Tile Contractor Progress Billing: Bathroom Stages in Canada

Demolition is done. The substrate is exposed. Your next invoice is supposed to go out, but the quote never said what had to be complete first. Tile contractor progress billing fails when the payment stage is vaguer than the work.

Set the gates before you start. Name the surface, the completed condition and the record that proves it. Then allocate the accepted quote across those gates without inventing percentages.

Fix the bathroom scope before dividing the price

Inspect the bathroom before writing the payment schedule. A loose scope produces loose invoices.

Name every tiled surface separately. Record the shower walls, shower floor, bathroom floor, curb, niche, bench, backsplash and tiled base that belong in the job. Do not hide several surfaces under “bathroom tiling.”

For each surface, state the starting condition and the preparation included. Record demolition, disposal, levelling, crack treatment, backer board, membranes, uncoupling systems and other preparation you priced.

Write the waterproofing boundary. Name the walls, floor, curb, penetrations and junctions included. If another contractor controls a drain, plumbing alteration or framing repair, say so.

Use the tile shower quoting guide to build the scope from the substrate to the finished surface before you assign invoice amounts.

Put material responsibility in writing

Write down who selects, orders, pays for, receives, unloads, stores and checks each material. Cover tile, trim, grout, sealant, membranes, drains, shelves and accessories.

Customer-supplied tile needs more than a note saying “tile by owner.” Record who handles shortages, broken pieces, shade differences, unsuitable material and late delivery. State when the full quantity must be on site.

For contractor-supplied material, record the accepted selection or allowance before ordering. Do not let a deposit silently turn an undecided selection into your responsibility.

Write the exclusions before demolition

Hidden substrate repair should be clear. So should framing correction, plumbing work, electrical work, structural repair, mould treatment and damage caused by an unknown leak.

State what happens when excluded work appears. The crew stops the affected task. You photograph the condition, price the added work and get the change order approved before continuing.

Check the bodies responsible for the job

Ask the local building authority for the job address whether the bathroom work needs a building permit or inspection. Use only that authority’s official permit and inspection information, then write the answer in the job record. Do not use an inspection as an invoice trigger until you know where it belongs in the work sequence.

Ask your provincial or territorial trade licensing and safety authority which trade licences, trade permits or safety requirements cover the work you perform. Do not send a licensing question to the local building authority or a tax question to the trade authority.

Use your province or territory’s official legislation site to verify the deposit, progress-payment, holdback and lien wording for the project type before issuing the schedule. Do not copy thresholds, deadlines or contract language from another province or territory.

Build tile contractor progress billing around visible gates

Calendar dates move when tile arrives late, a membrane needs more time or another trade blocks the room. Completed site conditions make stronger billing triggers.

A useful trigger names three things:

• The work that must be finished.
• The exact surface or area covered by the stage.
• The photo, inspection or acceptance record that closes it.

Use gates that match your actual scope. A bathroom job may move through pre-start readiness, demolition and substrate preparation, waterproofing, tile setting, finishing and handover. Do not add a stage merely to create another invoice.

Pre-start readiness

Use the pre-start gate to confirm that the accepted quote, selections, access arrangements and material responsibilities are recorded.

Demolition and substrate preparation

Close this gate only when the named demolition and preparation work is complete. Photograph the exposed substrate before covering or altering it.

If demolition exposes damage excluded from the quote, leave the affected gate open. Do not bury repair costs inside the next progress invoice.

Waterproofing before it is covered

Name the waterproofed surfaces and the record required to close the stage. That record might include dated photos, a completed site checklist or a local building authority inspection when the official authority requires one and the accepted documents name it.

If the named record is missing, attach it before you invoice. Use the tile contractor waterproofing checklist to record the substrate and membrane before tile hides them.

Tile setting by named surface

Do not use “tile installation underway” as a trigger. Name the shower walls, shower floor or bathroom floor that must be installed to the accepted layout.

If the customer changes the pattern after approving the layout, stop the affected surface. Record the extra cuts, setting work, material effect and schedule change. Put that work through a change order rather than stretching the original setting stage.

Grout, sealant and handover

The final gate should name grout, sealant, trim, cleanup, deficiencies and handover records. If another trade blocks final sealant or trim, photograph the blocked area and record the unfinished task.

Installed tile is not the same as a completed bathroom. Keep the gate open until every item named in it is done.

Allocate the accepted quote across the tile job payment schedule

Start with the accepted quote total. Map each estimated labour, material and subcontractor cost line to one billing gate. Do not split a cost between gates unless the estimate itself shows that split.

Apply the same overhead and markup method used to build the accepted quote. Add those amounts to the gates carrying the underlying costs, then total every stage and reconcile the result to the accepted quote. If the totals differ, fix the allocation before the schedule reaches the customer.

Keep the buckets plain. Cost tracking should show whether a cost is missing or counted twice. The completed worksheet must account for every estimated cost line, every overhead allocation and all markup already carried in the quote.

