Thank you for participating in the New Invoice Format & Easier Billing Format Beta Program! You're getting early access to Phase 1 of the new invoicing experience we've been building in LMN, and your feedback will directly shape how we release it to everyone else
Opting in or out of the beta is easy. Simply visit Invoice Settings and turn the beta toggle on or off.
Not on LMN Pay yet? Set it up to get the full experience. With LMN Pay, your customer opens the invoice and pays it right there, and the payment is recorded in LMN automatically. Your estimate, invoice, and payment all live in one place, with nothing to re-enter. Set up LMN Pay in minutes.
Customer Support
Our Support team is here throughout the Beta Program. If you need help or hit an issue, reach out and mention you're in the Invoicing Beta Program.
Email: lmn-support@granum.com
Tel: 888-347-9864
Live Chat: In LMN → Help & Resources → Support Chat
We want your feedback, so send along any questions, concerns, or features you love. Want to opt out, or need 1:1 Zoom time with our Product team to walk through questions or feedback? Just let Support know and we'll set it up.
Feature Overview
New Invoice Format
Our goal is to save you time by turning your estimates into clean, professional invoices, automatically carrying over your work areas, line items, prices, cost codes, and line item taxability.
Easier Billing Setup
Billing configuration now lives on a clearer Billing Setup tab. You will be able to pick an Invoice Plan — Milestone or Single Invoice–you won’t have to guess which plan you need. You will still have the ability to create one off invoices, and invoice T&M work like you could before.
Customize Invoice View
You can now decide per invoice how much detail to show your customer (work areas, item detail, item prices, etc. ) – high-level summary detail for one or a fuller breakdown for another.
How to Get Started:
In LMN, once you have added work areas to a standard estimate, open the Billing Setup tab.
From here, you can choose between Milestone Billing vs Single Invoice
Milestone Billing from a Standard Estimate
Milestone billing splits a job into payments tied to defined stages rather than one invoice at the end.
Click on Milestone Billing under Billing Setup
You can now add a deposit directly in the milestones table by clicking + Add Deposit, shown inline next to the Deposit row (this replaces the old toggle in the Planned Invoices box).
⚠️ Note: If you are not creating a Deposit, you can go directly to + Add Milestone
Enter the Deposit amount as a percentage or dollar amount.
Next, create your milestone schedule by clicking on + Add Milestone. Each milestone has a description field, a percentage and the dollar amount calculated automatically for you.
Click Save
💡A note on taxes: The tax rate shown on the right pulls from the estimate. If line items have mixed rates (EXMT and actual), it uses the actual rate, which you can still edit. If you have multiple actual rates, it uses the most commonly selected rate.
Once you click Save, you no longer need to click a separate Generate step — simply open the Deposit row to trigger the Create Invoice confirmation, and click Create Invoice to generate it. This also applies to generating Milestone invoices.
The New Invoicing Format will now display the dollar amount billed towards the planned job total, as well as work areas and details pulled in directly from the estimate (which you can show/hide on the Preview & Send screen with Customize Invoice View - more on this below).
Schedule Milestones with Invoice Date
You can now fill in the Invoice Date field for a milestone to schedule it as a reminder on the Generate screen, so future invoicing doesn't get missed. Set the Invoice Date on the Billing Setup tab on the Estimate, or on the Billing tab on the Job.
Single Invoice Billing from Standard Estimates
You are now able to schedule a single invoice that pulls work areas, pricing and taxes directly from the estimate. This workflow is targeted at smaller or straightforward projects, and billed for the entire job once the job is complete.
From the Estimate, click on Billing Setup
Click on Single Invoice
A scheduled invoice will appear for you that has a description field, a percentage field and a dollar amount calculated automatically for you based on the percentages entered.
If a Deposit needs to be collected, you can click + Add Deposit, shown inline in the invoice table, to initiate the Deposit setup (this replaces the old toggle in the Planned Invoices box). Enter in the % or dollar amount of the Deposit and click Save. The percentage and $ Amount in the scheduled invoice will adjust automatically based on the Deposit total.Example: Deposit = 10 %, Single Invoice is automatically = 90%
Next, open the Deposit row to trigger the Create Invoice confirmation, then click Create Invoice
From the New Invoice Details Screen, you can edit the invoice status under Pending on the top left, see the percentage of the job billed, work area details and percentage of planned total billed. (If you have LMN Pay, you can adjust the allowed Payment Methods, edit your Processing Fees % (Stripe only) and process a card or ACH payment).
⚠️ Work area names and line items can be edited as needed once the invoice is generated. To add an additional item to the invoice, click + Add work area
If you add items that increase the total of the Deposit invoice from the original amount entered, the final invoice will adjust accordingly, but if that results in the billing setup not matching the estimate total, you will have to click the orange recalculate button to resolve it.
