Procore Invoicing: The Complete Subcontractor Billing and Payment Workflow Guide
- Cost Construction Accounting
- 2 days ago
- 10 min read
By Tammy Hoang, QuickBooks ProAdvisor | Construction Cost Accounting
(949) 482-2790 | constructioncostaccounting.com
The Procore invoicing process is one of the most-used workflows in the platform — and for good reason. It connects subcontractors and project managers around the most consequential moment of any construction project: who gets paid, how much, and when. Done correctly, the system eliminates email chains, prevents lost payment applications, creates a complete audit trail, and removes the manual double-entry between subcontractor billing and upstream client invoices.
This is the second blog in our Procore series. If you have not yet read Blog #1, the platform overview is a good starting point. This post focuses specifically on the invoicing workflow — both how subcontractors submit their progress billing and how general contractors review, approve, and route those invoices upstream. As a construction bookkeeper and QuickBooks ProAdvisor firm that works with contractors using Procore, Construction Cost Accounting sees this workflow function correctly and incorrectly across dozens of firms. This guide reflects what works.
The Two-Track Workflow at a Glance
THE PROCORE INVOICING WORKFLOW
Two connected tracks — subcontractor submits, project manager reviews and approves
TRACK 1 Subcontractor Submits the invoice | TRACK 2 Project Manager Reviews and approves |
1. Access contract Log in → Project → Financial Tools → Commitments. View only your own subcontract. | 1. Configure project settings Set invoice settings and permissions — subs see only what they need. |
2. Initiate invoice Review contract sum, change orders, payments. Click Create Invoice. | 2. Set up automated routing Workflow tool routes invoices automatically — no email inbox bottlenecks. |
3. Set billing dates Start date (typically 1st of month) and billing date (25th or month-end). | 3. Receive notification Procore notifies you when a sub submits — review line items, amounts, retainage. |
4. Enter progress data By units, percentage, or dollar amount — for each line item this period. | 4. Approve, reject, or revise Reject a line with a note → sub revises and resubmits. No email back-and-forth. |
5. Submit for review Click Submit for Review — PM is notified automatically. | 5. Sync to upstream invoice Approved sub data flows into client-facing GC invoice. No double entry. |
6. Export payment application After PM approves — click Export to generate the formal payment application document. | 6. Full audit trail Every action — submit, reject, approve — tracked in real time. Permanent record. |
7. Upload notarized doc Print, sign, notarize → drag and drop into Add a File → Save. Triggers PM final review and lien release. | 7. Final review & release PM verifies notarized doc → approves payment release → lien waiver issued. |
Source: Construction Cost Accounting | constructioncostaccounting.com
Section 1: The Subcontractor Invoicing Process
1 | Access Your Subcontract |
Log in to Procore with your credentials, select the specific project from your project list, and navigate to the Financial Tools tab. Select Commitments — this is where your subcontract lives. Procore's permission system means you will only see your own subcontract, not other subs working on the same job. This is by design — financial data for each sub is fully isolated.
2 | Initiate the Invoice |
Inside your subcontract, review the contract sum, any change orders, and payments to date. These numbers form the baseline for your current billing. In the right-hand column, click Create Invoice. A new invoice draft opens, pre-populated with your contract line items.
3 | Set the Billing Dates |
Set two dates: the invoice start date (typically the 1st of the month for monthly billing) and the billing date (often the 25th or the last day of the month — 30th or 31st — depending on your contract terms). These dates define the period of work the invoice covers, which becomes part of the formal payment application later.
4 | Enter Progress Data for Each Line Item |
For each line item in your contract, enter the work completed during the billing period. Procore gives you three ways to enter progress:
Simple Calculation — enter the number of units completed and the total units. The system calculates the percentage automatically. Best for unit-based work like square footage or linear feet.
Direct Percentage — enter the percent complete directly. Best when you know your overall progress without needing to calculate from units.
Dollar Amount — enter a specific dollar amount for the base contract line or for a change order. Best for fixed-fee items or when billing a specific milestone.
CCA PRO TIP: Be consistent across billing cycles. If you billed by percentage in March, bill by percentage in April. Switching methods mid-job creates confusion for the project manager reviewing your progress and can slow down approval. Pick the method that fits the line item and stay with it. |
5 | Submit for Review |
Once every line item reflects the current period's work, click Submit for Review. The project manager receives an automatic notification — the invoice is now in their queue. From your side, the invoice status changes to ‘Under Review' and is no longer editable until the PM either approves it or rejects specific lines for revision.
