Glossary
Milestone billing
Also called: progress billing · stage payments
Milestone billing is invoicing a project fee in instalments tied to defined events — signing, design approval, launch — rather than in one invoice at the end. Each milestone invoice bills a stated portion of the total and is usually due before the next phase starts.
Last updated October 13, 2026
Designing a milestone schedule
Tie each milestone to something both sides can verify: an approval, a delivered file, a go-live date. Avoid milestones that depend on the client's internal processes you cannot see. A typical three-stage schedule is 30/40/30 or 50/50; longer projects use monthly progress billing against percentage complete.
What each invoice shows
Name the milestone and the share of the total ('Milestone 2 of 3 — design approval, 40% of $12,000'), show the amount previously invoiced and the balance remaining, and keep any hourly or expense lines separate. The client should be able to reconcile every invoice to the contract without asking.
Cash-flow effect
Milestone billing converts one large receivable into several smaller ones, which lowers the risk of a disputed final invoice and shortens the gap between work and cash. It also gives you a natural checkpoint to pause work if a milestone invoice goes unpaid.
In Hoursmith
Milestones are billed by allocating part of a fixed-fee project's contract balance on each invoice; the builder shows what has been invoiced and what remains.