For consultants
Send a proposal the client signs on screen, bill the fee milestone by milestone as each stage is done, and put retainer clients on autopay. Every engagement keeps its files and notes on it, and every client's invoices and payments sit on their record.
What consultants use most
Sound familiar?
The engagement starts on a handshake, the second phase grows, and when the invoice lands the client remembers a different fee.
With Stacwork
Send a proposal with your own sections and a payment schedule. The client signs both on screen, and the accepted proposal is saved exactly as they saw it.
Calls, workshops, and report drafts get noted in a calendar or a spreadsheet, and half of them are forgotten by the end of the month.
With Stacwork
Log time on the project at your hourly rate as you go, and billable time carries onto the invoice.
The retainer invoice goes out on the first, and by the twentieth you are writing a polite note about it.
With Stacwork
Set the retainer to send on its own, and once the client saves a card or bank account, autopay charges it on its due date. If the card is declined, autopay tries it again 3 days later and once more at 7 days.
How it runs
An operations review for a family-owned distributor, billed in three milestones.
Sample names and figures.
A new client from a referral
You add Northside Supply as a client, with the owner and the finance manager as contacts.
Proposal sent
Sections for the scope and the approach, a $9,000 fee, and a schedule of three payments, sent as a link with a PDF.
Signed, and the milestones set
The owner signs on screen, and the three payments become the project's milestones: discovery, findings, and the final plan.
Site visit notes on the project
Your notes from the site visit and the client's process documents, kept on the project.
Discovery billed
You mark discovery done and invoice its $3,000, sent with a pay link.
Paid, and the card saved
Northside pays the $3,000 by card from the link and saves the card, so you can charge later milestones for the exact total you confirm.
Features for consultants
Anything tagged Team and up needs Team or Unlimited. Everything else is on every plan, Free included.
Your own sections in every proposal
Proposal mode adds your own sections and pick-one pricing tiers.
A payment schedule signed with it
Add a payment schedule to a proposal. The client signs it with the proposal, and it becomes the project's milestones.
Clients sign on screen from the link
Clients accept and sign on screen, decline, or ask for changes from the link.
The signed version saved as they saw it
The quote a client accepted is saved exactly as they saw it.
Milestones with an owner and a fee
Track each project's milestones, each with an owner, a due date, a fee, and a status.
Files and notes kept on the project
Keep each project's files and notes on it, from the office or a phone.
Hours logged at your rate
Log time on the job at your hourly rate, or a person's own, and billable time carries onto the invoice.
Due dates on your calendar
Milestone and deliverable due dates show on the calendar next to your jobs and appointments.
Invoice each milestone as it is done
Invoice each project milestone when it is done. The final invoice bills whatever is left.
Retainers weekly, monthly, or quarterly
Recurring invoices for service plans and memberships: weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly.
Autopay on the client's saved card
Autopay charges a recurring or rent bill to the client's saved card or bank account on its due date, after the bill is emailed with the card and the date on it.
Charge a saved card for the exact total
Charge a client's saved card from any open invoice, for the exact total you confirm.
Ask Co-work about any client or invoice Team and up
Ask Co-work in plain words about clients, work, requests, quotes, invoices, payments, messages, rentals, recurring plans, and your team's workload.
Answers with the records behind them Team and up
Answers show the figures and records behind them, as a summary, a table, or a chart.
A client portal for milestones and files Team and up
In the portal, clients follow a project's milestones, pay a billed one, open the files you share, and approve deliverables or ask for changes.
Your logo at the top of the portal Team and up
Your logo and business name at the top of the customer portal.
Plans
Free covers request to paid in all five ways of working. Team and up adds the tools that keep clients close and the office ahead.
For a solo operator getting started.
billed monthly
For a small team running the day together.
billed monthly
The card and bank fees are Stacwork's platform fee, on top of standard Stripe processing on the payments you take. The Team trial needs no credit card. After 7 days you stay on Free unless you subscribe, and your data stays.
Straight answers about how Stacwork runs your day.
Yes. Add a payment schedule to the proposal, and the client signs the two together. The schedule becomes the project's milestones, you invoice each one when it is done, and whatever is left goes on the final invoice.
A retainer is a recurring invoice, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly, and autopay charges it to the client's saved card or bank account on the due date. A declined card gets two more tries, 3 and 7 days later, and if both fail the client is sent the pay link and you hear about it.
On the project. Keep each project's files and notes on it, from the office or a phone. On Team and up you can also share files with the client in the portal.
On Team and up, ask Co-work in plain words, such as what a client has paid this year or which of their invoices are still open. Answers show the figures and records behind them, as a summary, a table, or a chart.
No. The proposal goes out as a link with a PDF, and clients accept and sign on screen without an account. Every invoice has a pay link for card or bank transfer, with no account needed either.
Yes. Free is for up to 2 people and runs every step from request to paid, so a solo practice fits. Team adds the client portal, Co-work, and payment reminders, and every new account gets Team free for 7 days with no card. Compare the plans below for prices.
Free runs the whole loop for up to 2 people. No credit card.