Once reviewed, click on Preview & Send to customize what your customers will see under the new Customize Invoice View feature
Customize Invoice View
From the Preview & Send screen, users can now decide per invoice how much detail to show (work area detail, line detail and prices) prior to sending an invoice out.
By default, only work area details and item details will show, not prices. A user can choose to set a customized view one time or set them as the default for all future invoices of the same type (Standard).
To start, click on Customize
From the Customize Invoice View panel, you can choose which line items your customer will see on a particular invoice.
To change what is selected as the Default moving forward for all invoices, click on Save as Default and then Apply. Defaults can be set by each user within an Account.
Once you have previewed your invoice, click Send
Generating Invoices from the Job
Milestone Billing and Single Billing Invoices cannot be generated into invoices from the estimate, only scheduled.
To generate your Milestone or Single Billing invoice, click on the invoice row to trigger the Create Invoice confirmation, then click Create Invoice. There is no separate green Generate button anymore — the same click-the-row behavior used for deposits now applies to every planned invoice row.
Click on Create Job from the estimate > Import Now
Then click on Billing. Your Billing Setup will be reflected here, along with any deposit invoices created from within the estimate.
💡TIP: If you forgot to generate a Deposit invoice from the estimate, you can create one in the Job. If you wish to change your billing setup prior to generating any invoices, click on Edit Plan. You can edit the percentage or amount of any deposit or milestone invoice as long as it’s not yet generated. If it is generated, simply open the invoice and delete it to set it back to an un-generated state.
When you are ready to generate your Milestone or Single Invoice, click on the invoice row, then click Create Invoice in the confirmation dialog
Billing Tab View
If you are using Jobs Classic view, and not the New Job Detail Page, your Billing screen will look like this inside the job:
Milestone and Single Billing invoices generated from the Job (either Classic View or New Jobs Detail Page) will have the same New Invoicing Format as the Deposit invoice. You will be able to see the percentage previously billed, what percentage the current invoice adds up to, and the remaining amount to be billed from the planned total of the Job.
⚠️ Note: The planned total on invoices generated through the milestone billing or single billing setup will only include totals from that billing plan and not one-off invoices created from the job afterwards.
The work area names, prices and taxes will appear here directly from the estimate. Work area names and line items can be edited on the invoice. You can also customize what the customer sees on theirs through the Customize Invoice View feature
If you need to edit the Cost Code or Crew Lead associated with the invoice, you can do so at the bottom
One-Off Invoices from the Job
If you need to create a one-off invoice within the job outside of the schedule created, you can do it under the Milestone Schedule by clicking Create Invoice.
Under Line items, you can add a description under Name, set quantity, rate and check if the line item is taxable or not. You can also apply a Cost code and a Crew lead to each line item below, along with the percentage attached to that Crew lead.
Any totals from one-off invoices will get added to the Jobs Billing Summary total (New Job Detail Page only).
Taxes
All scheduled Milestone or Single Billing invoice totals will be reflected pre tax before they are generated. The tax rate will auto populate based on options selected on the estimate’s Work Areas+ Pricing Tab as follows:
If all items in all work areas have tax set to EXMT: EXMT
If at least one item has an actual tax rate other than EXMT: that actual tax rate
If multiple tax rates exist on different items within the same estimate: the actual (non-EXMT) tax rate that appears the most
🛑 Very Important: We know a small portion of our customers use multiple tax rates inside the same estimate. We cannot support this for invoicing, as QBO does not support multiple tax rates per invoice.
Invoice Editing
All invoices generated through the New Invoicing Format and Billing Setup can be edited after they have been created from the estimate in LMN.
Invoices must be in pending status in order to make changes to work area names, or work area line items.
Users can edit work area names, line items, category, quantity, rate, tax and tax eligibility. Users can also delete line items, and add new line items.
If you need to remove a work area completely, you can do so by clicking on the 3 dots beside the work area, and clicking Remove work area.
Any edits or changes you make on invoice generated from the billing plan will update the total and percentage in the planned total above. This will also be reflected on your customers invoice as well.
Adding a Line Item to a Milestone Invoice
You can add a line item to a milestone invoice outside of any work area. Open the invoice, and under Line Items, click + Add line item. This is useful for billing one-off charges that come up over the life of a design build job — like fuel surcharges, discounts, or credits — without having to send an extra invoice.
Adding a line item this way updates both the milestone invoice amount and the job total.
FAQs
Does this change invoices I've already created or sent?
