Every contractor has a preferred way to get paid. Some like a fixed schedule — a deposit up front, payments tied to defined phases of the job, the whole route mapped out before the trip starts. Others work on a cost-plus basis, where billing runs more like a meter: you track actual costs as they happen and apply your markup. Eano supports both.

This article walks through how payment milestones work — the fixed-schedule model. If cost-plus is more your speed, there’s a section at the end that points you to the right place.

Milestones live on the Payment Milestones tab inside a project. From there, click Edit Milestones to open the milestone editor — a drawer that slides out from the right and shows your full payment schedule in one place.

When you first create a project, Eano generates a default milestone schedule based on the contract value. If the default works for you, there’s nothing to do. If you want to customize the breakdown, that’s where you start.

Inside the milestone editor, you’ll see each milestone listed with its title, amount, and percentage of the total contract. You can edit any of them, reorder them, add new ones, or delete ones you don’t need.

Dollars vs. percentages: You can work in either mode. There’s a toggle at the top that switches between $ Dollars and % Percentage. Switch to whichever feels more natural — Eano handles the math either way and keeps the total in sync. If your milestones don’t add up to 100% of the contract value, you’ll see a warning, though you can still save and send the proposal if the discrepancy is intentional.

Milestone fields you can set: - Title — what to call the phase (e.g., “Foundation”, “Rough Framing”, “Final Walkthrough”) - Amount or percentage — how much of the contract this milestone represents - Planned start and end dates — helps set client expectations on timing - Duration — number of days for the phase; Eano can calculate the end date from this automatically

One thing to know before editing: If the client has already signed the contract, Eano will show a warning when you try to edit milestones. Changes at that stage are possible but not recommended — the client signed based on the schedule they saw, so coordinate with them before modifying anything.

When you’re done, scroll down and click Save.

If you tend to use the same breakdown across similar jobs, templates save you from rebuilding the schedule from scratch every time. Once you’ve set up a milestone schedule you like, click Save as Default in the editor. Eano saves it as a template and applies it to future projects automatically.

You can also browse your saved templates by clicking Choose Templates in the milestone editor and selecting from your list. The milestones from the template get loaded in, and the dollar amounts are recalculated to match the current project’s contract value.

Templates are stored under your account and are available across all your projects.

Each milestone becomes a payment request to your client — but only when you decide the time is right. Invoices aren’t sent automatically when you complete a milestone; you send them. Here’s how it works:

First milestone auto-send: There’s one optional exception to the manual flow. In the milestone editor, you’ll see a setting called Send first payment request after signing. If you turn this on, the first milestone’s invoice is sent automatically as soon as the client signs the contract — no manual step needed. This is useful for deposits: the client signs, and the deposit request hits their inbox right away.

Before you send, it’s worth checking the client’s view. Click Preview as Client from the invoice modal to see exactly what they’ll see — the milestone breakdown, amounts, status, and any notes you’ve added. It’s a good gut check before anything goes out.

When something changes mid-project and you submit a change order, it shows up as a modification to an existing milestone — not a new one added to the list. The milestone will show a change order indicator so you can track it. Once the client approves, the milestone amount updates to reflect the new price. If they reject it, the milestone goes back to the original amount.

Not every job fits a fixed milestone schedule. On a cost-plus project, you’re billing for what you actually spend — materials, labor, subcontractors — plus your markup. Eano supports that model too, and you’re not locked into a predefined payment schedule to use it.

The short version: log your expenses as the job unfolds (manually, from your phone, or synced in from QuickBooks), then pull them into invoices when it’s time to bill. As you build an invoice, Eano suggests the expenses you’ve logged on the project so each one becomes a line item — and you add your markup from there. The Finance tab keeps a running view of costs against what you’ve invoiced, so you always know where the job stands.

You can also mix the two approaches on the same project — a milestone for the deposit, expense-based invoices for the rest.

See our Billing on a Cost-Plus Basis article for the full walkthrough.

Do I have to set milestones before I can send a proposal? No — the default schedule Eano generates is fine to use as-is. You can send the proposal with the defaults and adjust later if needed. If the client hasn’t signed yet, you can still edit the schedule freely.

Can I add milestones after a project has started? Yes, but if the client has signed the contract, you’ll see a warning before you can make changes. Coordinate with the client before modifying a signed agreement.

What happens to milestones if I change the contract value? If you’re using percentage-based milestones, the dollar amounts recalculate automatically when the contract value changes. Dollar-mode milestones stay fixed — you’d need to adjust them manually.

Can I send the same milestone invoice to multiple contacts? The invoice goes to the client associated with the project. If you need it to go to someone else, update the client contact on the project first.

What if the client doesn’t pay after I send a milestone invoice? Eano tracks payment status on each milestone. You can follow up directly with the client, and the milestone stays unpaid until payment is recorded.