Free contractor invoice template

A blank contractor invoice template, free, in PDF and Word. No email address, no signup, no watermark, no "free trial" that expires. Download it, use it, keep it, send it to someone else. If you never install our app, that is genuinely fine.

Trade-specific versions

These are not the same file with a different title. Each one comes with the line items that trade actually bills for already typed into the description column — a plumber's starts with an emergency call-out and a drain snake, a roofer's starts with tear-off and squares — so you are filling in numbers, not staring at a blank grid.

What has to be on a contractor invoice

An invoice is a demand for money, and the ones that get paid without a phone call all contain the same things. Missing any of these is how a two-week payment becomes a two-month one.

• Your business details and licence number. Name, address, phone, email. If your trade is licensed, the number goes on every document — it is a credibility signal and in some states a legal requirement.
• The client's name and the job address. These are often different from each other, and the job address is what the client's memory keys off.
• An invoice number. Sequential. This matters more than it seems: it is how you refer to the document on the phone, and how your accountant finds it.
• The date, and the due date. "Due on receipt" is not a due date, it is a hope. Put a real one on it.
• Itemised line items. The single biggest factor in whether the invoice gets queried. "Bathroom work — $1,900" starts an argument. Six lines naming the fixtures, the labour and the parts do not.
• Labour separated from materials. It shows where the money went and it makes the number defensible.
• Subtotal, tax, deposit already paid, and the total due. Show the deposit as a deduction — a client who has forgotten they paid it will call you.
• Payment terms and accepted methods. Net 15, net 30, whatever you use, plus what happens if it is late. Terms you did not state are terms you do not have.

Our invoice template guide goes through each field and what happens when it is missing, and the deposits and payment terms guide covers what to ask for up front.

How to use the template

The PDF is for printing or filling in on a computer. The .docx is the one to take if you want to change it: open it in Word, Pages, or Google Docs (File → Open → upload), put your logo at the top, save it as your own, and reuse it forever.

Two suggestions from watching a lot of contractors do this. First, build your standard line items into your copy once — your call-out fee, your hourly rate, the three things you do most weeks — so you are never writing them from scratch. Second, save it somewhere you can reach from your phone, because the invoice you send from the driveway gets paid faster than the one you write on Sunday night.

Invoice, quote, estimate — which one are you sending?

These get used interchangeably and they are not the same document, which is how contractors end up committed to a price they only meant to indicate.

• An estimate is your best guess. It is not binding, and it should say so on its face. Use it when the scope genuinely is not knowable yet — you have not opened the wall.
• A quote is a fixed price for a defined scope. Once the customer accepts it, you are on the hook for that number for that work. This is the one to send when you know what the job is.
• An invoice is a demand for payment for work already done. It should reference the quote it came from, and any change orders agreed along the way.

The expensive mistake is sending an estimate that reads like a quote and then trying to raise the number later. Our quote vs invoice guide goes through it properly.

Four mistakes that keep the invoice unpaid

• One line for the whole job. A single number is a single thing to argue with. Itemised, each line is either right or it is not.
• No due date. "Due on receipt" is not enforceable and not a deadline. Put a date on it.
• Sending it days later. The value of your work in a customer's mind decays fast. Invoice while they can still see what you did.
• Not showing the deposit. If they paid one and it is not deducted on the page, you will get the phone call — and it undermines every other number on it.

When a template stops being enough

Honestly: a template is fine, and plenty of contractors run entire businesses on one. It stops being enough at a predictable point — when you are sending more than a handful a month, when you keep forgetting which invoice numbers you have used, or when the gap between finishing a job and writing the paperwork has started costing you real money in forgotten parts and unbilled changes.

That is the point where an app earns its keep, and it is the point where Toolbelt is worth a look: you speak the job, it writes the line items, and it sends before you leave the driveway. It is free for 3 documents a month, so you can find out on a real job without paying anyone.