Example
"Door hanging, 3 doors at $85" rather than "carpentry work".
Also called an invoice line, a row, or a service line.
What it means in practice
A good line names the work in the client's language, carries the quantity in the unit the trade actually bills in, and shows the rate. Anything vague enough to argue about belongs on two lines instead of one.
Keep pass-through costs, such as permit fees or ad spend, on their own lines at cost. Folding them into your labor makes your rate look higher than it is.
Line items should also stay worded the same from one document to the next; see common units and example line items by profession for real wording per trade.
Covered in full in the guide to make an invoice.
Where it shows up on the paperwork
One row in the table: description, quantity, unit, rate, and the line total. Discounts and tax can sit per line or on the total, depending on how your trade prices.
What goes wrong
- Writing descriptions in your language rather than the client's.
- Folding pass-through costs, such as permit fees or ad spend, into your own rate.
- Leaving the unit off, so three doors and three hours look the same on the page.
Common questions
How many line items should an invoice have?
As many as the client would want to check, and no more. Two or three named lines beat one vague line and beat fifteen fragments.
Can I add a discount to a single line?
Yes, and it is often clearer than discounting the total, because it shows exactly which piece of work you moved on.
What is a line item number?
The sequence number at the start of each row on an invoice: 1, 2, 3 down the left. It exists so a query can refer to line 4 rather than to the third thing from the top, and so a partial credit can name exactly which line it cancels. Most generators number the lines automatically; if yours does not, add the number by hand, because it is what makes the invoice discussable.