Milestone billing explained

Milestone billing lets you break a fixed-price project into stages, each with its own amount, so you invoice as work is delivered instead of waiting until the whole project is done.

A milestone represents a chunk of billable work with:

A name and description of what's being delivered.
A fixed dollar amount and currency.
Estimated start and end dates, so it can show up on your project roadmap.
A status that tracks its progress from not started through to paid.
Optionally, a list of deliverables attached to it.

As you add milestones to a project, Handl keeps the project's total value in sync with the sum of all its milestones — so your project value always reflects what's actually been scoped.

Good to know

Milestone billing is used on Fixed Price projects. Time & Materials and Retainer projects bill differently (see "Recurring and time & materials billing" and "Retainers: automatic invoicing and overage billing").
Milestones don't turn into invoices automatically just by being marked complete — you invoice a completed milestone with a deliberate action (see "Milestone statuses and what triggers invoicing").
Milestones can also carry optional deliverables that stay locked to the client until the related invoice is paid, if you turn that feature on for the project.

FAQs

Do I have to use milestones for every project?
No — only Fixed Price projects use milestones. Choose Time & Materials or Retainer if that fits the engagement better.

Can a milestone have its own currency?
Yes, though for consistency it's best to keep milestones in the same currency as the project.

What happens to the project total if I add or remove a milestone?
The project's total value updates automatically to match the sum of its milestones.