Invoice Settings and Billing Options
BaseBuilders gives you several company-level invoice settings that control how invoices behave after they are issued, how past-due invoices are displayed, and how billing periods are applied when creating invoices.
You can find these settings under:
Settings → Invoices → Billing Options
This article explains each option and when to use it.
Billing Options Overview
The Billing Options section includes several groups of settings:
Past due grace period
Past due invoice display behavior
Post-invoice checks
Automatic phase closeout options
Automatic percent complete updates
Billing cycles
These settings do not change how your accounting system works. They control how BaseBuilders helps you manage invoice status, billing periods, phase progress, and invoice-related project updates.
Past Due Grace Period
The past due grace period controls when an invoice should be treated as past due inside BaseBuilders.
This is especially useful if you issue invoices that are due on receipt.
BaseBuilders ages invoices from the issue date, not the due date. That means the system looks at how old the invoice is based on when it was issued.
For example, if an invoice is due on receipt, you may not want it to immediately show a Past Due watermark the same day it is created. A grace period gives you a buffer before the invoice is marked or displayed as past due.
Example: Due on Receipt Invoices
If you create invoices that are due on receipt, you may want to set a grace period of:
3 to 5 days
That allows you to issue and print the invoice without it immediately displaying as past due.
After the grace period passes, BaseBuilders can then treat the invoice as past due.
Example: Net 15 or Net 30 Invoices
The grace period is added after the invoice due date.
For example:
Invoice terms: Net 15
Past due grace period: 10 days
In this case, the invoice would not show as past due until 25 days after the issue date.
That includes:
15 days from the invoice terms
10 additional days from the grace period
What the Grace Period Affects
The past due grace period can affect:
Whether an invoice appears as past due in invoice list views
Whether the past due watermark appears when reprinting an invoice
When BaseBuilders visually flags an invoice as past due
You can also choose not to use past due watermarks. If you do use them, the grace period helps control when they appear.
Recommended Setting
For most firms:
Use 0 days if you want invoices marked past due immediately after the due date.
Use 3–5 days if you issue due-on-receipt invoices and do not want immediate past-due labeling.
Use 10–15 days if you want a more relaxed internal collections threshold.
This setting is safe to adjust. You can change it, review how invoices display, and change it back if needed.
Post-Invoice Checks
Post-invoice checks allow BaseBuilders to review project and phase information when an invoice is saved.
These checks help keep billing, percent complete, work in progress, and phase status aligned.
When saving an invoice, BaseBuilders can check whether related phases should be updated based on what was just billed.
Phase Closeout Checks
BaseBuilders can check whether a phase has been billed 100%.
If a phase has been fully billed, the system can help update that phase to a closeout status and set percent complete to 100%.
This can apply to:
Fixed fee phases
Hourly phases
Cost plus phases
Not-to-exceed versions of those billing types
BaseBuilders groups these under the three major billing formats:
Fixed fee
Hourly
Cost plus
Closeout Options
For each billing format, you can choose how BaseBuilders should handle the update.
Do Not Update
BaseBuilders will not make or suggest changes.
Use this if your team manually manages phase status and percent complete.
Prompt Me
BaseBuilders will ask whether you want to update the phase when the invoice is saved.
Use this if you want control while still letting the system catch phases that may need attention.
Update Automatically
BaseBuilders will update the phase automatically when the invoice is saved.
Use this if you want the system to handle these updates without manual review.
Percent Complete Updates
Percent complete is important because it affects project visibility, backlog, and work in progress calculations.
Ideally, project managers should update percent complete as project phases move forward. In practice, this does not always happen consistently.
BaseBuilders can help by updating percent complete to match the amount billed.
Example: Fixed Fee Phase
Suppose a fixed fee phase has been billed 30%, but percent complete was never updated.
BaseBuilders can update the phase percent complete to 30%.
This keeps the project from showing inaccurate progress, backlog, or work in progress data.
Why Percent Complete Matters
Percent complete affects how BaseBuilders calculates project progress and financial position, especially on fixed fee work.
If percent complete is not updated, your project reports may show distorted numbers.
For example:
Backlog may be overstated.
Work in progress may be inaccurate.
The project may appear less complete than it really is.
Billing and progress may fall out of alignment.
The percent complete update setting helps reduce that problem.
Percent Complete Options
You can choose one of three behaviors:
Do Not Update
BaseBuilders will not change percent complete.
Use this if project managers are responsible for keeping phase progress current.
Prompt Me
BaseBuilders will ask before updating percent complete.
