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Engagement scopes & invoices for independent consultants

Agree what decision the engagement is meant to serve, what you will hand over, and when it ends — then bill against that instead of chasing it.

Start freeSee pricing — $19/mo

Free: 1 client + 3 active projects. Pro: unlimited at $19/mo.

Where the money goes for independent consultants

  • The engagement was scoped as "help us figure out pricing", nobody wrote down what finished looks like, and it is now month five.
  • Your sponsor moves to another company and the new one wants discovery run again before they will sign anything off.
  • The invoice is rejected because it is missing a PO number nobody mentioned, and the clock starts again at net 45.
  • You wrote a fifteen-page proposal, unpaid, for a board that then decided to do nothing this quarter.
  • The day rate covers workshop days, but the Slack questions between them are apparently free.

What PaloWorks does about it

Every feature below is in the product today. Free covers the whole workflow for your first client; contracts, time tracking, and the calendar are on Pro.

Intake that asks the right five questions
What decision are you trying to make, what have you already tried, who needs to be in the room, what does good look like in three months, what is the deadline — answered before you quote.
Scope with deliverables and a timeline
Workshop, current-state findings, prioritised recommendations, two follow-ups, and an end date, on a link the sponsor can forward to whoever holds the budget.
Estimates that convert
Send a quote as an estimate on its own link. When the sponsor says yes, one button turns it into an invoice under a fresh invoice number — the figures are not retyped, so nothing drifts between what you quoted and what you billed.
Invoice notes and your own numbering
PO references and payment terms go on the invoice, under your own prefix, logo, and payment instructions, so it clears AP the first time rather than the third.
Time log against the engagement
Advisory days, the calls between them, and the reading all go in. The project shows the effective rate on a fixed fee while the engagement is still running.
A written agreement, e-signed
Generated from the scope — deliverables, rounds, timeline, fee — with ownership passing on full payment and a cancellation clause, then edited in plain text before it goes out, which is where the advise-versus-decide line and your confidentiality terms go. Signed by typed name, timestamped, and hashed against later edits, so a sponsor leaving does not take the agreement with them.

What a consultant invoice usually holds

Line items you can type straight into an invoice. Quantities, tax, and discounts are handled for you, and duplicating an invoice re-opens the same amount, notes, and currency as a fresh draft under a new number.

Sample line itemsExample amount (USD)
  • Kickoff workshop — one day, on siteExample amount: $2,500
  • Stakeholder interviews — six sessionsExample amount: $3,000
  • Current-state review and written findingsExample amount: $4,000
  • Recommendations with a prioritised planExample amount: $3,500
  • Board presentation and Q&AExample amount: $1,500
  • Two follow-up sessions — 90 minutes eachExample amount: $750
  • Change order: pricing workstream addedExample amount: $5,000
  • Advisory retainer — two days per monthExample amount: $5,000

The amounts are illustrations we wrote to show the shape of an invoice — not market rates, not a recommendation, and not figures from a real client. Amounts, tax, and discounts are yours to set, in your currency — PaloWorks does the arithmetic in whole cents so the totals never drift.

Questions independent consultants ask

Is PaloWorks free for independent consultants?

Free covers 1 client and 3 active projects: intake links, scopes, revision tracking, change orders, invoices, and card payments through your own Stripe account. Pro is $19/mo, or $192/yr ($16/mo billed yearly). It lifts both caps and adds contracts, time tracking, calendar, reports, planner, intake templates, multiple tax rates, draft from intake, and api and assistant access.

Do my clients need an account to see a scope or an invoice?

No. Every document you share — the intake form, the scope, the invoice, the project portal — opens from a link in their browser. There is nothing for them to install and no password for them to reset.

Can I send a consultant a contract to sign?

Yes, on Pro. PaloWorks generates a project agreement from the scope you already agreed, your client signs it in the browser, and the signing record keeps the time, IP address, browser and a fingerprint of the exact document signed. Whether a particular agreement is enforceable depends on its terms and the law where you both work; PaloWorks is not a law firm and does not give legal advice.

What goes on a consultant invoice?

The sample lines on this page show the usual shape of one. The amounts beside them are illustrations we wrote, not market rates and not a real client's figures — you set your own, in your own currency, and PaloWorks does the arithmetic in whole cents.

Templates and guides for independent consultants

Not quite what you do?

The workflow is the same underneath. These pages are written in each trade’s own words.

Set up your next job before you start it

One client, one intake link, one scope with the rounds written down — the way a consultant job should have been set up in the first place. About five minutes, and nothing to pay to try it.

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