6 | Export the Payment Application |
After the project manager approves the digital invoice, return to the invoice screen and click the Export button. Procore automatically generates a formal Procore payment application — typically in AIA G702/G703 format or your firm's required template. This is the official document that will accompany your construction lien release and trigger the actual payment release.
7 | Notarize and Upload the Final Documentation |
Print the exported payment application. Sign it. Get it notarized as required by your contract. Then return to the Procore invoice page, scroll to the Add a File section at the bottom, and drag and drop the notarized file. Label it clearly as ‘Payment Application'. Click Save.
This upload triggers a final notification to the project manager. The PM reviews the notarized document, confirms it matches the approved invoice, and authorizes the payment release alongside the formal construction lien release.
⚠ WATCH OUT: Skip the notarization or mislabel the file — even by accident — and the payment release can be delayed by days. The 'Payment Application' label matters because it tells the PM exactly which document triggers final approval. Be specific. |
The 7-step subcontractor invoicing process eliminates the most common payment delay in construction — lost or unclear documentation. When every step lives in Procore tied to the original contract, the audit trail does the work. |
Section 2: The General Contractor and Project Manager Workflow
For general contractors and project managers, the Procore invoicing workflow focuses on oversight, accuracy, and integrating upstream billing to the project owner. The platform reduces what used to be a multi-application process — email, PDF, spreadsheet, accounting system — into a single coordinated flow. Here is how it works on the PM side:
Configurable Project Setup
Project managers configure invoice settings and permissions at the project level. This is where you decide what each subcontractor sees and can do — for most subs, you limit them to viewing only their own subcontract, only their own change orders, and only the line items relevant to their scope. Permissions are role-based and adjustable, which means a sub on a complex job can have different access than the same sub on a simpler one. This is part of Procore being a flexible construction project management software — not a one-size-fits-all platform.
Automated Routing — No More Email Bottlenecks
Procore's workflow tool automatically routes submitted invoices to the right personnel for approval. On most projects, this means: subcontractor submits → assigned PM reviews and approves line items → finance lead approves the dollar amount → controller authorizes payment release. Each handoff is automatic — no one has to remember to forward the email. If an approver is on vacation, the workflow can be set to route to a backup automatically.
BOOKKEEPER'S NOTE: Automated routing is where Procore meaningfully reduces accounting workload. Before automated workflows, the AP team would chase down approvals by phone and email, often re-requesting documents that had been buried in inboxes. With Procore, the approval queue is visible, time-stamped, and complete. CCA configures construction bookkeeping services workflows that mirror this approval logic in QuickBooks so the two systems stay in sync. |
Line-Item Review by the Project Manager
When a subcontractor submits an invoice, the PM receives a notification and opens the invoice in Procore. The review is line-item based: for each contract line, the PM verifies the amount billed, the percent complete against actual field progress, and the retainage withheld. The PM is not approving the invoice in aggregate — they are approving each line. This is what makes construction progress billing defensible if a payment dispute arises later.
Rejection and Revision Without Leaving the Platform
If a line item is incorrect — wrong percentage, premature billing, missing supporting documentation — the PM can reject just that line with an attached note explaining the issue. The Procore subcontractor invoice goes back to the sub with the rejection visible. The sub revises the specific line and resubmits, without re-entering the entire invoice. This eliminates the back-and-forth email chains that used to add days or weeks to invoice processing.
Upstream Integration to the Client Invoice
Once approved, subcontractor invoice data automatically flows into the general contractor's upstream client-facing invoice. This is the part most firms underestimate. The GC's invoice to the project owner is built from the approved sub data — no manual transfer, no spreadsheet rollup, no risk of typos or version errors. Approved sub costs become the foundation of the GC's billing in real time. Combined with subcontractor billing software that lives in the same platform as the GC's project management, this is what makes Procore valuable for larger general contractors.
The Audit Trail
Every action — submit, route, approve, reject, revise, re-approve, upload, release — is tracked in real time. The audit trail shows who did what and when, complete with timestamps and any attached notes. For a contractor going through a payment dispute, an insurance claim, or a tax audit, this audit trail is often the most important documentation available. It is the financial defense built into the platform.
Procore Handles the Billing. CCA Handles the Books.
