Milestone billing for freelance projects

A deposit protects the start of a project; milestones protect the middle. This post, part of our getting paid series, follows the deposit guide and shows how to split the rest. The pricing guide covers how to set the total in the first place.

Three schedules for a $6,000 project

The example: a $6,000 website over 9 weeks, with work spread evenly (about $667 of work a week). "Peak unpaid work" is the most finished work the client hasn't paid for at any moment, which is what you lose if they vanish.

How to define a milestone

1. Name a deliverable the client can see: "homepage and two inner-page designs in Figma", not "design phase".
2. Say how it's accepted: written approval, or no feedback within 5 business days.
3. Set the payment trigger: the invoice is sent on acceptance and due [7] days later.
4. Say what happens to the next phase if the invoice isn't paid: work pauses until it is.
5. Keep milestones to 3 or 4. More than that and the admin eats the benefit.

The acceptance rule that stops stalling

The common failure is a client who never says "approved", so the milestone invoice never goes out. A deemed-acceptance clause fixes it: if the client sends no written feedback within a set number of business days after delivery, the milestone counts as accepted. Pair it with a limit on revision rounds per milestone so "one more tweak" can't hold payment forever. The business days calculator gives the exact date when the window closes.

PAYMENT SCHEDULE. The project fee of $[6,000] is payable in three parts:
1. Deposit: [40]% ($[2,400]), due before work starts.
2. Design milestone: [30]% ($[1,800]), invoiced when the [homepage and two inner-page designs] are delivered and accepted.
3. Launch milestone: [30]% ($[1,800]), invoiced when the site is ready to launch, and due before final files and admin access are transferred.

ACCEPTANCE. Each milestone includes [2] rounds of revisions. A milestone is accepted when Client approves it in writing, or [5] business days after delivery if Client has not sent written feedback by then.

DUE DATES. Milestone invoices are due [7] days after the invoice date. Contractor may pause work on the next milestone while any invoice is overdue.

Change requests between milestones

New requests in the middle of a phase are where milestone schedules break down. Quote each change separately, get written approval, and bill it on its own invoice when it's done instead of folding it into the next milestone. That keeps the milestone amounts in the contract intact and means a dispute over one change can't hold up the payment for an approved phase.

What freelance laws require

New York's Freelance Isn't Free Act (jobs of $800 or more) and California's SB 988 (jobs of $250 or more, since January 1, 2025) require a written contract that includes the date payment is due or how that date is set. A milestone schedule with an acceptance rule does exactly that. If the contract sets no date, both laws default to payment within 30 days after the work is completed, which on a long project is much later than you want.

Taxes when milestones cross a year end

Under the cash method most freelancers use, each milestone payment is income in the year you receive it (IRS Publication 538). A design milestone paid in December and a launch milestone paid in January land in different tax years, which can help you even out income.

In SoloWOS

In Proposals, write the schedule in the terms block and set the Deposit field to your first percentage. When the client accepts, the proposal page offers "Invoice the deposit" for that share and "Invoice the remaining" share for the balance, with line items copied over. Those buttons cover two parts, so for 40/30/30 invoice the 40% deposit from the proposal and create the two 30% invoices yourself in Invoicing when each milestone is accepted. If you track hours, "Add unbilled time" pulls billable Time Tracking entries into an invoice, useful for change requests between milestones.