Prime contract invoice overview

Progress payments for prime contracts are processed in the Prime Contract Invoice feature. For commercial contractors, prime contract invoices are often referred to as an Application for Payment. Residential contractors use the term Bank Draw when a construction loan is needed for the funding source.

Prime contract invoices should not be confused with subcontract invoices, which are progress payments for subcontracts.

Sage Construction Management has invoice wizards designed to help you mange invoice-related tasks.

Important things to know

  • The way that prime invoices are processed changes based on the contract type. See Prime contract billing methods for more details.
  • The invoice order number, not the invoice date, determines previous invoice amounts. Sage Construction Management automatically sets the next value when creating an invoice. See table below for example.

    Invoice Date Order # Invoice #
    31-Mar-2018 1 001
    30-Apr-2018 2 002
    15-May-2018 * 3 003
    15-May-2018 * 4 004

    * Two invoices can be created on the same date, but be sure to reference the correct order number on each one.

  • The project number cannot be changed after the prime invoice has been saved. If the project number is incorrect, delete the transaction to correct it.
  • Do not select the Approved checkbox on a prime invoice until it has been reviewed by the owner or manager.
  • Default work and stored material retainage percentages are copied from the prime contract. The percentages can be changed in the invoice.
  • Previous, current, and billed retainage amounts are tracked by job cost code. They are not tracked in the item details table, for example, items in the original contract or change orders.
  • Expenses and timecards must meet the following requirements to be imported into a cost plus prime invoice:
    • They cannot be referenced on a prior prime invoice.
    • The expense issue date and status date must be on or before the invoice issue date.
    • The timecard date must be on or before the invoice issue date.
    • The status must be Approved.
    • The billable status must be Billable.
    • The expense or timecard billable amount must be greater than zero.
  • Always invoice or release retainage last. For example, if a prime invoice includes items from the original contract, change orders, and retainage, the retainage should be invoiced last.
  • You can automatically lock prime invoices when they are exported to an accounting system using a AccountingLink utility. Locking the invoices prevents further changes or deletions. See Global settings for more details.

Before entering invoices for a prime contract

All Contract Types:

Cost Plus Contracts:

Fixed Lump Sum or Unit Price:

  • Review Change orders to make sure they are marked Approved with an issue and status date that is earlier than the planned invoice date. Otherwise, you will not be able to import these changes into the prime invoice.

Adding prime contract invoices

Refer to these articles based on the type of contract you are working with.

Edit prime contract invoice functions

Important things to know about editing prime contract invoices:

  • If a workflow rule applies to the prime contract invoice, and the rule has been initiated or approved, then nothing can be modified unless the rule is abandoned.
  • If a prime contract invoice has been exported and your settings have them locked automatically on export, then only an administrator can unlock it to make non-financial related changes. See Global settings for more details.

Related topics:

See also