Billing an estimate

Once a client accepts an estimate, you can turn it into one or more invoices. You’re not locked into billing the whole job at once — you can take a deposit up front, send progress invoices along the way, and finish with the remaining balance. Accepting an estimate doesn’t create anything on its own; you decide what to bill and when.

Create invoice from estimate

From an accepted estimate, choose Create invoice from estimate. Instead of generating one fixed invoice, PayPolka opens a short choice flow with four options.

Full

Copies all of the estimate’s line items onto a new invoice, exactly as quoted. Use this when you’re billing the entire job in one invoice.

Deposit

Bills a portion of the job up front. You enter either a percentage or a fixed amount (PayPolka suggests 50% as a starting point). It creates a single summary line, for example:

Deposit for EST-001 — Panel upgrade

Progress

Bills another portion partway through the work. Like a deposit, you enter a percentage or a fixed amount, and it creates one summary line, for example:

Progress invoice for EST-001 — Panel upgrade

Final

Bills whatever is left — the remaining unbilled balance on the estimate. It creates one summary line, for example:

Final balance for EST-001 — Panel upgrade

How tax and discount apply

Deposit, progress, and final amounts are taken from the estimate’s pre-tax subtotal, not from its grand total. After the portion is allocated, the invoice applies the estimate’s tax and discount rates normally on top.

Working this way means tax is only ever applied once, to the actual work being billed — you never tax an amount that already includes tax. A full invoice simply carries over the estimate’s line items, tax, and discount as quoted.

How the remaining balance is figured

The remaining balance on an estimate is based on how much you’ve billed, not on what’s been paid. As soon as you create a deposit, progress, or full invoice from an estimate, that amount counts against the estimate’s subtotal — even if the invoice hasn’t been paid yet.

For example, a deposit invoice that has been sent but not yet paid still counts as billed. So when you later create a Final invoice, it bills only what hasn’t been allocated yet. If you write off an invoice, its amount no longer counts against the estimate and becomes available to bill again.

Billing in multiple invoices

You can create as many invoices from one estimate as the job needs — for example a deposit, two progress invoices, and a final balance. The estimate page lists the invoices you’ve already created from it and gives you a clear Create another invoice from estimate path to add the next one.

Next steps

• Invoices — send, track, and manage the invoices you create.
• Getting paid — collect payment and record cash or checks.