CCA is a construction bookkeeping firm and QuickBooks ProAdvisor working with contractors who run Procore. We sync your approved invoices and commitments with QuickBooks, manage AP, and produce monthly WIP reports — so the financial side of your job is as clean as the project management side.
calendly.com/tammycca/30min | (949) 482-2790
Where Construction Cost Accounting Fits Into the Workflow
Procore handles the project management side of construction invoicing software beautifully. What it does not handle — and what every contractor still needs — is the accounting side: the QuickBooks postings, the monthly reconciliations, the WIP reporting, and the year-end tax preparation. As a construction bookkeeper and QuickBooks ProAdvisor firm, CCA works downstream from Procore:
Approved sub invoices in Procore → entered as AP transactions in QuickBooks, coded to the correct job and cost code
Approved GC client invoices in Procore → entered as AR transactions in QuickBooks, coded to the correct customer:job
Retainage withheld → tracked in QuickBooks with a separate liability account so it appears correctly on financial statements
Lien releases → filed alongside the corresponding payment record so the AP audit trail matches the project audit trail in Procore
Monthly WIP reports → built from QuickBooks job costing data that matches the approved Procore invoice records
Cost code alignment → ensures the line items in Procore match the cost codes in QuickBooks for accurate job costing
As a marketing agency near me for construction financial clarity — and as a SEO marketing agency that focuses specifically on Orange County contractors — CCA bridges the gap between your project management platform and your financial statements. Procore tells you what you billed and approved. QuickBooks tells you what you actually have on the books. Without construction bookkeeping services that connect the two, your monthly close is a reconciliation exercise instead of a clean handoff.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does Procore invoicing handle retainage?
Procore handles retainage at the line-item level — typically 5% or 10% withheld from each progress billing, configurable per subcontract. When the sub enters their progress, the platform automatically calculates the retainage withheld and reports both the gross billing and the net release amount. This data flows into the Procore payment application and ties to your retainage liability tracking in QuickBooks when configured correctly with a construction bookkeeper.
Can a subcontractor edit a submitted invoice in Procore?
Not directly. Once an invoice is submitted, the status changes to ‘Under Review' and it becomes read-only on the sub's side. To make a change, the sub either (1) requests the PM to reject specific line items so they can be revised, or (2) waits for the PM to reject the invoice and resubmits the corrected version. This is intentional — it prevents quiet edits to amounts already under review.
What is the difference between an invoice and a payment application in Procore?
In Procore terminology, the digital invoice is the line-item billing record the subcontractor submits and the project manager reviews and approves. The Procore payment application is the formal exported document — usually AIA G702/G703 format — generated after approval, which is what gets signed, notarized, and used to trigger the actual payment release and construction lien release. The invoice happens inside the platform; the payment application is the document that exists outside the platform for payment processing.
Does Procore handle lien releases?
Procore tracks the workflow associated with lien releases but does not generate them — lien release documents come from your state's specific requirements and are typically prepared by your legal team or AP department. What Procore does is create the documentation trail: the approved invoice, the notarized payment application, the timestamp of approval, and the payment release authorization. When a construction lien release is later filed, this audit trail supports it.
How does Procore invoicing connect to QuickBooks?
Procore has a native integration with QuickBooks Online, plus connections to QuickBooks Desktop through third-party tools. Approved invoices, vendor bills, and customer billing can sync between platforms — eliminating double entry. However, configuration matters: cost codes, vendor naming conventions, and chart of accounts mapping all need to be aligned before the sync goes live. A construction bookkeeper who understands both platforms handles this setup. We cover the integration in detail in a later blog in this series.
Does CCA help contractors using Procore with their construction bookkeeping?
Yes. CCA provides construction bookkeeping services specifically for contractors running Procore. Our work picks up where Procore stops — taking the approved invoices, payment applications, and commitments out of Procore and into QuickBooks, building the monthly WIP reports, and producing the financials your CPA needs at year-end. If you are a Procore user looking for a construction bookkeeper in Orange County who understands both systems, schedule a consultation.
The Procore invoicing workflow is one of the platform's strongest features — when configured and used correctly. The two-track design separates subcontractor submission from PM review and approval while keeping every action tied to the original contract, the field progress, and the final Procore payment application. The audit trail is permanent. The data flows upstream to the GC's client billing automatically. The reconciliation work that used to consume the first week of every month largely disappears.
What Procore does not replace is the construction bookkeeping services that produce your monthly financials and tax-ready records. Construction Cost Accounting is the construction bookkeeper and QuickBooks ProAdvisor that bridges Procore and your books — so your project management and your accounting tell the same story every month. As a marketing agency for construction financial clarity, this is the integration we configure for every client running Procore.
This is Blog #2 in our Procore series. New to the series? Start with Blog #1: Procore Construction Software Overview
Procore Handles the Billing. CCA Handles the Books
CCA is a construction bookkeeping firm and QuickBooks ProAdvisor working with contractors who run Procore. We sync your approved invoices and commitments with QuickBooks, manage AP, and produce monthly WIP reports — so the financial side of your job is as clean as the project management side.
calendly.com/tammycca/30min | (949) 482-2790
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