration and GST/HST invoicing questions with the Canada Revenue Agency GST/HST guidance for businesses (opens in a new tab). Do not copy the tax treatment from another contractor’s invoice or assume every customer and job is handled the same way.
Keep tax separate from the completed-scope calculation. The office should be able to see the contract value billed, approved changes, tax and amount due without reverse-engineering the invoice.
Match progress billing to cost tracking
Match the stage names in the plumbing payment schedule to the labour, materials and subcontractor costs recorded on the job. Use the same work areas and scope labels on both sides of the check.
For each stage, compare completed scope billed to date with actual and committed costs for that same installed scope. Keep deposit cash, GST/HST and holdback outside the earned-scope figure. They affect cash or the amount due, not whether the work has been installed.
Flag installed work that has not been billed. Check whether the contract trigger has been met, the evidence is complete and the invoice was missed. Do not bill it until those conditions are satisfied.
Flag billing that runs ahead of installed work. Correct the current invoice before sending it, or correct the job record if completed work was recorded against the wrong stage. Do not use expected crew time as proof that the scope is complete.
Chase missing costs before reading the stage result. Look for unposted crew time, supplier invoices, purchase commitments, equipment charges and subcontractor work tied to the installed scope.
Then calculate the cost to complete with your own figures. List unfinished work and assign the labour, materials and subcontractor costs still needed. The job-costing guide explains how to keep completed costs and forecast costs separate.
Keep unapproved extras out of the contract balance and expected revenue. Record their costs so they do not vanish, but do not present the extra as an approved customer charge until the authorized person has accepted it.
Issue the final invoice after the closeout trigger
The final fixtures may be installed while test records, permit closeout information or the deficiency list remain incomplete. Read the completion trigger written into the agreement. Do not call the project complete merely because the crew has left.
Check the completed scope against the final site report. Resolve missing customer-supplied items. Record deficiencies and who owns each correction. Collect the agreed testing, inspection and handover records.
Then reconcile the original contract, deposit, progress invoices, approved changes, holdback, authorized releases, payments and remaining balance. The plumbing progress billing record should lead from the accepted scope to the final amount without a hidden adjustment.