Contractor & Construction Invoice Generator
This contractor invoice generator turns a day of labor, a pile of material receipts, and a deposit already collected into one clean, itemized PDF you can hand a client on site — built for trades and construction, not for spreadsheets. List every hour and every material as its own line, add your sales tax with a real "Sales Tax" label, subtract the deposit, and download an A4 invoice that matches the live preview exactly. It runs entirely in your browser: no sign-up, no watermark, nothing uploaded, and your business name, logo, and currency are saved on your device so the next job's invoice starts half-done.
Make a printable invoice.
How to use the for contractors
- Fill in the From block with your business name, address, and license or insurance details, and upload your logo — these save to your device and carry over to every future invoice.
- Add the client in the Bill To block, set the invoice number, date, and due date, and pick your currency (USD by default).
- Add one line item per piece of work: labor lines as hours times your rate, and each material or change order on its own line so the client can see the breakdown.
- Set the tax label to "Sales Tax", enter your rate, and if a deposit was already paid, add a line item with a negative unit price to subtract it from the total.
- Check the live preview, add any payment terms or retainage note in Notes, then download the A4 PDF — it matches the preview exactly, with no watermark or sign-up.
About the for contractors
The thing that makes a construction invoice different from a freelancer's is that it has two kinds of cost on it — your labor and the materials you fronted — and clients want to see them apart. This generator gives you unlimited line items, so the honest way to build a contractor invoice is one line per thing: "Framing labor, 16 hrs @ $65", "2x4 lumber (Home Depot receipt)", "Demolition and haul-away", "Electrical rough-in". Quantity times unit price fills the amount column for you, and the subtotal adds it all up. Keeping labor and materials on separate lines isn't just tidy — in many US states materials are taxable while labor isn't, and a client disputing a bill will always challenge a vague "$4,200 for the job" far faster than a list that shows exactly where the money went. Change orders get the same treatment: add a line, describe the extra scope, price it, and the total updates. If you mark up materials, price the line at your marked-up rate rather than the receipt total — the invoice shows what the client owes, and your cost stays your business.
Deposits, progress draws, and retainage are where you should know the honest limits up front, because this is a PDF maker, not job-costing software — there is no dedicated deposit or retainage field. What works cleanly: bill each stage of the job as its own invoice (deposit invoice, progress invoice for the framing draw, final invoice), numbering them INV-001, INV-002 and so on. To show a deposit you already collected on the final bill, add a line item like "Deposit received (paid 3/14)" and enter a negative unit price such as -1500 — the amount column goes negative and the total drops by that much, so the client sees exactly what's left owing. Retainage that a general contractor withholds until closeout works the same way: a "Retention held (10%)" line with a negative amount, or simply a note in the Notes field spelling out the retained figure and when it's due. The percentage Discount field is really meant for an actual discount (a repeat-customer or early-pay break), so reach for a negative line item when the amount is a fixed dollar figure rather than a percentage.
Sales tax rides on the tool's editable tax label: type "Sales Tax" (or leave it as "Tax"), enter your combined state-and-local rate, and it's applied to the taxable subtotal after any discount. One thing to be straight about — the tax line applies a single rate to the whole subtotal, so if your jurisdiction taxes materials but not labor, this tool won't split that automatically; the practical workaround is to invoice taxable materials separately, or calculate the material-only tax yourself and drop it in as a line. Beyond tax, you can upload your company logo (it embeds top-left of the PDF), pick your currency, and put your license number, insurance, or bond details right in the From address block — there's no separate field for them, but the address box takes as many lines as you need. It is not accounting software: it won't save a client list, take card payments, or file anything for you. For the self-employed side of the trades, the Freelance Invoice page is a lighter fit, and if you invoice under GST or VAT, the GST/VAT Invoice page presets the tax label and currency for you — all three are the same Invoice Generator, framed for a different job. The "New invoice" button clears the client and line items but keeps your business details, logo, and currency, so the second invoice of the day takes seconds.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a contractor invoice generator?
- It is a free tool that builds an itemized invoice for trades and construction work and downloads it as a PDF. This one lets you list labor and materials as separate line items, add a sales tax line, subtract a deposit, upload your logo, and hand the client a clean A4 invoice. It runs entirely in your browser with no sign-up and nothing uploaded — it makes the document, it is not accounting or job-costing software.
- How do I separate labor and materials on a construction invoice?
- Give each its own line item. Add a line for labor (for example "Tile install, 12 hrs @ $70") and separate lines for materials ("Porcelain tile, 220 sq ft", "Thinset and grout"). Quantity times unit price fills the amount automatically and the subtotal totals everything. Splitting them out matters because clients scrutinize a lump sum, and because in many states materials are taxable while labor is not — a clear breakdown makes both the bill and the tax defensible.
- How do I show a deposit or a progress payment that's already been paid?
- There is no dedicated deposit field, so the honest way is a line item: add "Deposit received (paid 3/14)" and enter a negative unit price like -2000. The amount column goes negative and the total drops by that much, showing the client exactly what's still owing. For staged work, an alternative is to bill each phase as its own numbered invoice — a deposit invoice, a progress invoice, then a final invoice — so each draw stands on its own.
- Can I handle retainage or retention on the invoice?
- Yes, manually — there's no built-in retainage field, so add a line item such as "Retention held (10%)" with a negative amount, or spell the retained figure out in the Notes at the bottom along with when it becomes due at closeout. The tool won't calculate the retention percentage for you the way project-management software would, but it will show the withheld amount clearly on the PDF so the final balance is unambiguous.
- How do I add sales tax to a contractor invoice?
- Set the editable tax label to "Sales Tax" and enter your combined state-and-local rate; it's applied to the subtotal after any discount, and the total updates live. Be aware the tool applies one rate to the whole taxable subtotal, so if your jurisdiction taxes materials but not labor, it won't split that on its own. The workaround is to invoice taxable materials separately, or work out the material-only tax and enter it as a line.
- Can I put my company logo and license or insurance number on it?
- Yes. Upload a PNG or JPG logo and it embeds in the top-left of the PDF. There's no separate field for a license, bond, or insurance number, but the From (your business) address block accepts as many lines as you want — put your license #, EIN, and insurance carrier right there and they'll print under your business name on every invoice. Your logo and business details are saved on your device, so they carry over to the next job automatically.
- Does it save my clients or take payments like QuickBooks?
- No, and it's worth being clear: this is a free PDF invoice maker, not accounting software. It won't keep a saved client list, process credit-card or ACH payments, sync to your books, or file taxes. What it does do well is produce a professional, itemized invoice in seconds with no account and no monthly fee. Many trades use it for exactly that and record payment separately in whatever system they already keep.
- Can I reuse it for my next job without retyping everything?
- Yes. The "New invoice" button clears the client and the line items but keeps your business name, address, logo, and currency, and it bumps the invoice number for you (INV-001 to INV-002). So your setup is entered once and every future invoice starts pre-filled with your details — you just add the new client and this job's labor and materials.