Free General Contracting Invoice Template
A clean, professional invoice template for general contracting businesses — free to download and use, no email required. The Excel version calculates line amounts, tax, and the total automatically; the Word version is a fill-in you can print.
A general contractor's invoice is a draw against work completed, not a single bill at the end. On most multi-trade jobs you bill progressively as phases reach milestones, so each invoice ties back to the same phase buckets you quoted and states the percentage complete for each. That keeps your billing defensible: the client can match every dollar to visible progress, and you keep cash flowing to pay subs on time. Two things protect everyone here. First, collect signed lien waivers from each subcontractor for amounts already paid before you release their next draw, so paid-for work can't come back as a lien against your client's property. Second, honor any retainage or holdback the contract specifies, billing the full earned amount but showing the withheld percentage that releases at substantial completion. When you mark up sub costs, show the sub total and your markup as distinct lines so the client sees exactly what they're paying for coordination.
Free for any use. No sign-up, no email gate. The Excel workbook comes pre-filled with starter general contracting line items — edit them to match the job.
What a good general contracting invoice includes
- Your business name and contact details — and the client's.
- An invoice number, issue date, and a clear due date.
- Line items that match what was quoted and what was actually done.
- Subtotal, tax (at your local rate), and the balance due.
- How to pay you: methods you accept and any late-payment terms.
- Bill by percent-complete against each phase bucket, not as one lump. Show prior billed, this period, and percent complete per phase so the draw reconciles to actual progress on the ground.
- Before releasing a subcontractor's next payment, collect a signed lien waiver covering what they've already been paid — conditional waivers on progress draws, unconditional on final — so the title stays clear for your client.
- Apply the contract's retainage or holdback to each draw, e.g. withhold 10% per phase, and show both the earned amount and the held amount. Track the accumulated holdback so the final release invoice is clean.
- Show your markup on subcontractor costs as its own line rather than folding it into the sub total. List the sub's billed amount, then your coordination markup, so the fee for carrying and warranting that trade is plainly stated.
- Attach the backup the draw depends on: the schedule of values, sub invoices for the period, and the lien waivers you collected. Draw lenders and owners' reps expect this package, and it shortens the time to getting paid.
Example line items for a general contracting invoice
A starting point — adapt these to the job in front of you.
Common questions
Is this template really free?
Yes — download it and use it for any business. No email, no sign-up, no watermark beyond a one-line credit you can delete.
What's the difference between the Excel and Word versions?
The Excel version calculates line amounts, tax, and the total automatically from what you type — enter your tax rate once and the math is done. The Word version is a clean fill-in you can print or edit.
Can I edit the template?
Completely. Add your logo, change labels, add rows, adjust the terms — it's yours to adapt.
When the template becomes the bottleneck
Templates work until you're retyping the same client, the same lines, and the same totals every week. Stairkey turns the job itself into the invoice — quoted, approved, and billed from one record. See how it fits general contracting.