Start with the project that is ready to bill

This process is usually owned by the office admin, owner, project manager or bookkeeper who controls customer billing. It starts in the project record because that is where Fencify keeps the contract value, linked invoices, payment history and payment schedule together.

Before issuing anything, open the project and confirm the billing foundations are sound:

• the contract value still matches the current agreed job scope
• the customer name, email and address are complete enough for the invoice
• the project payment schedule reflects the stages you expect to charge
• previous claim stages have already been settled if the next stage is about to be issued
• no one has already closed the relevant invoice by voiding or cancelling it

On a practical fencing job, that means checking the project after the crew has genuinely reached a deposit, progress or final stage. If the job is still waiting on approvals, variations, neighbour cost decisions or site changes that affect the amount, settle those first so the billed figure is the one you actually want the client to see.

Read the schedule, invoice and payment records as one chain

Fencify keeps the project finance flow clear by giving each record a separate job. When your team reads them in the right order, billing stays much easier to trust.

The schedule answers what should be charged next. The invoice answers what has been billed. The payment history answers what has actually been received. The audit trail answers how the payment event was processed. Keep all four aligned and the project ledger stays believable.

Issue the next progress claim from the project schedule

When the project is ready for the next stage, use the Payment Schedule card on the project. Fencify only allows a stage to be issued when earlier schedule items have already been paid or cancelled, which helps keep billing in the right order.

1. Open the relevant project and find the schedule item marked Due.
2. Review the stage label and amount so you know you are billing the correct milestone.
3. Set the due date you want the client to work to.
4. Issue the claim from that schedule row.

When you do this, Fencify creates a numbered invoice for the same amount, links that invoice back to the schedule item, records the claim time and moves the schedule item into Issued. If the project already has a linked invoice for that schedule item, the system takes you back to that existing billing record instead of duplicating it.

This matters on staged fencing jobs because deposit, mid-job and final billing can blur together quickly once crews are on site. The schedule keeps the office anchored to the agreed order of charging instead of creating invoices whenever someone remembers to do it.

Use the invoicing area to manage the bill you have just created

Once a claim is issued, move into the invoicing list for the day-to-day invoice actions. The invoicing area shows invoice number, client, project, amount, balance due, current status, ageing context and the latest accounting queue notes where they exist.

This is also where direct invoice creation sits when a charge needs to exist outside the staged claim flow. In normal project finance work, though, the cleanest habit is to let the schedule create the progress claim invoice and then manage that invoice from here.

From the invoicing page or the invoice edit screen, you can review:

• the total amount and paid-to-date figure
• the remaining balance
• the due date
• the invoice status
• internal notes for the office

If the invoice needs correction before it reaches the client, fix it here while the story is still simple. If the amount is wrong because the stage itself is wrong, go back to the project context and check whether the schedule or broader project scope needs attention as well.

Special billing paths such as split invoices belong early in the job setup. If a project is going to be shared across client and neighbour billing, settle that structure before ordinary non-deposit project invoices start to build up.

Send the invoice once the details are ready for the client

When the invoice is right, send it from the invoicing area. Fencify uses the stored client email and your configured invoice email content to send the billing record, and the invoice status moves to Sent.

Before sending, check these points carefully:

• the invoice belongs to the correct project and customer
• the amount reflects the stage you intended to charge
• the due date is realistic for the client and your business terms
• the invoice terms and notes are suitable for this job
• the client email is current, especially if the lead was first created weeks earlier

The invoice PDF itself includes the billing details, project reference, payment details, payment terms and any existing payment history already linked to that invoice. That makes it worth previewing if the job is sensitive, such as a larger commercial stage claim or a residential job where the customer has already queried scope or timing.

On a typical suburban fencing project, this is the point where the customer first sees the stage amount in a formal bill rather than as part of the quote or project updates. Treat it as a final sense-check moment before the invoice becomes part of the receivables cycle.

Record full and partial payments back on the project

When money arrives, return to the project and use the payment history area to record it. This keeps the payment attached to the same project ledger that holds the schedule and invoice records.

