How do I generate a Bill from a Purchase Order or Subcontract?

In residential or commercial construction, subcontractors and vendors often complete portions of their agreed-upon work or deliveries at various stages throughout the project. Once part of the work is completed or a portion of materials is delivered, they will typically submit an invoice requesting payment for the corresponding value. In Contractor Foreman, this type of invoice is recorded as a Bill.

This article explains how you can generate a Bill from an existing Sub-Contract or Purchase Order, and how to record partial or full payments while keeping your project’s financials up to date.

When Should You Generate a Bill?

 Bill should be generated when:

1. A subcontractor completes part of their scope of work and submits an invoice.
2. A vendor fulfills part or in its full of a Purchase Order and requests payment.
3. You want to track actual costs against committed budgets.
4. You need to manage progress payments and retention on subcontracted work.
5. Generating a Bill from a Sub-Contract
6. Access the Sub-Contracts Module

From the Main Menu, select Sub-Contracts. Locate and open the Sub-Contract you want to create a Bill for.

Generating a Bill from a Sub-Contract

Access the Sub-Contracts Module

From the Main Menu, select Sub-Contracts. Locate and open the Sub-Contract you want to create a Bill for.

Generate the Bill

Once inside the Sub-Contract, click the three-dot menu (⋮) in the top-right corner of the screen. Select Generate Bill from the drop-down list.

This action will open a new Bill entry screen that is automatically linked to the Sub-Contract.

Enter Completion Details

The Bill form will show a list of line items from the Sub-Contract. For each item, review the line items and enter the percentage that reflects the portion of work completed to date.

Example:

If the subcontract includes Electrical work valued at $15,000, and the subcontractor has completed 10%, you would: Enter 10% or $1,500.00 as the billed amount.

This ensures that only the portion of the work completed is reflected in the financial records, with the remaining value still available for future billing.

Create the Bill

Once you’ve entered all necessary details, click Generate Bill to finalize the entry.

After the Bill is created, It will appear under the Bills module and also within the Documents tab of the associated Sub-Contract.

To post payments against the bill, open the Bill, click the three-dot menu at the top right, and choose to Post Payment. This lets you record either partial or full payments based on the agreement with the subcontractor.

Do the Bill and Payment go to QuickBooks Online?

Yes, once the Bill was created, it will sync with QuickBooks Online automatically in just a few seconds and the way to confirm it is that you will find at the bottom of the screen a note “Synced with QuickBooks” as shown below.

The same way the Bill synced automatically with QuickBooks, once you make the payment it will go to QuickBooks in matter of seconds. To confirm this, this time let’s go to the QuickBooks account to confirm. You can do that by clicking (see screenshot above) on the bill number at the bottom of the screen (in this case #91). The Bill will be opened in QuickBooks Online and will be shown as paid.

Generating a Bill from a Purchase Order

The process of generating a Bill from a Purchase Order (PO) is nearly identical:

Go to the Purchase Orders module from the Main Menu. Open the specific Purchase Order. Click the three-dot menu (⋮) in the top right corner.

Select Generate Bill after you have entered the quantities for which the vendor is charging you for. This Bill will be linked to the PO, where you can specify how much of the ordered materials or services have been received and are being billed.

Enter the amount completed for each line item and then click Generate Bill to save it.

In the Bill you can record any payments made through the Bill screen as shown before with the Subcontract Bill. Click on the 3-dot drop-down menu and post a payment.

Do the Bill and Payment go to QuickBooks Online?

Yes, once the Bill was created, it will sync with QuickBooks Online automatically in just a few seconds and the way to confirm it is that you will find at the bottom of the screen a note “Synced with QuickBooks” as shown below.

The same way the Bill synced automatically with QuickBooks, once you make the payment it will go to QuickBooks in matter of seconds. To confirm this, this time let’s go to the QuickBooks account to confirm. You can do that by clicking (see screenshot above) on the bill number at the bottom of the screen (in this case #95). The Bill will be opened in QuickBooks Online and will be shown as paid.

How It Impacts Your Project Financials

Once a Bill is created:

1. The amount billed is recorded as an Actual Cost against the project.
2. The remaining balance stays under Committed Costs until future billing.
3. If retention is set in the Sub-Contract, it will be deducted from the payment and tracked for later release.
4. Bills are also synced with QuickBooks if you have integration enabled, ensuring consistency across accounting systems.
5. Generating a Bill from a Sub-Contract or Purchase Order in Contractor Foreman is a crucial part of financial tracking and project control. It allows you to monitor costs accurately, manage payments, and ensure that every dollar spent aligns with the work completed or materials delivered.

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