No. Invoices you've already created or sent keep their existing format. The new format applies to new invoices you create after the feature is turned on for your account. Existing configured milestones are not rewritten.
Are the invoice PDFs changing?
The PDF will remain as it is today with showing the summary: the milestone name and its total. We’ll be updating PDF’s in November to the new format, and they’ll respect any customizations you make on the web version.
Do I still need to activate invoicing?
No, except if you create a job without an estimate.
Can I control how much detail my customer sees?
Yes. Customize Invoice View (the gear icon in the top right of the Preview & Send screen) lets you decide, per invoice, whether to show work areas, item detail, and/or item prices. You can share a full breakdown with one customer and a simpler view with another.
What happened to the cost code and tax fields on Billing Setup?
Cost codes now flow automatically from work areas, and taxability flows from line items directly to the invoice, instead of being re-entered on Billing Setup.
To create a new cost code, navigate to Settings → Estimates → Cost Codes and add the new cost code. You can then map it to a taxable product/service item in QuickBooks Online using the QBO Sync Tool to ensure correct sales tax syncing.
Tax rate is auto-populated based on the options selected on the Work Areas + Pricing tab, as follows:
If all items in all work areas have tax set to EXMT: EXMT
If at least one item has an actual tax rate other than EXMT: that actual tax rate
If multiple tax rates exist on different items within the same estimate: the non-EXMT tax rate that appears most often
🛑 Very Important: We know a portion of our customers use multiple tax rates inside the same estimate. We will not support this for invoicing in the near future, as QBO does not support multiple tax rates per invoice.
What if we skipped billing setup on the estimate?
You can set up the Invoice Plan directly from the Billing tab on the Job — no need to go back to the estimate.
Can I set taxability or cost codes per milestone during setup?
Taxability and cost codes are set at the line-item and Work Area level on the estimate and carry through to the invoice, which keeps that data consistent end to end. With invoice editing, you can change the work area cost code and which change which items are taxable, along with the tax rate in the job if needed.
Can I still bill milestones by a fixed dollar amount?
Yes, you can decide to calculate Milestone totals by Percentage or Dollar Amount. Under Billing Setup, you can toggle between % or $
What happens if I create a job without an estimate?
You'll get the old Invoice Activation tab, where you can pick a billing type, plus the old invoice tabs (Invoice Schedule and Invoices). You will not get the new Billing tab. Invoices created on that job will not have the new Work Areas + line items format, but they will still have a refreshed appearance.
Can I generate invoices from the estimate?
Only deposits can be generated and sent from estimates. You must convert the estimate to a job to create and send milestones or single invoices.
If I edit the estimate after the job exists, does the invoice update?
No. Invoice content is captured when the invoice is generated — Work Area details are copied onto the invoice at that moment. Estimate edits made after the job is created don't flow back into already-generated invoices (this matches how LMN works today). To bill for the change, make the edit directly on the invoice from the job (see Invoice Editing above) rather than on the estimate. This will be improved once we have Change Order functionality later this year. Once Change Orders launches, users will be able to make changes to the scope of work directly on the job and have that flow through to invoices automatically.
What's different on the milestone invoice details page?
A few things, all aimed at keeping billing accurate. Payment history and outstanding balance are shown on each invoice. Billing-progress detail is now available. You can change stage and status right from the top of the page. Send Reminder is now a top-level action instead of buried in the "More" menu. Lesser-used fields (salesperson, account manager, etc.) are tucked into a More Details panel to reduce clutter
In the new invoice interface, the cost code field may appear hidden. To reveal it, click the small arrow control on the far right of the invoice screen to expand the section containing the cost code.
Can I merge a milestone invoice with other invoices?
New-format milestone invoices (Work Areas + line items) can't be merged with any other invoices. One-off and T&M invoices can still be merged with each other. We may add a way to merge milestone invoices later, depending on feedback.
Can the contracted total change after billing is set up?
Yes, you are able to change and edit milestone totals and percentages after the billing is set up in the job as long as the planned milestone has not been generated. If the invoice has been generated, you will need to delete the invoice to edit the total and then re-generate.
Do milestone invoices created from the Generate screen get the new format?
No. Milestone invoices created from the Generate screen will not use the new invoice format. This is a rarely (if ever) used workflow for milestone invoicing.
Is the one-off / T&M invoice details page changing?
It's getting a visual refresh — the functionality is exactly the same, but the page is cleaner and snappier. We’re improving the T&M invoice format along with our upcoming maintenance invoicing changes.
Why do invoices and Billing Setup still look the same for Service and Maintenance?
We’re improving these next. Stay tuned.
I need progress billing. When is that coming?
Progress billing is coming in 2027. In the meantime, you can utilize milestones to set up progress payments in advance.