Progress (RA) Billing

Billing the client as work progresses. Each running-account (RA) bill claims the work done since the last one - certified quantity minus already-billed quantity, per BOQ line, at the BOQ rate - holds back retention, recovers a slice of any mobilisation advance, and posts as a sales invoice so your own invoice design prints it.

Switch: Settings > Site Work > Progress (RA) Billing. Permissions: Bill Projects to raise and post one, Release Retention to let retention go.

Where it appears

Construction shell: RA Bills in Site Operations (pick a project). A Billing / Accounts seat lands on this screen when they sign in. Also the Work Items tab's billed quantities, and Receive Payment in Quick Actions.

What the bill claims

With the Measurement Book on, a draft claims only what has been certified - somebody signed for it - and never more than the BOQ quantity. With it off, the site diary's own "done today" figure is what the draft reads, which means a bill can charge for work nobody agreed was done.

Retention is stored on the bill as a fact, not re-derived from a percentage each time it is read. That is what lets it be reconciled later against what was really held. Bills are raised gross: do not also add a retention deduction line to the invoice, or it comes off twice.

Flow

flowchart TD
    W[BOQ lines: qty · rate] --> M[Work measured and certified]
    M --> D[Draft RA bill
certified − already billed, per line]
    D --> R[Retention withheld · advance recovered
both stored on the bill]
    R --> P[Post the bill]
    P --> S[(Sales invoice booked to the project)]
    P --> B[(Billed quantity advanced · entries stamped billed)]
    S --> Y[Receive Payment · receipt printed]
    Y --> T[(Receipt booked to the project)]
    P -.->|cancel| C[The work is RELEASED and can be billed again]
    S & T --> H[Project money: estimate · billed · received
retention held · balance]
    S -->|job accepted| RR[Retention release to the client]

Cancelling a bill

Cancelling releases its work so it can be billed again. The billed quantity falls back to the highest cumulative figure among the bills that are still standing - not by subtracting the cancelled one, which would give the wrong answer as soon as bills are cancelled out of order. Cancel RA 2 and RA 3 while RA 1 stands, in any sequence, and the line ends up exactly where RA 1 left it.

Screens

• RA Bills - the job's running account: every bill, its gross, what was withheld, what was recovered and what was payable.
• Draft - the lines and amounts before anything is raised; nothing is billed until the bill is posted.
• Mobilisation advance - the client's advance at the start of the job, recovered automatically across later bills at the agreed percentage.
• Receive Payment - client payments against the project with running balance, printed receipt and WhatsApp share. Needs the counter Payment permission, not a project one: taking money is its own trust.

Setting it up

flowchart LR
    A[Settings > Site Work
Progress Billing on] --> B[Enter the BOQ lines
quantity and rate]
    B --> C[Set the retention percentage
and any mobilisation advance]
    C --> D[Measure and certify the work done]
    D --> E[Raise the first RA bill]
    E --> F[Post it · billed quantity written back]
    F --> D