Proposal templates Milestone payment
A milestone proposal splits the work into phases and ties each payment to one of them. The client can see what every payment buys, and you are never more than one phase of work ahead of the money.
The schedule here is 40% on signing, 40% when phase 1 is approved and 20% before handover. That split is a convention, not a measured norm: no survey we found reports how freelancers actually split payments. It is the worked example in Sprintlaw's UK web design guidance, and it puts the last payment before handover so your ownership clause still has leverage.
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Example figure — illustrative, not a pricing recommendation.
For Your client$5,000 · 6 weeks
Use this template freeRuns in your browser — nothing you type is saved or sent, or carried into the editor.
Prepared for Your client
PreviewMilestone project proposal
Investment
Illustrative figure.
Timeline
Scope, by phase
+ 1 more in the full proposal
Signature
Your client signs here once you send it.
How the payments and terms read to your client
Deposit
Due on signing
$2,000.00
40%
Phase 1 approved
Due on completion · Phase 1 approved
$2,000.00
40%
Launch
Due before final files and access are handed over
Due on completion · Launch
$1,000.00
20%
Each deliverable counts as accepted unless you send written changes within 5 business days of receiving it. A phase starts once the previous phase is approved and its invoice is paid. Ownership of the final work passes to you once every invoice under this proposal is paid in full. Drafts and unused concepts stay ours. Overdue invoices may pause the work until they are paid, and may carry interest at the rate allowed where we are based.
Every section below exists to answer a question your client is silently asking. Use the example copy as a starting point and replace the specifics.
Each phase gets its own deliverables and its own sign-off. AIGA's standard form for design services allows billing by phase or milestone, with each phase carrying its own deliverables, revisions and subtotal.
“Phase 1, design: homepage and two inner-page designs, two revision rounds. Phase 2, build: the approved designs built on a staging site, CMS set up. Phase 3, launch: content loaded, testing, go-live. Not included: copywriting, photography, hosting fees.”
Show how long each phase runs and how long the client has to review it. AIGA notes that clients often negotiate a tight schedule and then take longer to approve, and that most design firms extend deadlines day for day when they do. Saying so now avoids the argument later.
“Phase 1: 2 weeks, then 5 business days for your review. Phase 2: 3 weeks. Phase 3: 1 week. If a review takes longer than 5 business days, every date after it moves by the same number of days.”
Price each phase as its own line so the client can point at a payment and say which work it pays for. Keep pass-through costs outside the fee.
“Phase 1, design: [amount]. Phase 2, build: [amount]. Phase 3, launch: [amount]. Total: [amount]. Hosting, fonts and stock images are billed at cost and are not included.”
Tie each payment to an event both sides can see happen. Sprintlaw's Australian guidance puts it plainly: a payment due on delivery of homepage design concepts is clearer than a payment due when the client is happy with the design.
“40% deposit on signing, which books the start date. 40% when phase 1 is approved. 20% at launch, due before final files and logins are handed over.”
Say what counts as approval and what happens if the client goes quiet. AIGA's form deems a deliverable accepted if no written objection arrives within five business days; its notes call 5 to 10 days usual.
“Each phase counts as approved unless you send written changes within 5 business days of receiving it. The next phase starts once the previous phase is approved and its invoice is paid.”
Three terms do most of the work. Changes go through a written change order. An overdue invoice can pause the work, after written notice and in proportion to what is owed. Ownership passes only on payment in full, as in AIGA's clause 3.4.
“Changes are agreed in a written change order before work starts. A change of more than 10% of the budget or schedule gets a revised proposal. If an invoice is overdue we'll tell you in writing and may pause work until it's paid. Ownership of the final work passes to you once every invoice is paid in full.”
Example pricing section
Design, build and launch, 3 phases (example)
$8,000
Deposit on signing (40%)
$3,200
Phase 1 approved (40%)
$3,200
Before handover (20%)
$1,600
In ApeiroCraft the payment schedule becomes invoices after signing — the deposit invoice is drafted the moment they sign.
A list of payments, each tied to a point in the project: usually a deposit when the proposal is signed, a payment as each phase is approved, and a final payment before handover. Each payment has an amount, as a percentage of the total or a fixed sum, and a trigger both sides can see happen.
There is no measured answer; no survey we found reports how freelancers set deposits. Practitioner and legal examples converge on 30–50%, and AIGA's standard form says only to ask for one whenever possible. This template uses 40% because that is the deposit in Sprintlaw's worked example. Change it to fit the job.
In three places. The scope is organised by phase, each with its own sign-off. The pricing shows a subtotal per phase. And the schedule has a payment per phase instead of one deposit and one balance. Use fixed price for short jobs where every deliverable can be listed, and milestones when the work runs past a few weeks and has natural approval points.
See the fixed-price proposal template →Yes. Each payment in an ApeiroCraft schedule can fall due on signing, on completion, or on a fixed date. A date suits clients whose approvals tend to stall, because the payment falls due whether or not the review has happened. Approval-based triggers suit clients who review promptly.
The payment schedule is part of the proposal the client signs. When they sign, the deposit invoice is drafted for you to review and send. Each later milestone has a 'Mark complete, create invoice' step, so the phase 1 and launch invoices are one click each when you get there, at the amounts the client already agreed.
This template as a tracked, e-signable link — with the invoice one click away once your client says yes.
Use this template freeStill deciding? Talk to the founder
Same structure, written for a different kind of work. All free, no account needed.
Free template
A scope you can list, one total, half up front, and the change-order terms that keep it fixed.
Free template
Sell the scope before the build: a fixed fee up front, a roadmap the client owns, a credit that expires.
Guide
A seven-step handoff with no retyping — and which proposal tools stop at the signature.