1. Open the project and choose Record Payment.
2. Select the invoice when the payment belongs to an issued claim.
3. Enter the amount, date, payment method, transaction reference and note.
4. Save the payment so Fencify can update the project and invoice figures together.

Partial payment is supported as long as the amount does not exceed the balance remaining on the selected invoice. That is useful when a client pays a staged amount in two transfers, or when a commercial customer pays one claim across several remittance lines. Full payment clears the invoice once the recorded paid amount reaches the invoice total.

After the payment is saved, Fencify updates the invoice paid amount, refreshes the invoice status to Sent or Paid as appropriate, recalculates the project paid amount and re-syncs the schedule. A paid schedule item stays paid. An issued item that is only partly covered remains in the billed state until the balance is cleared.

This is why invoice allocation matters. A project-level payment with no invoice selected may still help the project total, but it is much harder to follow later when you are reviewing invoice balances, reminder timing or the payment audit trail.

Handle pending portal lodgements and audit events before you trust the money

Some customer payments first appear as a lodged bank or cash payment from the public portal. Fencify surfaces these in the project payment history with a pending marker so the office can verify them before they are treated as cleared funds.

When that happens, the project finance area shows the pending count and lets your team apply the payment to the correct invoice after checking the funds or receipt. This is especially important if the portal payment relates to a specific invoice, neighbour share or variation amount. Apply it against the right invoice so the balance and stage history stay clean.

The Payment Event Audit Trail sits alongside this history and gives you the processing record for invoice, claim and payment events. Each row shows the date, event source, event status, transaction value where available and a reference such as a payment, invoice or claim record.

That trail is useful when a bookkeeper wants to confirm whether a payment event was applied, when a duplicate action was ignored, or when a client-lodged payment is still being worked through. On jobs with several part payments, it becomes the quickest way to understand what happened without reconstructing the sequence from emails.

Keep overdue balances moving before they turn into stale debt

The invoicing list shows whether an open invoice has become overdue and tracks reminder timing. Fencify's reminder cadence works from the due date and can queue reminders at day 0, day 3, day 7 and day 14 after the invoice becomes overdue.

Use the overdue reminder action after checking the latest payment activity, especially if the client has already made a part payment or called the office about timing. Once an invoice is fully paid, void or cancelled, Fencify clears the reminder queue for that invoice so the office is not chasing a closed bill.

A practical weekly review looks like this:

1. check the project schedule for stages that should now be issued
2. check the invoicing list for sent invoices with balances still outstanding
3. send reminders only after confirming the invoice still needs chasing
4. return to the project to record or apply any payment that has arrived

This rhythm helps keep the finance work close to the project reality. A client may be late because the job scope changed, because a neighbour share is unresolved, or because a bank transfer has been lodged but not yet verified. Checking the project and the invoice together gives the office the context it needs before sending another reminder.

Practical fencing example and final review before the next claim

Imagine a two-stage Colorbond replacement where the deposit has already been cleared and the crew has now completed posts, rails and most sheet installation. The next progress stage is due. The office opens the project, confirms the progress item is marked Due, sets the due date and issues the claim. Fencify creates the invoice and changes that schedule row to Issued.

The office then opens the invoicing list, checks the client email and sends the invoice. A few days later the client transfers part of the amount, so the project payment form is used to record a partial payment against that exact invoice. The invoice balance drops, the project paid total rises and the schedule remains linked to the same claim. When the remaining amount lands, the office records the final payment against the same invoice, which moves the invoice to Paid and keeps the project ledger consistent.

Before moving on to the next claim stage, run this review checklist:

• the billed schedule item is the one you meant to charge
• the invoice amount, due date and client details are correct
• every received payment has been attached to the right invoice where possible
• pending portal bank or cash lodgements have been verified before application
• the payment event audit trail tells the same story as the payment history
• any overdue invoice has either been followed up or explained by recent payment activity
• the next schedule item is still the right stage to chase after this one is cleared

The most useful supporting quick guides to keep near this workflow are Project payment schedule, Split project invoices, Issue progress claims, Create an invoice, Send an invoice, Record full payment, Record partial payment, Update invoice status, Project payment audit and Send overdue reminder.