How to write an invoice without reconstructing the week
Start from the job that just closed, not a blank page. If the quote was accepted, those lines are the invoice. If a variation was approved on site, that is a new line — not a round-up that the client cannot recognise.
The Oak Street bathroom quote total is 1,105 sample currency units. The invoice on that same job is marked 1,265 because extra cable was approved as a variation. Treat those figures as a worked example, not a rate.
What has to be on the page
A one-line total with 'electrical work' at the top is not an invoice. The client needs to see the job they agreed to, and anything that changed.
- Your name, their name, the site, the invoice number and the date
- The quote number, so they can match the offer they accepted
- Line items: quantity, rate, amount — including approved extras
- A due date, and how to pay
- What is still outstanding if a deposit already landed
Invoice vs quote
A quote is an offer. An invoice is a bill. Sending the quote again with 'please pay' at the bottom is how jobs sit unpaid — the paper never said it was due. Name the document.
If the ceiling was still closed when you priced it, that was an estimate. Convert it to a quote when you can see the work, then invoice from the quote. The related guides below name each paper.
Send it when the work order closes
Same-day invoicing is how cash stays attached to the job. Polite reminders belong to that invoice, not a spreadsheet you open when you are already owed three weeks.
Use the invoice template if you are still on paper. When the job already lives in software, the invoice should be a convert, not a retype.