Surfacely Start free →
HomeHelp › Progress payments bundled with updates

Progress payments bundled with updates

On jobs longer than a few days, progress invoicing is essential for cash flow. Surfacely lets you combine a progress update and a progress invoice into a single action, so the client gets the proof of work and the invoice together.

INVOICE PAYMENT TIMELINE
1
Deposit
At booking
10–30%
Confirms the booking.
Send before starting.
2
Progress
Mid-job milestone
40–50%
At agreed stage.
Set in quote terms.
3
Final
On completion
20–30%
When client is
satisfied. Send same day.

Never start without a deposit. The deposit is the booking confirmation. Stripe invoices are sent automatically from Surfacely.

The bundled flow

Tap Post update → choose Share + progress payment. You'll be prompted for:

Surfacely creates the invoice and the update in one step, sends the client an email linking to both, and updates the project financials.

Why bundling works

When a client sees "here's what we did this week, and here's the invoice for it" together, they connect the work to the payment. That association makes payment faster and complaints rarer. Separating the two — update on Monday, invoice on Thursday — opens the door to "what's this for?" confusion.

Automatic deposit and final invoices

Surfacely also auto-generates the deposit invoice when a quote is accepted (if your terms include one) and the final invoice when you mark the project complete. Progress invoices fill the middle. You rarely have to create invoices manually — the lifecycle does it for you.

Why it matters: painters who bill weekly or at milestones have dramatically healthier cash flow than painters who bill only at the end. Bundled progress payments make frequent invoicing cost you zero extra time — because the invoice is already in the flow of updating the client.

← Back to help centre

Measure accurately. Quote intelligently. Work profitably.

Surfacely is the surface intelligence platform for painting companies. Start free — no credit card.

Start Free — No Credit Card