Invoicing & payments tools for General contractors
Tools that help general contractors with invoicing & payments. Turning completed work into invoices, chasing payment and reconciling the books.
Where Invoicing & payments goes wrong for General contractors
Retention, progress claims and lien waivers make GC invoicing contractual rather than simple. Billing without the right paperwork attached is how payments get held up for weeks.
What General contractors jobs really involve
General contractors coordinate other trades, which means documentation, scheduling and compliance are constant rather than occasional. On larger projects the paper trail is often contractually required, not merely useful.
Invoicing & payments tools for General contractors, compared
| Tool | Best for | Pricing | Free option |
|---|---|---|---|
| Knowify | Contractors who need to know whether a job actually made money. | Paid (per user, per month) | Free trial |
| QuickBooks | Businesses that need proper books and an accountant who already knows the software. | Paid (tiered) | Free trial |
| Xero | Businesses wanting cloud accounting with trade-specific add-ons. | Paid (tiered) | Free trial |
Knowify
Job costing and project management for trade contractors.
QuickBooks
Accounting software most trade businesses end up on.
Xero
Cloud accounting with a large add-on marketplace.
Frequently asked questions
Which invoicing & payments tools work best for general contractors?
The three that fit best here are Knowify (Contractors who need to know whether a job actually made money), QuickBooks (Businesses that need proper books and an accountant who already knows the software), Xero (Businesses wanting cloud accounting with trade-specific add-ons). Start with the one whose description matches your crew size, not the one with the longest feature list.
How much does invoicing & payments software cost for general contractors?
Across the 3 tools on this page, 0 have a free tier and the rest are paid, most of them billed per user per month. Prices change often, so treat the figures here as indicative and confirm on the vendor site.
Why does invoicing & payments cause problems for general contractors specifically?
Retention, progress claims and lien waivers make GC invoicing contractual rather than simple. Billing without the right paperwork attached is how payments get held up for weeks.
How many projects can a small GC manage without software?
Two or three concurrent projects are manageable with spreadsheets. Beyond that, subcontractor schedules, RFIs and progress claims start needing a system with one shared record.