Long builds are where shops quietly turn into banks. The engine is on the stand for six weeks, the fab work stretches into a second month, and all that time you're carrying the labor and parts on your own dime until the car finally rolls out.
Progress billing fixes that. Instead of one big invoice at the end, you bill the customer for the work done so far, as you go, and keep cash coming in while the job is still on the lift.
How progress billing works
A progress bill is an invoice for a slice of the job, not the whole thing. The job stays open, the work keeps getting logged against it, and each progress bill picks up what's been done since the last one. The customer sees steady, predictable invoices, and you never end up waiting on one huge number at the finish line.
Filter the job by date to build the progress bill
To create a progress bill, filter the job by date. Pick the range you're billing for and MSA pulls in the labor and parts logged in that window, so the invoice reflects exactly the work done in that period. No spreadsheets, no guessing what was already billed.
Invoice History keeps every progress bill together
Every progress bill you send on a job is stored on the Invoice History page for that customer. You can see each progress invoice in order, what it covered, and where it stands, so when the customer calls asking what they've been billed for, the answer is on one screen.
Applying payments
When the customer pays, apply the payment to the specific progress invoice it belongs to. That keeps each invoice's balance accurate and gives you a clean record of what's been paid and what's still open on the job.
Automatic progress billing
If you'd rather not remember to send progress bills at all, turn on automatic progress billing. Set it up once and MSA generates the progress bills for you as the job moves along. It's the same progress bill you'd build by hand, created on schedule without anyone having to stop and do it.
Notifications for auto-generated bills
Automatic doesn't mean invisible. Set up user notifications so the right people on your team know every time an auto-generated progress bill is created. Your office manager or bookkeeper gets the heads-up, can review it, and can follow up with the customer.
Find them all on the Invoice Report
All of your progress bills, manual and automatic, show up on the Invoice Report. Use it to see everything that's been billed across your open jobs in one place, and to spot anything that still needs to be collected.
Why it matters
Engine builders, race car and fabrication shops, restomod builds, and any shop running jobs that last weeks or months all hit the same cash flow wall. Progress billing keeps money moving at the same pace as the work, so a big build never has to put a squeeze on the rest of your shop.
Watch the full walkthrough above to see manual and automatic progress billing set up end to end.