Who this is for
Freelance web developers, frontend / backend / full-stack engineers, small agencies, no-code builders — anyone billing for site builds, app builds, integrations, or ongoing maintenance work.
Three structures for dev invoices
1. Milestone-based. Used for fixed-scope projects. Break the project into phases (Discovery → Design → Build → QA → Deploy) and invoice at the end of each. Example line: Milestone 2: Responsive templates — $4,000. Most professional for one-off builds because it ties money to deliverables, not effort.
2. Hourly with cap. Used for projects where total hours are uncertain. State the rate and the not-to-exceed cap up front; invoice for actual hours worked. Example line: Discovery & technical audit — 8 hrs @ $125/hr — $1,000.
3. Retainer drawdown. For ongoing support clients. Charge a monthly retainer, show hours used, and roll unused hours forward or expire them (clearly stated). Example: Monthly retainer $3,000 / 24 hrs included. Hours used this month: 18 hrs. Carried forward: 6 hrs.
The clauses developers under-do
Source code ownership. Always state when code ownership transfers. Standard: "Source code ownership transfers to client on final payment." This prevents disputes about whether the developer can take work to a competitor (they can't, after transfer) and whether the client can fork it (they can).
Warranty period. A 30-day bug warranty on delivered scope is the freelance standard. Bugs in your delivered features within 30 days: free fix. Bugs after that, or new features: billed.
Out-of-scope handling. Spell out the rate for change requests up front. "Out-of-scope work billed at agreed hourly rate" in terms is enough.
Third-party costs. Hosting, domain, SaaS subscriptions, design tools, fonts — these are easy to forget. Either invoice them at cost with markup, or have the client buy them directly. Putting them on your card and forgetting to invoice them costs real money.
Common line items
- Discovery, scoping, technical audit
- UX / UI design (or note: provided by client)
- Frontend implementation — typically by hour or by feature
- Backend / API implementation
- Third-party integrations (Stripe, Auth0, etc.)
- QA, accessibility audit, performance audit
- Deployment, DNS, SSL, monitoring setup
- Handover, documentation, training
How to use this template
- Open the web development template.
- Replace placeholder milestones with the actual phase you're billing for.
- For hourly work, change quantity to the actual hours and update the rate.
- Adjust the source-code and warranty language in Terms to match what was agreed.
- Download the PDF and attach to your email.