How to Create an Invoice
With Houzz Pro, you can create invoices from scratch, from a template, or by converting both approved and unapproved estimates and proposals. This lets you easily schedule future payments and ensures you get paid on time.
An invoice code will be generated when you create an invoice, so you can reference the invoice with team members, clients, and bookkeepers even before issuing it.
There are several options to choose from when creating a new invoice for your project. You can:
- Convert to invoice from a proposal or estimate
- Create an invoice using AI
- Create an invoice from an existing template
- Create your own invoice template
- Create an invoice from scratch
- Duplicate an existing invoice from another project
Convert a Proposal/Estimate to an Invoice
You can create an invoice for an entire estimate/proposal, for a single line item, or for multiple line items. If there are unpaid scheduled payments on the proposal/estimate, those will transfer to the newly created invoice.
Your new invoice will include all the information from the line items you selected. You can update the quantities and prices as well as make any additional edits before sharing the invoice with your client.Â
Line items on invoices that are in Draft or Sent status can still be removed. Removing a line item from an invoice will return that item to the estimate or proposal of origin so you can create an invoice later on.
Convert Entire Estimate/Proposal
To convert all items on your estimate or proposal to a single invoice, open your document and simply click Create Invoice at the top (you can also select Create Invoice in the Actions dropdown).
Convert Select Line Items
To create an invoice for select line items, open the estimate or proposal and check off the categories or specific line items using the checkboxes to the left, then click the Create Invoice button at the top. You can also select the three dots icon to the right of the line item, select Create Document(s) from the dropdown, then Create Invoice.
Progressive Invoicing (Build Only)
Build pros can also utilise progressive invoicing, which allows you to split an estimate into as many invoices as you need and request partial payment installments based on your project’s progress. You can invoice based on a percentage of the total cost, amounts, specific line items, and milestones. Learn more in How to Use Progressive Invoicing to Leverage Your Payments.
Create Invoice Using AI
For a quick and easy document creation process, you can use AI to help populate invoice line items and categories. Just provide an in-depth project description, and our AI, AutoMate, will take care of it from there. To learn more about AI-generated invoices, read How to Use AI to Create an Invoice.
Create Invoice from Template
If you have previously saved a past invoice as a template, you can use it to create a new invoice that's already formatted to your desired layout and/or pre-filled with any relevant products or services.
To create an invoice from a saved template, find the Invoices section in your project, click on the New Invoice button, then select From Template. Choose the template you want to use and click Create. You can then edit and add any necessary details to your new invoice.
Create Your Own Invoice Template
If you have a standard template for your business that you would like to use time and time again, you can also create your own custom template.
Once you create your invoice with your preferred format, select the Actions dropdown, then select Save as Template.
From there, you can name your template and toggle on all the sections you would like to keep for your invoice template. Click Save.
Once you create your template, you will be able to access it in the Template Centre whenever you need it.
Create an Invoice from Scratch
You can also create a new invoice from scratch to customise it exactly the way you want. There are two ways to do this:
- On your Houzz Pro homepage, click the Invoice icon in the Create New section, select From Scratch, then assign it to a project.
- From the Invoices section within a project, click on the New Invoice button, then select From Scratch.
Adding Items
Once your new invoice is created, you're ready to add items. You can click into the Add Item field in the document to manually add information. Here, you can either create a new item, or search for and select an existing item. You'll see items sourced from My Items (build only).
The menu on the right side of your document also gives you access to items from various sources:
- My Items: Items from your product and item library
- Brand Catalogues: Items from Generic Items Library (build only)
- Templates: Items from your existing document templates
- Recent Estimates/Proposals: Items from other financial documents across projects
Use the filters and the search bar to quickly find the items you want, then click the item(s) to add to the invoice. Once added, you can manually update the details, like descriptions, quantity or marking an item GST applicable.
Creating Groups or Assemblies
Line items on your invoice can be grouped together to create one parent item. This is particularly helpful when creating custom pieces or billing for items composed of multiple components where you may not want to show your client every little detail. Check out these resources to learn how to create groups and assemblies:
How to Create Assemblies on Estimates and Invoices (Builders)
How to Group Lines Items on Proposals and Invoices (Designers)
Organising Items
Arrange your invoice how you want it by using the View By dropdown to organise your line items by category, room, section, any single-select custom column you added, or no grouping at all. The View By option you set will also be applied to the downloaded PDF and client view of the invoice.
Note: If you don't see a View By option in the dropdown you may need to enable the specific column under the Customise settings.
Customising Columns
To add or remove columns, click on Customise at the top of the Items section and toggle on or off the columns you wish to show or hide. Be sure to click Save to update.
Please Note: This view is for you and your team, not the client. To edit what the client sees, check out the next section about previewing and sharing.
Duplicate Existing Invoice
If you have an invoice that you used in a previous project and would like to use again, you also have the ability to duplicate that invoice and move it to another project. Here's how:
- Open up the invoice you would like to duplicate. Select the Actions dropdown, and find Duplicate and Edit.
- From there, you can choose to either duplicate the invoice to the existing project, or you can duplicate the invoice and move to another project.
3. If you decide to use in another project, just select that Project from the dropdown menu that pops up, or you can choose to create a new project for this invoice.
4. The duplicate invoice will now be in the selected project so you can make changes as needed.
Edit Document Settings
The settings on your invoice are fully customisable to fit the need of each project and client. You can edit the general document details (title, document code, client and company info, creation date etc.) as well as payment schedule, terms & conditions and memos and automated tasks and reminders.
To learn more about your document settings, check out How to Edit Your Document Settings.
Preview and Share Invoice
Before sending your invoice, you can preview it and choose exactly how it will look to your clients.
First, click the Preview button at the top.
Next, use the Settings dropdown next to Customise What Your Client Can See — check off the relevant boxes next to the information you want to show to the client.
Please Note: Under the Approval settings you can select "Issue Upon Sending" to automatically issue the invoice when it's sent to the client. This will lock the document from any further edits. Learn more about issuing invoices in the section below.
You can also show or hide your Files, T&C or Memo sections of your invoice by clicking the eye icon in the top right of each section when you're in edit mode.
When your invoice is ready to go, click Send and write a message to include with the invoice. You can use your saved message templates instead of writing a new email from scratch every time. Your clients can view the invoice directly from their computer, phone, or tablet device.
Print, Download and Export
Alternatively, you can opt to print your invoice to share a physical copy, download and attach it to an email, or export to Excel. To do so, open the Actions menu at the top of the page and select Download as PDF, Export to Excel, or Print, depending on your desired action. You can also download a PDF using the download icon at the top of the page.
Comment on Invoices
Once you share your invoice with the client, you can communicate with them (and team members) directly on the document by using the comment feature at the top. This allows you to easily reference document details you might be discussing, and keeps conversations organised. To learn more, read How to Comment on Documents in Houzz Pro.
Issuing an Invoice
Once you're sure there are no more edits you or the client would like to make to an invoice, issue the document to lock it from further changes; this is for accounting purposes.
To do so, select Issue Invoice under the Actions menu at the top of the document, then click Confirm on the pop-up.
Once you've issued an invoice, it will be synced if you’re integrated with Xero.
Want to automatically issue the invoice when it's sent to the client? Under the Approval settings in preview mode, you can select "Issue Upon Sending". This will lock the document from any further edits once sent.
For more information about issuing invoices, check out How to Issue an Invoice.