Invoicing

Generate professional invoices directly from your project workspace. No double entry, no switching tools—just turn your approved items into an invoice in seconds.

How do you turn a schedule into a client invoice?

Generate invoices directly from your schedules. The exact items, costs, and details your client already signed off on are pulled in instantly as PO-backed lines—invoice lines linked to purchase orders for goods on the project. Tax calculations are handled automatically for the destination state, ensuring what you bill matches exactly what was approved on the schedule.

Your schedule already holds client price, firm cost, markup, and shipping per schedule item. Invoicing reads that structure instead of asking you to re-key numbers into a separate billing tool. One click turns selected rows into a Stripe invoice your client can pay online.

That connection protects margin visibility on the firm side while presenting clean client-facing totals. Shipping is never marked up—client price reflects firm cost basis times one plus markup, plus shipping—consistent with how Object & Order calculates profitability throughout the project.

What is the difference between PO-backed lines and free-form lines?

PO-backed lines tie invoice amounts to specific purchase orders created from schedule items. They represent goods the client is buying for the project—furniture, fixtures, materials—with pricing that traces back to vendor quotes and approved markup.

Free-form lines cover everything else: design fees, hourly services, custom charges, or any invoice line not linked to a purchase order. Studios bill retainers, consultation blocks, and installation supervision this way without forcing non-goods charges into a product schedule row.

Both line types live on the same invoice and flow through the same Stripe payment collection. The distinction matters for accounting clarity and for how collected amounts relate to procurement—PO-backed lines connect to ordering workflows; free-form lines stand alone.

How do payment schedules and installments work?

A payment schedule splits one billing event into multiple invoices—each installment is its own invoice with its own due date, sharing an invoice group so the set stays coherent. You might send a deposit installment immediately and leave balance installments in draft until milestones arrive.

Payment plans support two to six installments. Amounts must add up to the full subtotal, so the plan stays honest with underlying line items instead of drifting from what the client approved. When an installment’s due date arrives, the invoice is already built—finalize it and it tracks like any other.

This pattern keeps large project totals manageable for clients while maintaining steady cash flow for the firm. Required deposit terms set at the quote stage gate O&O-sourced ordering: collected must meet required to order before Object & Order places the vendor order. Self-sourced purchase orders are never payment-gated—your firm controls when to order directly from the vendor.

What happens when a client pays an invoice?

The moment a client pays, your markup amount routes to your connected account so you collect profit on goods immediately. For O&O-sourced items, Object & Order can advance procurement—placing vendor orders after deposit met—so billing and purchasing move forward without duplicate admin.

Payment status syncs back to the schedule. Project managers see which items are funded; procurement staff know which purchase orders can progress. That closed loop is why invoicing inside the project workspace beats exporting PDFs from one tool and chasing payments in another.

Note: Automatic purchasing after payment applies to O&O-sourced items where you requested a quote through Object & Order. Self-sourced workflows remain under your firm’s control.

How does sales tax work on invoices?

Sales tax is calculated for the destination state—the state where project goods are delivered—consistent with Wayfair nexus rules. Firm-billed invoices issue from your firm’s Stripe connected account; tax registrations you maintain in Stripe determine collection obligations.

Keeping tax inside the invoice flow reduces the reconciliation tax season usually extracts from design studios that billed in one system and calculated tax in another.

Does invoicing sync to QuickBooks?

Yes—for verified architecture and design firms. Finalized invoices flow into QuickBooks with client details, line items, totals, and status mirrored. Each invoice displays its own sync status; failed syncs can be retried, and invoices created before connection can be backfilled.

Billing stays where the project lives; accounting stays current without quiet discrepancies between systems. See our QuickBooks integration post for migration and sync details.

Why invoice from the same place you specify and purchase?

Interior design billing fails when specification, purchasing, and invoicing live in three tools. Numbers drift. Clients dispute charges that do not match what they approved. Teams lose hours reconciling spreadsheets before month-end.

Object & Order keeps the chain intact: schedule item to purchase order to invoice line to payment to order placement. PO-backed and free-form lines coexist. Payment schedules structure deposits and balances. QuickBooks sync closes the loop for firms that need it.

If your studio wants invoices that match approved schedules, collect through Stripe, and advance procurement without a second data entry pass, invoicing inside Object & Order is built for that workflow.