The majority of RAVE's building clients will have a signed contract, with some form of PC Sum (Provisional Cost) included within it. RAVE provides a lot of flexibility on how you can manage your project's PC Sums via the project's Progress Payment (Payment Schedule) sub-tab.
For easy visibility and clarity, the majority of RAVE clients will add each PC Sum as an invoiceable line within the 'Other' payment section:
- Either requesting part payments as they go
- Or leaving it as a pending payment to invoice out when that portion of the project is complete
On the other hand, a few clients - May want to include their PC Sum amounts within their Payment Schedule section's invoiceables.
Note: While this third option (hiding the PC Sum within a payment schedule line) is possible within RAVE, it is not recommended as best practice i.e. the PC Sum is not clearly visible to the client (or staff), it is hard to see what has been charged, and what payments have been received for the PC Sum portion within that payment schedule line.
We're going to go through each option below, starting with adding each PC Sum as an invoiceable line.
1. Adding a PC Sum as an Invoiceable Line - Charging Out as you go
To add a PC Sum that you plan to charge out as you go, you firstly need to add your PC Sums as Invoiceable lines in the 'Other' payment section:
- We open the project, click on the Progress Payment sub-tab, and move down to the 'Other' payment section
- We then add the PC Sum line as an invoiceable via the 'Add an Invoiceable' button
The process of adding an invoiceable, and adding notes, comments, and attachments is covered by our How to Add, Request Payment, and Receive Payment on a Basic Invoiceable and How to Add and Edit Detailed Invoiceables FAQs. - Once loaded as an invoiceable, you can convert this to an invoice, and request payment for the full amount, or charge as you go with a partial payment request (say 25% etc)
The process of requesting a payment is covered by our How to Convert an Invoiceable to an Invoice i.e. Request a Payment and How to Add a Payment to an Invoice - via the Invoices Out sub-tab FAQs.
NOTE: A cool feature of the 'Convert to Invoice' function, is that the Invoiceable amount will default to the full remaining amount to be paid, and set the 'Invoice Amount' $ or % accordingly. Eventually, you may go over the originally PC Sum amount, this will display as 'Overcharge' showing the original balance to be claimed, and the new amount. Approving an overcharge - will display the 'Invoiced to Date' amount in red - clearly showing an overcharge vs the original total.
2. Adding a PC Sum as an Invoiceable Line - Charging on Completion of that Stage
To add a PC Sum that you plan to charge out on completion of that portion of the project, you again need to add your PC Sums as Invoiceable lines in the 'Other' payment section:
- By opening the project, clicking on the Progress Payment sub-tab, and moving down to the 'Other' payment section
- We then add the PC Sum line as an invoiceable via the 'Add an Invoiceable' button
The process of adding an invoiceable, and adding notes, comments, and attachments is covered by our How to Add, Request Payment, and Receive Payment on a Basic Invoiceable and How to Add and Edit Detailed Invoiceables FAQs. - Once loaded as an invoiceable, you can leave this as a pending invoiceable - and just keep editing the amount (or adding additional invoiceable lines), until all amounts have been added in. At that point, you can convert this to an invoice, and request payment for the full amount due.
The process of requesting a payment is covered by our How to Convert an Invoiceable to an Invoice i.e. Request a Payment and How to Add a Payment to an Invoice - via the Invoices Out sub-tab FAQs.
TIP: While the PC Sum is in a pending state you can Edit the description, to add the original expected value of the PC Sum to the end of the description i.e. '...ALLOWED $15,000' - so that the progress payment page show's the client we've allowed for $15,000, but the final result is a bill of $18,000
3. Loading your PC Sum Amounts Within your Payment Schedule
Loading your PC Sums within your Payment Schedule is possible with RAVE - but not recommended i.e. it is not easy for the client (or staff) to see what is being charged, and what payments have been received for the PC Sum portion of that payment schedule item.
However, for building companies who opt to list their PC Sums in this way, we need to add the PC Sum as an additional line to the target Payment Schedule item. That is by:
- Opening the project, clicking on the Progress Payment sub-tab, and moving down to the 'Payment Schedule' payment section
- We then click on the pencil icon (edit button)
- Click on the 'Add a Line Item' button
This will add a new line for you to load the PC Sum invoiceable's details i.e. adding in the description, UOM (Unit of Measure), quantity, price and GST option - before clicking the 'Save' button.
This will refresh the Payment Schedule section, and you'll notice the additional of the payment list icon (indicating there are now more than one line to this invoiceable - also that the payment line has been inflated by the value of the PC Sum - we now need to reduce the original Payment Schedule's dollar value accordingly - We can edit the payment line value by again clicking on the pencil icon (edit button)
- And then, by clicking on the pencil icon (edit button) of the original payment line
This will allow you to amend the price accordingly (by the original value of the PC Sum), clicking line's the 'Save' button, and then the pop-up 'Save' button to confirm.
This will reduce the invoiceable total for that line - the original line, or the PC Sum can now be converted to an invoice, and request payment for the full, or partial amounts due.
The process of requesting a payment is covered by our How to Convert an Invoiceable to an Invoice i.e. Request a Payment and How to Add a Payment to an Invoice - via the Invoices Out sub-tab FAQs.
