What goes on a construction receipt
On a build, the money that needs a receipt most is the money that arrives before anything exists. A deposit buys material that has not been delivered, on a job that has not started, and the customer handing it over has nothing to show for it but your word. The stage payments after it attach to work anyone can walk round and look at; the deposit does not.
- The date the money was received, and the amount
- What it is against — deposit, stage payment, variation, or final balance
- The stage it releases, named the way the payment schedule names it
- The contract or estimate reference, so both sides’ paperwork agrees
- What a material deposit is actually buying, where that is what it is
- The balance remaining on the contract
- Any retention held, and when it falls due back
The sample line items and example prices this sheet opens with are on the construction invoice template — the same table, which is about the trade rather than about this paper, so it lives in one place rather than on all six.
What you get
A PDF, and a link your customer can open in any browser. Word and Excel versions are not available yet — if a spreadsheet is what you need, this is not yet the tool for it, and saying so is cheaper for both of us than you finding out after typing everything in.
Pick how it looks
Six looks, from a plain classic sheet through a bold top band to a shop ticket, and your initials go on automatically until you upload a logo. See all six.
How to send it
Most customers want the paper on their phone, so the receipt goes out by WhatsApp, text or email, or as a link that needs no app and no account on their side. Or download the PDF to print it or keep it for your own records.
Questions
What should a deposit receipt say?
What the money is for, and what the customer gets if the job does not go ahead. A deposit against materials already ordered sits in a completely different position from one held against a start date, and the receipt is where that gets settled while everyone is still friendly.
Does the receipt need to mention retention?
If any is being held, yes — on every payment, with the running figure. Retention is the number both sides forget about until the end, and a customer who has watched it accumulate on each receipt is far less likely to dispute it when you ask for it back.