Payment schedules
Split a contract into a deposit, milestones, installments or recurring payments, and let Tillage create the invoices when the client signs.
A payment schedule sets out when your client pays: half up front and half on completion, say, or five monthly installments. You pick a schedule when you create a contract, and when the client signs, Tillage creates every invoice in the schedule. The first one is ready to pay straight away.
Schedules come from reusable payment schedule templates, so you set up your usual terms once.
Schedule templates
Go to Contracts → Payment Schedules in the sidebar. The first time you open it, or need a schedule in a quote or contract, Tillage adds five popular templates for you.
Built-in templates
Click Add Templates to add more from the built-in set:
| Template | Payments |
|---|---|
| 50/50 Split | 50% on signing, 50% on completion |
| 50/25/25 Progress | 50% on signing, 25% at a milestone, 25% on completion |
| Installments (20%) | Five equal monthly payments |
| Milestone-Based | 25% on signing, 25% at each of two milestones, 25% on completion |
| Recurring Subscription | A recurring payment; frequency and duration are set when you use it |
| 30/30/40 Balanced | 30%, 30%, then a larger 40% final payment |
| 25/25/25/25 Quarterly | Four equal payments, 90 days apart |
| 100% Net 30 | Full payment 30 days after completion |
| 70/30 Heavy Upfront | 70% on signing, 30% on completion |
| 33/33/34 Three-Way Split | Three roughly equal payments |
The first five are marked Popular. Use Select Popular (5) or Select All (10), then Add N Templates. You can edit any of them afterwards.
Create your own
- Click New Template.
- Enter a Template Name. To start from a common pattern, choose one under Quick Start.
- Choose a Category: Deposit Plans, Milestone-Based, Progress Payments, Subscription or Custom Schedule. Add a Description.
- Add rows with Add Payment Milestone. For each row, set a Description, Due when, the amount and the timing (see below).
- Turn on Default for {Category} if you want this template selected first.
- Click Create Template.
Percentage payments must add up to 100%. The Payment Summary shows how much is scheduled and how much is left, using a $10,000 example total.
Payment types
| Due when | Amount | Timing |
|---|---|---|
| Contract signing | Percentage of total | A number of days after signing |
| Project milestone | Percentage of total | A named milestone |
| Project completion | Percentage of total | A number of days after completion |
| Fixed date | Percentage of total | A calendar date |
| Recurring | A fixed amount per payment | A frequency, and a number of payments (leave empty for no end) |
| Installment | A total amount, split evenly | A number of payments, and Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Biannual or Annually |
Signing, milestone, completion and fixed-date payments are always a percentage of the contract total. Recurring and installment rows sit outside the 100% total.
Add a schedule to a contract
Your contract template needs a Payment Schedule block. See Contract templates.
- In the contract wizard, go to the Payment Schedule step.
- Under Select Payment Schedule, choose a template, or Invoice in Full for one invoice for the whole amount.
- Check the Payment Schedule Preview, which lists each payment with its amount and date for this contract.
- To adjust it for this contract only, click Customize. In Customize Payment Schedule, change dates, days after signing or completion, milestone descriptions, or the number and frequency of installments, then click Save Changes.
Dates are counted from the Project Start Date you set on the Basic Information step, not from the day the client signs. Set the start date to when you expect the client to sign if you want “on signing” payments to line up.
Automatic payments
If the schedule includes recurring or installment payments, a Payment Options box appears. Turn on Auto-charge due invoices, then choose the client’s Stripe Customer for Auto-Charge and the Payment Method for Auto-Charge. Only that payment method is used.
Auto-charge needs the client’s permission. When it’s on, the signing page asks the client to authorize automatic payments. See Autopay and saved cards.
What happens when the client signs
When the client signs, the contract is executed and Tillage creates every invoice in the schedule at once.
- The first invoice is issued and ready to pay. The client sees it on the confirmation screen with a Pay Now button. It isn’t emailed separately, so if they close the page, send them the invoice from Invoices. Payments due on signing are due on receipt.
- Later invoices are created as drafts. Review and send each one from Invoices when it’s due. See Send an invoice and get paid.
- Milestone and completion payments without a fixed date are drafts with no issue date. Send each one when you reach the milestone.
- Installments become one invoice per payment, each due on receipt.
- Recurring payments create the first invoice and an active billing schedule. See Billing schedules.
Tillage doesn’t take a card at signing. A “deposit on signing” is the first invoice, which the client pays online straight after signing.
The contract’s payment schedule tab
Open a contract and go to the Payment Schedule tab to see each payment in the schedule, as a percentage of the contract value with its date or “Upon milestone”. The Invoices card lists the invoices created from it.
- Generate from Schedule creates the scheduled invoices if they don’t exist yet.
- Regenerate from Schedule updates existing invoices to match the schedule: it fixes amounts, dates, titles and line items, adds missing payments and removes extras, while keeping the same invoice numbers and payment links. It’s blocked once any invoice has been paid.
- Create Invoice makes a one-off invoice from the quote’s line items and any ongoing services.
Payment schedules without a contract
You can also split an approved quote into scheduled invoices without a contract. Choose Invoice Flow, then Scheduled Payments, in the quote’s Next Steps. See Create an invoice.