They want to pay in milestones. Here’s what lands at each gate.

The quote is one number. They asked for three invoices.

In 2026 the SOW still says one total. Procurement then writes three release dates. Kickoff money. Midpoint money. Final money. Nobody multiplied the quote by the shares they just named. Agreeing to “we’ll pay in milestones” without those three products means the week you actually work can sit on a gate that has $0 attached.

Gate dollars = invoice you type × share you type for that gate. Three products. Nothing else is multiplied. There is no processor percent. There is no days-until-cash grid. There is no hours × floor. Your hourly number on the hub is income, billable weeks, and a tax slice you pick yourself. This page will not copy that control and will not ship a 50-state filing table. USD signs exist so $5,000 × 0.30 is readable. If that hourly figure is still a shrug, build it on how to set a freelance rate before you treat a gate as covering a real week.

Worked USD: $5,000 × 0.30 / 0.40 / 0.30 = $1,500 / $2,000 / $1,500

First preset: invoice $5,000. Shares you type 0.30, 0.40, 0.30. Gate 1: 5,000 × 0.30 = $1,500. Gate 2: 5,000 × 0.40 = $2,000. Gate 3: 5,000 × 0.30 = $1,500. Those three invoices add to the quote. The leftover share is 0 because 0.30 + 0.40 + 0.30 = 1. The 0.30 / 0.40 / 0.30 set is on the card so the arithmetic is visible. It is a digit trio you can replace. It is not a standard milestone schedule. It is not “everyone does 30/40/30.” It is not a kickoff-draft-final law this page published.

Second preset: same $5,000, you typed 0.30 / 0.40 / 0.20. Gates: $1,500 / $2,000 / $1,000. Sum of shares 0.90. Leftover share 0.10. Leftover dollars: 5,000 × 0.10 = $500. That $500 is not on any gate invoice yet. It is the unassigned slice. This page did not hide it inside gate 3.

Third preset: same $5,000, you typed 0.40 / 0.40 / 0.40. Gates: $2,000 / $2,000 / $2,000. Sum of shares 1.20. Leftover share −0.20. Leftover dollars −$1,000. The three invoices add to $6,000 on a $5,000 quote. That overshoot is the leftover going negative. You typed 0.40 three times. This page did not pick them as a market.

Shares should add to 1. Miss, and the leftover is the unassigned slice.

Blogs love a tidy “30% start, 40% draft, 30% final.” This card does not ship that table. No kickoff-draft-final mill. No “standard milestone split.” No 25/50/25 corridor dressed up as research. The 0.30 / 0.40 / 0.30 in the worked example is a digit set you can clear. Paste the shares from the SOW you actually have. If you do not have shares yet, do not treat 0.30 / 0.40 / 0.30 as official. Get the numbers, then type them.

Each share is a fraction of the face value: 0.30, not 30. Typing 30 would be 3,000% and this card will not play that game — each box is capped at 1. Leftover share is always 1 − (share 1 + share 2 + share 3). Leftover dollars are always invoice × leftover share. Positive leftover is money still sitting off the three invoices. Negative leftover is money the three invoices claimed twice. Zero leftover means the shares cover the quote exactly. That is the whole machine.

One lump, a wait, a sale, and a cancel live on other cards

This is not one percent now. A single deposit and a remainder, plus optional PayPal/Stripe gross-up and the wording for that first invoice, live on the freelance deposit guide. That card is one lump before kickoff. This card is three named invoices on the same quote. If they will only send one check up front, price the lump there. If they named three gates, price the three products here. Two numbers if they asked for a deposit and later gates — do not mash them into one percent.

This is not two companies splitting one job. Two AP inboxes on one brief — payer A = invoice × share A, payer B = invoice × share B, leftover if those two shares miss 1 prints as unpaid — live on the split-invoice card. Worked there: $5,000 × 0.60 / 0.40 = $3,000 / $2,000. 0.60 / 0.40 is a typed pair, not 50/50 as a standard. That is two payers. This card is one payer, three calendars. If two names each owe a slice, leave this card. If one client named three release dates, stay here.

