How to Bill Clients as a Web Designer

Web design has a natural cash-flow rhythm: a deposit to start, a milestone when staging gets approved, and the balance at launch. Fee-Lion lets you set that rhythm once on an estimate, then bill each phase as the work lands — so you’re never chasing money you’ve already earned.

Start with a deposit-backed estimate

Every project begins as an Estimate. Build it the way you’d scope a site, then attach a deposit so the client puts skin in the game before you push pixels.

1. Open Estimates in the left sidebar and click New Estimate.
2. Add your line items: design and build hours as tasks (hours × rate), flat deliverables like a logo refresh or stock photography as fees/units (qty × rate).
3. Apply any discount (a returning-client courtesy) or surcharge (a rush launch), then set your tax.
4. Set a deposit % — 30–50% is common for design work — so the first invoice covers your kickoff.
5. Send it. The client opens a magic-link portal (no login) and approves with one click.

Tip: Set a default deposit percentage at Settings → Preferences so every new estimate starts with your standard kickoff cut already filled in — no retyping per project.

Turn the approved estimate into a project

Once the client approves, convert the estimate into a project so design, build, and launch each have a home. That’s where milestone billing lives.

1. On the approved estimate, click Convert and choose to create a project.
2. Give the project sub-statuses that match your workflow — for example Design, Staging Review, Build, and Launch.
3. Add a checklist per phase (wireframes signed off, responsive QA, DNS cutover) so nothing slips before you invoice.
4. Use Discussions inside the project to gather staging feedback in one thread instead of a scattered inbox.

Bill each milestone as it lands

The deposit invoice goes out at convert. After that, you raise a fresh invoice as each phase clears — so the client always pays against visible progress.

• Deposit at kickoff — the deposit invoice from the estimate. Client pays by card and the money lands in your own Stripe.
• Milestone at staging approval — when the client signs off on the staging site, create an invoice for the design/build phase from Invoices → New Invoice.
• Balance at launch — invoice the remainder when the site goes live, including any tracked time you logged for revisions.

If you’ve been running a timer or logging hours against the project, you can pull that straight onto the launch invoice so revision rounds don’t quietly eat your margin. Every invoice carries a Pay button — the client pays by card, and you get notified the moment it’s settled.

Tip: Living in the keyboard? Hit the command palette (⌘K) and type “create invoice for Acme” or “pay INV-204” to bill a milestone without leaving your current screen.

What’s next

• Collect a deposit on an estimate
• Estimate to deposit to project to final invoice
• Organize a project with sub-statuses and checklists
• Bill tracked time to an invoice