Free Subcontractor Invoice Template

What to include on a subcontractor invoice

• Your business and contact details
• The general contractor and project/job
• Work completed (with % if progress billing)
• Labor, materials and approved change orders
• Retainage, total and terms

Billing a GC is not like billing a homeowner

Subcontractor invoices live inside the general contractor’s payment machinery: progress billing against a schedule of values, retainage (5–10% held back from every payment until project completion), lien waivers exchanged for checks, and often pay-when-paid clauses that tie your money to the owner’s. On commercial work you may be required to bill on AIA-style forms (G702/G703) showing work completed this period, previously billed, and retainage math. The subs who get paid on time reference the subcontract number, bill exactly per the schedule of values, and submit by the GC’s monthly cutoff date — miss it and you wait another cycle.

What a progress invoice shows

Each application for payment typically carries:

• Contract amount, approved change orders, and revised contract total
• Work completed this period and to date, per schedule-of-values line
• Retainage withheld (5–10%) shown explicitly, this period and cumulative
• Previous payments received, and the net amount now due
• Stored materials billed, where the contract allows, with backup
• Conditional lien waiver attached for the amount requested

Protecting your money as a sub

• Get change orders signed before the work — verbal extras become free work at billing time
• Track and invoice retainage release at substantial completion; it’s your profit sitting in someone else’s account
• Know your state’s preliminary-notice and mechanics-lien deadlines — they run from first/last work, not from the invoice
• Match the GC’s billing cutoff and format (AIA forms if required) to stay in the payment cycle
• Exchange lien waivers for payment, not before — conditional until the check clears