Collect the agreed payment without sending another invoice

What changes when the payment is already agreed?

In an invoice-led sequence, you describe the work, send a payment request and wait for the client to act. Software can make that request easier to send and track. The work may still be waiting on another email, another link, or another follow-up.

A phasecontract agrees the job and payment arrangement upfront. The client approves the schedule and payment method before work starts. When a deposit is due or the next phase is ready, the owner or assigned foreman can collect that agreed payment from the job.

The distinction is specific: you can collect an agreed payment in one click without creating or sending another invoice first. It does not mean there are no receipts, no records, or no client invoices your business may separately need to issue.

Follow one work phase

1. Agree the job. Set out its scope, deposits, work phases and prices. The client sees the full arrangement before approving it.
2. Authorize the payment method. The client approves the schedule and payment method together. That approval does not charge the entire job price at once.
3. Collect the phase payment. Open the agreed phase and use its collection action. Credit Card payment must succeed before the work phase starts. Bank Transfer work starts after the transfer clears.
4. Run the work in the shared workspace. The contractor, assigned foreman and client can follow the phase, its updates and the next decision in the same place.
5. Keep the payment and work history. Receipts, approvals and work evidence stay with the job. The client reviews the finished work after collection; that review is not what triggers the earlier charge.

What the client sees

The client opens their workspace link in a browser without installing an app or creating an account. They can see what was agreed, what each payment covers and how the work is progressing. A change in scope has its own approval path rather than being silently folded into a charge.

This shared view matters to collection. The payment is connected to a named part of the job that both sides can find, rather than an isolated request that the client has to match to a conversation.

“I already use software.”

Start with the next collection your existing process requires. Who creates the request? What must the client do? Can the agreed payment collect before you incur the work's cost? Where can the client see that payment alongside the job?

Those questions are more useful than comparing long feature lists. PhaseContract's primary job is payment management. Job setup, photos, updates and review support the payment arrangement and its shared workspace.

You can evaluate it on one suitable remodeling or home-building job. Set out that job in PhaseContract and show the client its workspace. Keep the accounting and other business records you need. There is no implied integration, import or synchronization with the software you already use.

The invoice becomes part of the record

Once the agreed payment has collected, its record can document what was paid. The invoice-to-receipt trail follows collection instead of initiating another request for money. Any separate invoicing requirements for your business remain part of your own process.

Collection also remains separate from bank payout. Stripe controls when collected funds are paid out to the contractor's bank account. Price the work properly and plan around actual cash availability; the workspace makes the collection sequence clear, but it does not turn an underpriced job into a profitable one.

Open the sample dashboard and choose a job to inspect the arrangement. Then use the payment schedule worksheet to plan a real job's deposits and phases.