Subcontractor Invoice Template
A subcontractor invoice bills the general contractor, not the property owner, and references the GC’s job or PO number so it matches their records. Retainage, if the contract has it, is withheld from the total until later. A worked example and a free generator are below.
Billed to the wrong party is the most common mistake on a subcontractor invoice. The homeowner or developer paid the general contractor, and the general contractor owes you, which is a different chain than most trades deal with.
What goes on a subcontractor invoice
- Your business name and licence number
- General contractor name and address, billed as the client
- Job name or address, and the GC’s job or PO number
- Invoice number and issue date
- Labour, split by trade task if the scope covers more than one
- Materials supplied, at cost or with an agreed markup stated
- Change order work, billed separately from the original scope
- Retainage withheld, shown as a percentage and a dollar amount
- Tax, total, and the net amount due after retainage
A worked example
Job: Maple Street renovation, GC job number 4471. Electrical rough-in, 32 hours at $58.00 per hour, $1,856.00. Materials, wire and boxes, $340.00. Panel upgrade, change order approved 12 May, $620.00. Subtotal $2,816.00. Retainage withheld at 10%, -$281.60. Tax at 7%, $177.41. Net amount due $2,711.81.
Retainage sits on every invoice until the job passes final inspection or the contract’s retention period ends, so the running total withheld across a job can add up to real money by the last invoice.
Change orders are not the same invoice
Extra work approved mid-job should appear as its own line, dated and referenced against whatever change order number the GC issued, rather than folded into the original scope’s hours. A GC checking a subcontractor’s invoice against their own budget looks for that separation first, and an invoice that mixes the two makes every later invoice on the job harder to reconcile.
Create a subcontractor invoice free
The free invoice generator has these fields ready. Fill it in, preview it, and download the PDF. Nothing is uploaded and there is no account to make.
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Frequently asked questions
Who does a subcontractor bill?
The general contractor, not the property owner. The GC has already contracted with the owner, and the subcontractor is paid through the GC.
What is retainage on a subcontractor invoice?
A percentage of each invoice, commonly 5 to 10 percent, that the GC holds back until the job passes final inspection or a set retention period ends. It should appear on every invoice across the job, all the way to the last one.
Should change order work go on the same invoice as regular hours?
It can go on the same invoice, but as its own dated line referencing the change order number, kept separate from the original scope of work.