TLDR:
If payments lag, jobs lag. Bolster Payments ties billing to approved work, lets clients pay online, and keeps everything connected to your project and QuickBooks so cash flow stays predictable.
Construction projects move fast. Your payments should, too. The old way is familiar: paper checks, “I’ll send it tonight,” invoices living in email threads, and your draw schedule getting held hostage by one missing approval.
Bolster Payments is built to remove that drag. It puts billing and payments inside the same workflow you’re already using to run the job, so you can request payment as work is completed and approved, not three days later when you finally have time to build an invoice.
If you’ve ever floated payroll because a milestone payment came in late, this is the fix.
In Bolster, payment requests are tied to progress. When you complete items, tasks, or milestones, your client gets a payment request in their portal based on the payment terms you set up. They review what’s been completed, approve it, and pay online.
Clients can pay by ACH/EFT or credit and debit card. Once they set up a payment method the first time, future requests are quick. Approve, pay, done.
This is the part contractors feel right away. Less manual invoicing. Fewer “just checking in” calls about payments. Fewer Monday morning surprises because someone forgot to send a draw request on Friday.
You focus on production. The system handles the billing rhythm.
Payments are not just collected. They’re organized. Bolster’s QuickBooks sync is built to cut out double entry so invoices and payment records stay aligned without you playing accountant at midnight.
If you want to explore that side, start here: Bolster QuickBooks Integration
Different jobs need different billing structure. Bolster supports the common ways residential contractors actually bill.
This is great for smaller projects, service work, and upgrade-heavy remodels.
You bill as work is completed and approved, line by line or bundle by bundle, without waiting for a full “phase” to wrap. It keeps money moving and reduces the end-of-job invoice battle.
Perfect for mid-sized remodels and additions.
You group work into milestones like demo, rough-in, drywall, trim, and substantial completion. When a phase is approved, a single payment request goes out.
This works well when clients want a simple draw schedule they can understand.
Common on larger custom builds or longer jobs.
Instead of tracking every item, you bill by percent complete or predefined splits tied to major milestones. It’s clean and predictable, especially when you’re coordinating multiple trades over months.
You decide how much detail the client sees. Itemized, grouped, or simplified. The key is consistency so there’s less friction when money changes hands.
Cash flow problems usually aren’t profit problems. They’re timing problems.
Bolster gives you control over how quickly funds settle, so you can match the payment timing to your operations. Some contractors are fine with standard timing. Others want faster access for payroll weeks, material-heavy phases, or when you’re running multiple jobs at once.
In supported regions, Bolster offers a Business Account that receives payments and gives you one dashboard for incoming funds, transfers out, and transaction history.
Learn more here: Bolster Business Account
Practical note: availability depends on region. If your market does not support the Business Account yet, you can still run payments and settle funds to a linked external bank account.
Every contractor has lived this one.
The client is happy with 95% of the work but wants to hold up a full draw because of one disputed detail. Meanwhile, your subs still need to get paid and your schedule keeps rolling.
Bolster Payments is built around progress approvals so one disputed component does not have to freeze the entire payment flow. You keep the job moving without turning payment into a weekly argument.
Clients log into a secure portal, see what’s completed, what’s pending, what’s paid, and what’s next. That transparency reduces friction and makes payment conversations way easier.
Clients are not bounced to a random payment link that looks like a scam. Payments live inside the same experience where they review work and approvals. It feels professional.
Homeowners are used to paying digitally everywhere else. When your payment process is clean and easy, you look like the contractor who has their act together.
When estimates, change orders, approvals, and billing live in different tools, you lose time and you miss details. When they live together, you get control.
Bolster keeps the financial story connected from estimate to final payment:
And because it’s tied to the job, you’re not guessing which invoice matches which scope change.
Yes. Clients can pay through the portal using ACH/EFT or credit and debit card.
No. But if you already use QuickBooks, syncing can save a lot of admin and keep records cleaner.
No. Payment requests are built around the approval flow and the payment terms you set, so invoicing becomes part of the workflow instead of a separate chore.
If you want payments to move as smoothly as your schedule, this is the simplest upgrade you can make.
Activate and learn more here: Bolster Payments