Billing by work package

Real projects are rarely billed one way. A design and build job might bill the design by % complete, the groundworks as a lump sum, the build at cost plus and the variations on time and materials. On MX-Gantt projects every work package can bill its own way, and the client still gets one invoice with nothing billed twice.

A work package you leave on Not set bills exactly as it always has. Billing by work package only changes the packages you set.

The four billing types

Set the billing of a work package from the Billing column of the project plan, or from the Billing tab in Budget pro.

Billing	What gets invoiced	Revenue
Time and materials	Approved time at bill rates, line items at their bill rate and the fundable milestones in the package.	Booked as time is approved and costs are incurred.
Fixed fee: by milestones (lump sum)	Only the fundable milestones in the package, once they are ready to invoice. Time and costs are your cost, not the client's.	The fee. Realized as each milestone is ready to invoice.
Fixed fee: by % complete	The fee times the % complete you confirm, less what's already billed.	The fee. Realized as you confirm progress.
Cost plus	Approved time at its cost rate and line items at cost, each plus your markup. Fundable milestones in the package bill too, for a fixed fee on top.	Cost plus the markup, as costs are incurred.

Cost plus: a kitchen refit

The client pays what the work really costs plus 15%. The Kitchen package is set to Cost plus with a 15% markup:

10 approved hours of a carpenter who costs $40 an hour bill at $46 an hour: $460. The carpenter's usual bill rate isn't used.
$1,000 of kitchen units bill at $1,150.
A $300 skip hire expense bills at $345.
A $500 fundable milestone in the package bills on top: cost plus a fixed fee.

Lump sum: the groundworks

The groundworks are quoted at $10,000: $4,000 when the slab is poured and $6,000 at handover. The package is set to Fixed fee: by milestones with a $10,000 fee, and the two milestones sit inside it.

The fee is the package's revenue, whatever the hours add up to. Each milestone is offered for invoicing once it is ready, and the crew's time shows as cost but never reaches an invoice. If the milestones don't add up to the fee, Budget pro tells you.

% complete: a design fee

The design fee is $30,000, billed each month for the share of the design that's done. The package is set to Fixed fee: by % complete.

missionX suggests the % from the package's tasks, weighted by their hours: when Concept (40 of the 200 design hours) is done, the suggestion is 20%. You confirm a % as of a date, and you can confirm more or less than the suggestion. Each confirmation is kept, with who made it and when.

You confirm	Offered for invoicing	Revenue booked
20%	$6,000	+$6,000
45%	$7,500 ($13,500 less the $6,000 billed)	+$7,500
40%	Nothing: billed ahead by $1,500	-$1,500
60%	$4,500 ($18,000 less the $13,500 billed)	+$6,000

Progress billing sits naturally next to Earned Value: the % complete you track is the % complete you bill.

One project, one invoice

At month end the invoice wizard offers everything that is billable across the packages: the slab poured milestone, the design progress, the cost-plus kitchen time and units, the site visits on time and materials and the rebilled expenses. What a package doesn't bill, such as time under a lump sum, is never offered. Once invoiced, nothing is offered again.

Rebilling expenses

Expenses belong to the project rather than to a work package. In Budget pro settings, choose whether approved expenses are rebilled to the client: not at all, at cost, or at cost plus a markup. Taxes and tips follow your organization's invoicing settings.

When costs are in another currency than the project, cost plus and rebilled expenses convert at the exchange rate of the day the work or the expense happened.

Good to know

A sub-package takes the billing of the package above it. Inside a cost-plus package it can bill its own way, for example a fixed-price subcontract.
A fixed fee covers everything under it, so its sub-packages can't bill their own way.
Changing the billing of a package with invoiced work asks first. What's invoiced stays on its invoice and is never billed twice.
Project managers and admins set billing and confirm progress.
Retainers are for simple and kanban projects. On MX-Gantt, bill recurring work as time and materials or as milestones.