Break a project fee into a deposit and milestone payments. Each payment is the fee times its percentage, with the final payment as the remainder so the schedule sums exactly to the total.
The example
$10,000 fee: 30/40/30.
| A | B | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Milestone | Amount |
| 2 | Deposit 30% | $3,000 |
| 3 | Final 30% | $3,000 |
The formula
The formula:
How it works
How it works:
- Assign a percentage to each milestone (deposit, mid-project, on delivery) totaling 100%.
- Each payment =
ROUND(fee × percent, 2). - Make the final milestone the remainder —
fee - SUM(earlier_payments)— so rounding never leaves a gap. - A deposit up front de-risks the work; tie milestones to deliverables, not dates.
Tie milestones to deliverables. Date-based milestones pay out even if work slips; deliverable-based ones (“30% on approved design”) keep payment aligned with progress. And always make the last payment the remainder — =fee - SUM(prior) — so the schedule totals the fee to the penny regardless of rounding.
Try it: interactive demo
Fee and milestone percents (comma-separated).
Variations
Final as remainder
Tie-out:
Deposit amount
Up front:
Check the total
Should equal fee:
Pitfalls & errors
Last = remainder. Make the final payment the leftover so rounding ties out to the fee.
Percents sum to 100%. Verify before relying on the schedule.
Tie to deliverables. Milestone triggers should be approvals, not calendar dates.
Practice workbook
Frequently asked questions
How do I build a milestone payment schedule in Excel?
How do I make payments tie out to the fee?
Should milestones be date- or deliverable-based?
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