How do I invoice a job in parts: advance, progress claims and cumulative?
You rarely invoice a large job in one go. Usually you first ask for an advance, and then invoice in parts as the work progresses. Every invoice that charges part of a quotation is called an instalment invoice. In this article you read how Robaws links all those invoices together, so that your customer never pays too much or too little.
Navigate quickly to:
- the three building blocks
- simple or cumulative
- an example from start to finish
- which setting does what
- where to read more
The three building blocks
Building block | What | Where do you create it |
|---|---|---|
Advance invoice | A first part of the quotation, for example 20% on signing. | In the financial planning of the quotation or the project. |
Progress claim invoice | What you carried out in a period, based on a claim statement. | With the Make invoice action button on the progress claim. |
Final invoice | The last part of the quotation, from which the previous instalments are deducted. | In the financial planning of the quotation or the project. |
Robaws remembers which invoices already belong to a job:
- on a progress claim they are in the Advance payments block
- on an invoice they are in the Advance invoices and installments block
Everything in the Advance invoices and installments block of an invoice is deducted from that invoice by Robaws. An invoice that is deducted from another invoice in this way is locked, so that the deducted amount can no longer change.
Simple or cumulative
Every time you invoice a progress claim or an instalment from the financial planning, you choose between two methods:
- Simple: the invoice only shows what was added since the previous invoice. Robaws deducts nothing.
- Cumulative: the invoice shows the total of all the work up to today, and deducts all previous invoices, the advance included. On the PDF your customer sees an overview of all previous invoices.
With cumulative invoicing you therefore do not have to keep track of anything yourself: Robaws settles the advance and the previous progress claim invoices for you. If you forgot to invoice a previous progress claim, it is automatically included in the cumulative invoice.
Example: an advance and three progress claims
You build an office for 100,000 euros excl. VAT. On signing you invoice an advance of 20% from the financial planning: 20,000 euros. Then you create three progress claims: after the first month 30% is finished, after the second 70%, after the third 100%.
You invoice the progress claims cumulatively
Invoice | On the invoice line | Deducted | To pay excl. VAT |
|---|---|---|---|
Advance | 20% of the quotation | – | 20,000.00 |
Progress claim 1 | 30,000.00 (30% of the work) | advance 20,000.00 | 10,000.00 |
Progress claim 2 | 70,000.00 (70% of the work) | advance 20,000.00 + progress claim 1 10,000.00 | 40,000.00 |
Progress claim 3 | 100,000.00 (all the work) | advance 20,000.00 + progress claim 1 10,000.00 + progress claim 2 40,000.00 | 30,000.00 |
Total | 100,000.00 |
The advance is deducted in full from the first progress claim invoice.
You invoice the progress claims simply
Invoice | On the invoice line | Deducted | To pay excl. VAT |
|---|---|---|---|
Advance | 20% of the quotation | – | 20,000.00 |
Progress claim 1 | 30,000.00 | – | 30,000.00 |
Progress claim 2 | 40,000.00 | – | 40,000.00 |
Progress claim 3 | 30,000.00 | – | 30,000.00 |
Total | 120,000.00 |
You then invoice 20,000 euros too much, because the advance is not deducted anywhere. If you work simply, you deduct the advance yourself. How to do that is explained in How do I deduct an advance invoice from my progress claims?
Which setting does what?
Whether you invoice simply or cumulatively is set with Phase billing cumulative strategy: Simple, Cumulative or Ask. With Ask you choose it again with every invoice. This setting exists in two places, and each applies to different invoices:
Setting | Applies to |
|---|---|
Invoices from the financial planning of the quotation or the project. | |
Invoices of a progress claim. |
If at least one of the two is not set to Simple:
- you see the Advance payments block on your progress claims and the Advance invoices and installments block on your invoices
- an advance invoice from the financial planning automatically ends up in the Advance payments block of your first progress claim
Whether that advance is actually deducted depends only on how you invoice the progress claim: cumulatively or simply.
Read more
- How do I invoice an advance or in instalments from the financial planning?
- What is the difference between simple and cumulative invoicing of a progress claim?
- How do I deduct an advance invoice from my progress claims?
- How do I take an advance on my first progress claim?
- Why is my installment invoice locked?
Updated on: 06/11/2026
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