Overview
Every construction project involves a steady flow of vendor invoices, from subcontractors billing for completed work to suppliers sending invoices for materials. Managing these bills accurately is essential for keeping your project budget honest and your cash flow under control.
In Structur, Bills represent invoices received from vendors or subcontractors. They are the mechanism for recording what you owe and tracking when payments are made. Critically, bills are connected directly to your project budget, but only once they've been confirmed as real financial commitments. Understanding how bills flow through their statuses, and when they affect your budget, is one of the most important things to get right in your financial workflow.
Understanding Bills
What It Does
Structur's Bills feature allows you to:
Record vendor and subcontractor invoices tied directly to a project
Manage bills through three clear status stages: Draft → Open → Paid
Control exactly when a bill impacts your project budget, only confirmed bills affect your numbers
Track Open bills as committed costs (money you owe) in the project budget
Track Paid bills as actual costs (money you've spent) in the project budget
Keep Draft bills separate from budget calculations until they're verified and finalized
Review all Open and Paid bills in the Bills column of your project budget for a complete cost picture
When to Use It
Bills are most valuable when you need to:
Record a vendor or subcontractor invoice as soon as it arrives so it's in the system
Confirm a bill is accurate and move it to Open status to reflect the committed cost in your budget
Track payment status across all vendor invoices on a project
Understand the difference between what you've committed to pay versus what you've already paid
Keep your project budget accurate by ensuring every confirmed invoice is reflected promptly
Step-by-Step Instructions
1. Navigate to Bills
Bills in Structur are typically created and managed in two places:
Within a Subcontract - when billing against a specific subcontractor agreement (see FM-03)
Bills page - using the Financial Management dropdown
To check all bills and their status against the budget:
Open the active project
Click Financial Management then click Bills
You'll see all bills listed.
2. Understand the Three Bill Statuses
Every bill in Structur moves through three statuses. Knowing what each means, and how it affects your budget is essential for accurate financial tracking.
Draft
The bill has been created but is still being reviewed or verified
Does not appear in the project budget
Use Draft when you've received an invoice but haven't confirmed the amounts yet, or when the bill is still being set up internally
Open
The bill has been confirmed and recorded as a real financial commitment
Appears immediately in the project budget as a committed cost under the Bills column
Represents money you owe, the equivalent of accounts payable
This is the status where the bill first affects your budget and cost tracking
Paid
The payment has been processed
Remains in the project budget as an actual cost
Represents money you've already spent
Updates your cash flow and expense tracking to reflect the completed payment
3. Understand the Bill Workflow
Bills follow a straightforward progression from creation to payment:
Step 1 - Create the Bill (Draft)
A bill is created when an invoice is received or when initiating a payment against a subcontract. At this stage, it's in Draft and has no impact on the project budget. Use this time to verify the amounts, cost codes, and due dates before committing.
Step 2 - Move the Bill to Open
Once the bill has been reviewed and confirmed, change its status to Open. The moment a bill reaches Open status, it appears in the project budget as a committed cost. Your budget now reflects this as money you owe, giving you an accurate picture of your financial obligations.
Step 3 - Mark the Bill as Paid
When payment is processed, mark the bill as Paid. It remains in the budget and is now counted as an actual expense, money spent rather than money owed. Your budget and cash flow tracking update accordingly.
4. Check Bills Against Your Budget
To review how bills are tracking against your cost codes:
Go to your Project → Financial Management → Budget
Find the Bills column in the budget table
All Open and Paid bills are listed here, organized by cost code
Compare the Bills column against your Revised Budget and Total Costs to monitor financial health
Draft bills will not appear in this column, if a bill seems to be missing from the budget, check whether it's still sitting in Draft status.
5. Act on Bills That Are Stalled in Draft
If bills are left in Draft for too long, your budget will appear healthier than it actually is. This is one of the most common sources of budget surprises late in a project.
If you have confirmed invoices sitting in Draft:
Open the bill
Verify the amount, cost code, and due date
Move it to Open status to reflect the true committed cost in your budget
Make it a habit to review Draft bills regularly and clear them out promptly once they're confirmed.
Best Practices
Move bills to Open as soon as they're confirmed - The sooner a verified invoice is moved to Open, the sooner your budget reflects your true financial position. Delays in confirming bills create false comfort in your budget numbers.
Use Draft status intentionally - Draft is for bills you genuinely haven't verified yet, not a holding area for invoices you haven't gotten around to. Keep the Draft pile small and current.
Review your Draft bills regularly - Set a routine to check for any bills sitting in Draft that should have been moved to Open. Weekly is a good minimum.
Don't pay a bill before marking it Open - The status workflow exists for a reason. Moving through Draft → Open → Paid keeps your budget trail clean and your records accurate.
Check the Bills column in the budget before invoicing clients - Knowing exactly what you've committed to and paid helps you invoice accurately and protect your margin.
Keep bills tied to the correct cost codes - Accurate cost code assignment ensures bills land in the right budget line and your per-category variance reporting stays meaningful.
Common Questions
Q: When does a bill actually appear in the project budget?
A: A bill appears in the project budget as soon as it reaches Open status. Bills in Draft status are excluded from budget calculations entirely. Bills in Paid status remain in the budget as actual costs.
Q: What's the difference between an Open bill and a Paid bill in the budget?
A: Both appear in the budget under the Bills column. An Open bill represents money you've committed to pay, accounts payable. A Paid bill represents money you've already spent, an actual cost. Together, they give you a complete picture of your financial obligations and expenditures on the project.
Q: Why would my budget look better than I expected?
A: The most common reason is bills sitting in Draft status. If vendor invoices haven't been moved to Open, they're invisible to the budget. Check your Draft bills and move any confirmed invoices to Open to see the true picture.
Q: Can I move a bill back to Draft after it's been marked Open?
A: If you realize a bill was confirmed incorrectly, you can typically edit or void it depending on its current state. Voiding a bill removes it from budget calculations. Review the bill's options from its three-dot menu if you need to make a correction.
Q: Do bills created from subcontracts work the same way as standalone bills?
A: Yes. Whether a bill is created directly from a subcontract or added independently, the same status rules apply - Draft bills don't affect the budget, Open and Paid bills do. The only difference with subcontract bills is that they may also trigger the lien waiver workflow if lien waivers are required on that subcontract.
Q: How do I know which bills are still unpaid?
A: In the Budget, the Bills column shows the total of all Open and Paid bills per cost code. Open bills specifically represent amounts still awaiting payment. You can also review individual subcontracts to see bill status at the line-item level.
Q: What if a bill isn't showing up in my budget?
A: First, check whether the bill is still in Draft status, Draft bills are intentionally excluded from the budget. Also confirm that the bill is assigned to the correct cost code. If both look correct and the bill still isn't appearing, contact support.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
❌ Don't | ✅ Do |
Leave confirmed vendor invoices in Draft status | Move bills to Open as soon as the amounts are verified so the budget reflects real commitments |
Use Draft as a long-term holding area | Keep Draft bills only until they're reviewed and confirmed, then move them promptly |
Assume the budget is accurate without checking Draft bills | Regularly review Draft bills to ensure no confirmed invoices are hiding from your budget |
Mark a bill Paid without first moving it through Open | Follow the Draft → Open → Paid workflow to maintain a clean financial trail |
Assign bills to the wrong cost code | Always check cost code assignment so every bill lands in the right budget line |
Check bills only at project closeout | Review bill status and budget impact at least weekly throughout the project |