This worksheet uses blank fields so you can apply your own costs and accepted price.

Check the cumulative column after each row. It catches a stage that has been omitted, duplicated or added without changing the accepted quote.

Write the tiler deposit invoice against the accepted quote

Issue a tiler deposit invoice only after the customer has accepted the quote and the stated pre-start conditions have been met. Use the same customer, address, bathroom description and quote reference.

Describe the invoice as a pre-start deposit. Later invoices must show whether that deposit was previously billed, paid and credited against the remaining contract balance. Do not describe uncompleted demolition, waterproofing or tile setting as completed work.

Show the invoice number, issue date, contractor details, customer details, job address, accepted quote reference, deposit description, amount due, agreed payment terms and due date. Use the GST/HST fields confirmed for your business in the tax check below.

If the customer supplies tile, do not invoice as though you purchased it. If you supply tile and the deposit supports ordering, identify the accepted selection and job without rewriting the quote.

Run each progress invoice from the site record

Read the trigger before walking the bathroom. Capture one wide photo that identifies the room and named surface, then a close photo that identifies the condition being billed. Attach the acceptance or inspection record named in the quote.

Keep these records with the accepted quote and invoice. Tile contractor progress billing needs a direct line from the quote to the site evidence and then to the invoice.

Store the accepted quote, photos, gate record, change orders and invoices under the same job. Yes Foreman lets you keep those job records together so the office does not invoice from a different version than the crew used.

Evidence supports the milestone. It does not replace the scope or prove customer approval that was never obtained.

Leave incomplete surfaces open

Suppose the shower walls are set but the bathroom floor named in the same trigger is not. Finish the named work or agree to a written change in the billing structure with the customer.

Record work blocked by another contractor

Write down the area, blocking condition and unfinished task. Add dated photos. Record who was told and what needs to happen before your crew returns.

Do not issue the tiling final invoice while another contractor is blocking sealant, trim or handover work named in the final gate.

Put hidden work and customer changes through a change order

Demolition is complete, but the exposed substrate needs work that the quote excluded. Stop the affected work. Do not treat the repair as part of normal preparation.

Write a change order that names the condition, added scope, labour, materials, markup, schedule effect and billing point. Get the customer’s approval before starting the added work.

Use the same process when the customer changes the tile pattern, adds a niche or changes a named finish. Keep the approved amount separate from the original payment schedule.

Worked example: keep the documents connected

The Yes Foreman house example is an electrical job, but the document rule applies to tile work too. R. Chen at 14 Oak Street accepted quote Q-1847 for a bathroom exhaust fan and four LED downlights. The quote was 1,105 sample currency units.

The ceiling was lined, and the quote excluded chasing. Extra cable and chasing were approved on site as a 160 change order. Invoice INV-1847 was 1,265 sample currency units.

The original quote remained 1,105. The approved change stayed visible as 160. Do not calculate profit from the 1,265 invoice because the costs of the change order are not supplied.

Apply the same document control to hidden substrate work. Keep the accepted tile scope intact. Show the added repair as its own approved change and carry it separately into later invoices.

Build every progress invoice from the job ledger

Each invoice should let the customer follow the money without reconstructing the job from old emails.

Show these fields:

• Original accepted quote amount.
• Approved change orders to date.
• Revised job amount.
• Prior amounts billed.
• Payments received.
• Deposit credited against the balance.
• Current amount due.
• Balance remaining.

Keep approved changes separate from the original schedule even when they appear on the same invoice. A revised job amount does not erase where the extra work came from.

Use the invoice writing guide to check the document fields and descriptions. Keep the stage wording tied to the bathroom condition you inspected.

Keep GST/HST treatment consistent from deposit to final invoice

Check the Canada Revenue Agency’s GST/HST receipt and invoice information requirements (opens in a new tab). Confirm the registration number, taxable subtotal, tax description and tax amount that your invoices must display for your registration status and the transaction.

Use the confirmed fields on the deposit, every progress invoice, approved change orders and the final reconciliation. Keep the tax treatment consistent when you credit the deposit and calculate the remaining contract balance.

Use CAD consistently on customer documents. Business-number and GST/HST questions go to the Canada Revenue Agency. If your business name or registration details need checking, ask your provincial or territorial business registry about business names and registration.

Release the tiling final invoice after the finish gate closes

Walk every named surface. Check grout, sealant, trim, transitions, cleanup and deficiencies included in the accepted scope. Close any recorded defect that belongs to your work.

Attach completion photos, the closed deficiency record and any handover document named in the quote. If an official building inspection belongs to the final gate, attach its record before invoicing.

Reconcile the original quote, approved change orders, prior invoices, the deposit credit and payments received. The tiling final invoice closes the tile contractor progress billing ledger and should request only the remaining balance supported by that ledger.

Do not use the final invoice to introduce an unapproved extra. If added work was performed without a signed change order, resolve the document gap before sending the bill.