How you price a job determines how you bill it, and forcing every job into one model is exactly what makes billing painful. DuoApp supports the three ways UK contractors actually work, so the way you agreed the job is the way you invoice it — with the figures flowing straight into your applications and invoices.
Priced works
A priced schedule of works is the classic approach: an agreed list of items, each with a rate and quantity. You bill against progress, claiming the percentage of each item completed in the period. It suits jobs where the scope is defined up front and you're measuring completion against a known schedule.
Sub works
Sub works cover the works you let to subcontractors — their packages within the wider job. Tracking them as sub works keeps each subcontractor's scope, applications and payments organised against the project, and ties cleanly into the retention and deductions you hold on their works and the CIS you deduct.
Specific works
Not everything fits a priced schedule. Specific works (sometimes called day works or time-and-materials) handle the time-and-materials side — variations, extras and work done on a daywork basis, captured by labour, plant and materials. It's how you bill the work that wasn't in the original scope without dropping it into an awkward spreadsheet on the side.
Three ways to bill, at a glance
- Priced works — agreed schedule, billed against progress
- Sub works — subcontractor packages within the job
- Specific works — time and materials, variations and extras
Use one per job, or mix them — a priced job almost always has some specific works and sub works alongside.
Choosing for a job
Set the billing approach when you create the project, before work starts. Most real jobs use more than one model — a priced schedule for the main works, sub works for the packages you've let, and specific works for the variations that crop up. DuoApp lets them sit together on one project rather than in three separate places.
Why it matters
When the billing model matches how the job was actually agreed, applications stop being a translation exercise. You're not converting your real arrangement into the one shape your software allows — you're billing the way you work, and every figure still flows into one application, with CIS, retention and VAT handled on top.