Our new Retainer Invoice feature is now available in Beta — giving you a simple, professional way to collect upfront payment before the job begins, as well as progress payments throughout the job.
Whether you’ve called it a “deposit,” “down payment,” or “upfront invoice,” Retainer Invoices in Portal (formerly "Payment Requests") are designed specifically for how AV, Security, and IT integrators work: larger projects, longer timelines, and careful project cash flow management.
What Is a Retainer Invoice in Portal?
A retainer invoice in Portal is used to collect funds before any products or labor are delivered. This money is held on the client’s account (as a liability) and is applied to future invoices as the project progresses.
Instead of creating a standard revenue-recognizing invoice for work that hasn’t happened yet, you can now simply request a lump-sum amount (e.g. $5,000 or $10,000) as a retainer. Then, when it’s time to invoice for delivered products or completed labor, you apply the retainer amount toward the standard invoice.
Using Retainers for Progress Billing
Most integrators break large projects into multiple payments. Here’s how you can do it with retainer invoices in Portal:
🔹 Example: 3-Part Payment Schedule
50% Initial Retainer — Collected when the client signs the proposal
40% Milestone Retainer — Collected before scheduling the finish install
10% Final Retainer — Collected at substantial completion
Each of these is a retainer invoice in Portal. When it’s time to send a standard (revenue recognizing) invoice for hardware, labor, or final adjustments, you simply apply the client’s retainers toward it.
Think of it Like a Restaurant Gift Card
A retainer invoice works a lot like a gift card at a restaurant. When a customer buys a $100 gift card, the restaurant doesn’t count that as revenue right away — because no food has been served. Instead, it’s recorded as a liability: the restaurant owes the customer $100 worth of meals in the future.
When the customer finally comes in and uses the gift card to pay for dinner, that’s when the revenue is recognized — because the service was delivered. Retainer invoices work the same way: you collect the funds up front, hold them as a liability, and then convert them to revenue only when products or labor are actually installed and then invoiced. This keeps your books clean and your revenue reporting accurate.