Use this if you want the system to catch possible updates without making changes automatically.
Update Automatically
BaseBuilders will update percent complete to match the percent billed.
Use this if you want billing activity to drive phase progress updates automatically.
Hourly Target Fee Updates
For hourly phases, BaseBuilders can also check whether the billed amount has exceeded the target fee.
If a phase has a target fee and the amount billed is greater than that target, BaseBuilders can update the target fee so the phase does not show negative work in progress.
This is useful when hourly work continues beyond the original target amount.
Example: Hourly Phase
Suppose an hourly phase has:
Target fee: $5,000
Amount billed: $5,800
If the target fee stays at $5,000, the phase may show a negative work in progress condition.
BaseBuilders can update the target fee to at least match the amount billed.
As with the other post-invoice checks, you can choose whether BaseBuilders should:
Not update
Prompt before updating
Update automatically
Billing Cycles
Billing cycles allow BaseBuilders to automatically set billing period dates when creating invoices.
This is useful if your firm bills on a regular schedule.
You can enable billing cycles and choose an interval such as:
Monthly
Weekly
Semi-monthly
You can also choose the cycle start date.
Example: Calendar Month Billing
If your billing cycle follows the calendar month, your invoice billing period may run from:
May 1 through May 31
When creating invoices, BaseBuilders can automatically populate those dates.
Example: Custom Monthly Billing Cycle
Some firms do not bill by calendar month.
For example, your billing cycle may run from:
April 21 through May 20
In that case, you can set the billing cycle start date to the 21st.
When you create invoices, BaseBuilders uses that billing cycle to populate the invoice period.
Where Billing Cycles Matter
Billing cycle dates are used when creating invoices.
When you create a new invoice, BaseBuilders can automatically fill in the billing period start and end dates based on your billing cycle settings.
These dates matter because they control which unbilled items are available to include on the invoice.
This can include:
Time slips
Expenses
Services
Consultant pass-throughs
If you use Rocket Billing, BaseBuilders will only include items with dates that match the billing period.
Example: Billing Through the 20th
Suppose your billing period is:
April 21 through May 20
When you create invoices, BaseBuilders will look for unbilled time, expenses, services, and consultant pass-throughs that fall within that date range.
Items outside that period will not be included unless you adjust the invoice dates.
Clearing the Billing Start Date
If you want to bill everything up through a certain end date, you can clear the billing start date.
For example, if you clear the start date and set the end date to May 20, BaseBuilders can include eligible unbilled items dated any time before or on May 20.
This is useful when you want to pick up older unbilled items that fall before the current billing cycle.
If Billing Cycles Are Turned Off
If billing cycles are not enabled, BaseBuilders will not automatically fill in the billing period dates.
Instead, the start and end dates will be blank when creating an invoice.
You can then enter the billing period manually.
Recommended Setup
For most firms, the safest starting point is:
Past Due Grace Period
Use a small grace period if you issue due-on-receipt invoices.
Recommended starting point:
3 to 5 days
If you use Net 15 or Net 30 terms and want stricter aging, use:
0 days
Post-Invoice Checks
Use Prompt Me when first setting up these options.
This lets BaseBuilders catch possible updates without making automatic changes before your team is comfortable with the workflow.
Once you trust the behavior, you can switch selected options to Update Automatically.
Percent Complete Updates
Use Prompt Me if project managers are supposed to manage percent complete.
Use Update Automatically if your firm wants billing progress to drive percent complete updates.
Be careful with automatic updates if your percent complete values are used for project management decisions that should not always match billing.
Billing Cycles
Enable billing cycles if your firm bills on a consistent schedule.
Leave billing cycles off if invoice periods vary by project or client and you prefer to set billing dates manually.
Important Notes
The past due grace period is only an internal timing control. It does not change the invoice issue date or accounting date.
Billing cycles do not create invoices by themselves. They only help populate invoice date ranges.
Post-invoice checks do not replace project manager judgment. They help keep billing, phase status, and percent complete from drifting apart.
If you are unsure which option to use, start with Prompt Me instead of automatic updates.
Summary
Invoice settings and billing options help BaseBuilders keep your billing process cleaner and more consistent.
Use these settings to:
Control when invoices appear past due
Prevent immediate past-due watermarks on due-on-receipt invoices
Prompt or automate phase closeout updates
Keep percent complete aligned with billing
Update hourly target fees when needed
Automatically populate billing period dates
Control which time, expense, service, and consultant items are included on invoices
These settings are flexible. You can adjust them, test the behavior, and change them as your firm’s billing process becomes more standardized.