📌 Stage 3 · Capturing Actuals · Job Costing · Billings · 30–40 min

Draw schedules, due dates by formula, and a simple aging flag

Learning goals

  • Bill fixed-price work in draws tied to milestones
  • Compute NET 30 due dates with plain date arithmetic
  • Flag invoices as Past due against a fixed report date - never TODAY()

Concepts

Draws, not one big invoice

A $96,250.00 kitchen is never invoiced at the end. Ridgeline bills draws tied to milestones: $24,000.00 when demo and framing are complete, $30,000.00 at mechanical rough-in, $28,000.00 when cabinets are set. By Jun 30, 2026 the kitchen has billed $82,000.00 of its contract.

The Billings journal is deliberately tiny: invoice number, date, job, description, amount. WIP will compare what has been billed against what has been earned (Lesson 13) - that comparison is the single best early-warning system a contractor has for cash.

💡 Tips:

  • Agencies and consultants bill the same journal monthly against retainers or sprint milestones; only the description wording changes.
  • Amounts exclude sales tax. Taxability of construction and services varies by state and contract type - confirm with your state Department of Revenue before invoicing.

NET 30 by formula

Every invoice carries NET 30 terms: payment is due 30 days after the invoice date. Excel dates are really day-numbers underneath, so due date is literally date plus thirty - no special function needed.

=$C5+30

C5 is the invoice date (Mar 31, 2026). Adding 30 lands on Apr 30, 2026, which displays through the column's mmm d, yyyy format. Plain arithmetic keeps the rule visible: change the terms and you change one number.

=IF($G5<Settings!$C$7,"Past due","Current")

G5 is the due date just computed; Settings!$C$7 is the report date, Jun 30, 2026 in this case. If the due date falls before the report date and the invoice is still open, the row reads Past due. Comparing against a fixed report date (not TODAY()) keeps the workbook's answers stable and auditable - the June close always shows June truth.

Read the aging at the close

On the report date the ledger holds seven invoices totaling $136,000.00. Three are past due - the Mar 31 kitchen draw, the Apr 30 kitchen draw, and the Apr 30 deck draw - together $64,000.00. The rest are current at $72,000.00.

A $64,000.00 past-due stack against a company that bills $136,000.00 in four months is a collections conversation, and it is sitting in plain sight because two formulas and one honest report date refuse to hide it.

Practice

Fixed case (Mar 1 – Jun 30, 2026). Pale-green cells are formulas. Cell G5 on Billings has been cleared - you will retype it.

  1. Read the draw schedule — The exercise opens on Billings. Rows 5 through 11: three kitchen draws, two deck bills, two bath draws.
  2. Retype the due date in G5 — Cell G5 is blank. Type =$C5+30 and press Enter. The Mar 31, 2026 draw returns a due date of Apr 30, 2026.
  3. Watch the aging flag — H5 compares Apr 30, 2026 against the Jun 30, 2026 report date and reads Past due. Scan down: rows 5, 6, and 8 are Past due; the rest read Current.
  4. Total the journal — Seven invoices: $82,000.00 kitchen + $20,000.00 deck + $34,000.00 bath = $136,000.00 billed to date. Past-due slice: $64,000.00.

Online exercise

The spreadsheet below is editable — follow the practice steps right on this page. Steps that need ribbon menus should be done in your own Excel with the downloadable practice file.

表格加载中…

Checklist

Work through each item; when every box passes, this lesson is done:

  • ☐ Typed =C5+30 into G5 and got Apr 30, 2026 for the first draw
  • ☐ Confirmed H5 reads Past due and exactly three invoices are flagged
  • ☐ Verified total billings of $136,000.00, with $64,000.00 past due at the Jun 30, 2026 report date