Milestones

A milestone is a stage of a job — demolition, rough-in, inspection, finish — with an optional amount against it. They give your client something better than “in progress” to look at, and they give you something to bill against before the whole job is done.

Add milestones to a job

Milestones live on the job’s page. Add one with:

• Title — the stage, up to 200 characters.
• Description — what it covers, if the title is not enough.
• Amount — what this stage is worth. Optional: a milestone can be a stage of work with no money attached.
• Due date — when you expect it done.

New milestones go on the end of the list, and you drag them into the order the work actually happens.

Track where the work is

Each milestone is Not started, In progress or Completed, changed from the milestone’s card or in its edit form. When you mark one completed, the time it was completed is recorded for you.

The job shows the summary — 3 of 5 milestones completed — which is the one line that answers “how is that job going” without anybody opening anything.

Bill by stage rather than at the end

Giving a milestone an amount is what turns it into a billing stage. On a job with four milestones at 25% each you can invoice as each one is finished, rather than carrying the whole job and asking for everything at the end.

When a proposal is accepted, its milestones come across onto the job as they were quoted, so the stages your client agreed to are the stages you bill against. See Proposals.

Void a milestone you no longer need

Milestones are voided rather than deleted, and voiding can be undone. If a stage drops out of the work — the client canceled the tiling, the inspection turned out not to be required — voiding keeps the history of what was originally planned, which is usually the thing in dispute later.