This is not a wait. Cash this week from a deposit vs 100% in N days is the Net 30 vs deposit card. 30 is a worked example on that card, not an APR. Days × (invoice ÷ 30) is labeled as not interest. Here nobody asked you to sit on 100% for N days. They asked you to split one quote across three release dates. Two different products. If the PO still says Net 30 on the whole bill, price the wait there. If the PO lists three gates, price the gates here.

This is not a sale of the paper. Factoring a net bill so this week is keep after one share lives on invoice-factor: keep = face value × (1 − the share you type). Their worked row is $5,000 × 0.03 → keep $4,850, cost $150. That 0.03 is a digit you type there, not a typical factor fee, not a loan. On this card the buyer is still the client. Three gate invoices, not one haircut paid by a third party.

This is not a cancel. Hours already worked × your floor vs a deposit after they walk is the kill-fee keep / unpaid gap. Nothing walked. The job is still on. Three gates are payment events, not a kill percent. If they cancel after gate 1 has landed, leave this card and compare hours vs cash already in on kill-fee. If they only paused and want the slots held, that is pause-hold, not a gate.

This is also not a closet SKU. Marketplace listing fees, Depop processing, Etsy vs Amazon — those mills live under seller-fees. Do not clone a take-rate table onto three gate invoices. This is also not a 50-state tax engine. The tax buffer stays on the hub slider you already set.

Send the three gate dollars before you lock the week

Name the quote. Name the three shares you typed. Name the three gate dollars. Name the leftover if the shares miss 1. Paste from this card so the three dollars match the screen.

• Worked $5,000 × 0.30 / 0.40 / 0.30. Quote $5,000.00. Gate 1 share 0.30 = $1,500.00. Gate 2 share 0.40 = $2,000.00. Gate 3 share 0.30 = $1,500.00. Shares sum to 1. Leftover $0.00. This is not one deposit, not Net 30, not selling the invoice, and not a cancel. 0.30 / 0.40 / 0.30 is the split I typed, not a standard milestone schedule.
• Shares miss 1. Quote $5,000.00. Gate 1 share 0.30 = $1,500.00. Gate 2 share 0.40 = $2,000.00. Gate 3 share 0.20 = $1,000.00. Shares sum to 0.90. Leftover share 0.10 = $500.00 not on any gate yet.
• Shares overshoot 1. Quote $5,000.00. Gate 1 share 0.40 = $2,000.00. Gate 2 share 0.40 = $2,000.00. Gate 3 share 0.40 = $2,000.00. Shares sum to 1.20. Leftover share −0.20 = −$1,000.00 — the three invoices claim $6,000.00 on a $5,000.00 quote.

Skip speeches about “serious shops always use 30/40/30.” If you do not have shares from a real SOW, do not block three weeks on a mill. If they will only send one lump before kickoff, use freelance deposit. If they want 100% after N days, use Net 30 vs deposit. If the bill exists and you would rather sell it, use invoice-factor. If they already walked, use kill-fee. If the hourly floor is still a shrug, build it on how to set a freelance rate.

Planning figures, not a SOW mill

Education only — not a lawyer, not a tax desk, not collections, and not a 50-state filing table. No official 30/40/30. No kickoff-draft-final mill. No seller-fee clone. Use the shares you already have. If you need an enforceable milestone clause, counsel where you work drafts it before kickoff. Typing here does not mint that paper.

You enter the invoice and three shares. The card prints each gate = invoice × share, leftover share = 1 − sum, leftover dollars = invoice × leftover share, and one sentence. USD signs here; tax slice stays on the hub. The lump stays on freelance deposit. The wait stays on Net 30 vs deposit. The sale of the bill stays on invoice-factor. The cancel stays on kill-fee.

Rate calculator Two payers, one job One deposit, not three gates Net 30 vs deposit — the wait Invoice factor — sell a net bill Kill fee — they already walked Build the hourly number

If billable weeks shifted, rebuild the hourly floor on the hub. They named three gates — print each gate = invoice × share here. Two AP inboxes on one job is split-invoice. One lump before kickoff is freelance deposit. Cash this week vs cash in N days is Net 30 vs deposit. Selling the receivable is invoice-factor. Hours vs deposit after a cancel is kill-fee.

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