Draw Schedule for a $20,000 Job
Each progress draw
$4,000.00
10% deposit at signing, four equal progress draws, 10% final payment at completion, no retainage held.
When the figures look right, the payment schedule downloads as a real PDF with your business details on it, built inside your own browser. Nothing you type is uploaded anywhere.
How that number is worked out
These are the figures this page was built with and every line the calculator produces from them. Change anything above and all of it moves.
- Contract amount20000 $
- Deposit at signing10 %
- Number of progress draws after the deposit4
- Final payment at completion10 %
- Retainage held from each draw0 %
Each progress draw$4,000.00
| Deposit at signing | $2,000.0010% |
|---|---|
| Draw 1 | $4,000.00cumulative $6,000.00, 30% of contract |
| Draw 2 | $4,000.00cumulative $10,000.00, 50% of contract |
| Draw 3 | $4,000.00cumulative $14,000.00, 70% of contract |
| Draw 4 | $4,000.00cumulative $18,000.00, 90% of contract |
| Final payment at completion | $2,000.0010% |
The draw schedule this produces
| Deposit at signing | 1 |
|---|---|
| Progress draw 1 | 1 |
| Progress draw 2 | 1 |
| Progress draw 3 | 1 |
| Progress draw 4 | 1 |
| Final payment at completion | 1 |
Number of progress draws compared
More draws means smaller amounts more often, which is usually easier to collect and always easier to survive.
| Number of progress draws | Each progress draw |
|---|---|
| 2 draws | $8,000.00 |
| 3 draws | $5,333.33 |
| 4 draws | $4,000.00 |
| 5 draws | $3,200.00 |
| 6 draws | $2,666.67 |
What else matters here
Two thousand at signing, four draws of $4,000, two thousand at completion. At three draws the same contract pays $5,333.33 a time.
On residential work this size, the difference between getting paid in two days and getting paid in three weeks is almost never the schedule. It is whether you asked on the day the milestone happened. The crew finishes rough in on Tuesday, you invoice on Friday, the customer looks at it the following week, and a draw that was due Tuesday arrives on the 20th.
Bill it on site. Take a photo of the finished milestone, attach it to the invoice, send it from the driveway, and have a way for them to pay right then. The photo is doing real work there: it turns the invoice from a request into a receipt for something the customer can see. Every day between the milestone and the ask is a day the memory of the work fades and the size of the number does not.
What this calculator assumes
- Several states cap the deposit a residential contractor may take, some at 10 percent and some at a flat dollar figure. Check your own state before you write a bigger number here.
- Draws should follow milestones you can point at, not dates. "On completion of rough in inspection" is collectable. "On 15 October" is an argument.
- A final payment under 10 percent gives the customer no reason to sign off, and one over 20 leaves you funding their job.
Questions people ask
What is a normal draw schedule for a $20,000 job?
A 10 percent deposit of $2,000, four progress draws of $4,000 each, and a $2,000 final payment at completion.
When should I send a draw invoice?
The day the milestone is reached, not at the end of the week. Attach a photo of the completed milestone and give the customer a way to pay immediately. Delay between the work and the ask is the single biggest cause of slow draws on residential jobs.
Should draws be on dates or on milestones?
Milestones you can point at. On completion of rough in inspection is collectable because either the inspection happened or it did not. On 15 October is an argument, because the customer will say the work is not where it should be and they will sometimes be right.
The payment schedule calculator takes any dimensions you like and hands back the same list.