Hire a clerk that reads the contract before it drafts the invoice

ClauseClerk is an AI billing clerk for engineering firms. It is built for the contract-checking part of a job that engineering and architecture firms posted at between $60,000 and $109,000 a year, about $77,000 on average.

Every entry cites its clause. Where the contract leaves a number open, it flags the line and fills in nothing. Your controller still sends the invoice.

Book a demo See what it flags

Draft invoice

Survey subcontract, April 2026

Sample. Fictional parties.

Two-person survey crew 50 × $185.00 $9,250.00

§2.1Two-person survey crew: $185 per hour.
Three-person survey crew 100 × $240.00 $24,000.00

§2.2Three-person survey crew: $240 per hour.

I billed April at §2.2. The $255 rate in §5.1 starts May 1.
Retainage withheld (5%) 5% × $33,250.00 −$1,662.50

§3.1Prime shall pay undisputed amounts within 45 days of receipt of invoice, subject to retainage of 5% on each invoice.

Subtotal: $33,250.00
Net due, if released: $31,587.50

Billed to date $30,000.00 + $33,250.00 $63,250.00

§4.1The not-to-exceed amount for Phase 1 is $48,000. Phase 2 is subject to a separate authorization.

I stopped here. That is over the $48,000 not-to-exceed, once the $30,000 already billed is counted. This draft is not released.

Output from a run on a fictional sample contract. 100 and 50 crew hours were entered for April. The notes are reworded in the first person for this page.

What it will not guess

Two sample contracts raised four flags. Each cites the clause that caused it, and the last one stopped the invoice.

Flag The clause, quoted What the clerk did

Fee not set

§2.2Milestone 2, Visual design: fixed fee to be agreed between the parties after Milestone 1 is accepted.

I flagged the line and filled in no amount.

No due date

§3.1Invoices are payable within a reasonable time after receipt.

I printed no due date. “A reasonable time” is not a number of days.

Rate not stated

§2.4Additional change requests are billed at Provider’s then-current hourly rate.

I billed nothing against it.

Ceiling breach

§4.1The not-to-exceed amount for Phase 1 is $48,000. Phase 2 is subject to a separate authorization.

I stopped the invoice for review. $63,250 billed against $48,000.

Sample output from two fictional contracts: the survey subcontract above and a design agreement billed by milestone.

The five checks it is built for

You send one signed contract as a PDF and one ledger export as a CSV. Nothing connects to your accounting system.

The samples on this page ran from a contract and entered hours. The ledger checks have not run on a firm’s own files yet. That is what the first conversation is for.

Terms mismatch: Invoiced rate against contracted rate, line by line.
Missing tasks: Work the contract requires that the invoice does not carry.
Ceiling: Cumulative billed against the not-to-exceed. The sample above stopped on this one.
Unbilled cost: Cost posted and never invoiced, with its age.
Delinquent receivable: Aged against the contract’s own payment terms.

The invoice is still yours to send

In a pilot, a person on our side checks every flag before you see it.
Your controller reviews the draft and sends the invoice. Nothing goes to a client from us.
Some flags will be timing, not error. Telling them apart is a conversation with a project manager, and that conversation stays with you.

Engineering and architecture firms posted this job at between $60,000 and $109,000 a year, about $77,000 on average

The job is a project accountant who checks billing against the contract. Below are sixteen postings for it from six firms, read between September 12 and October 12, 2026. Each posted range is counted at its midpoint, and each firm once. ClauseClerk is built for the contract-checking part of that job.

$80,000 + $73,333 + $85,000 + $66,000 + $88,489 + $72,167 = $464,989 $464,989 ÷ 6 firms = $77,498, about $77,000 40 hours × 52 weeks = 2,080 hours $77,000 ÷ 2,080 hours = $37.02 an hour Posted yearly salary, expressed hourly at 2,080 hours. Postings are offered ranges, not wages paid. Averaging all sixteen postings instead gives $79,997, about $80,000.

Firm Postings Lowest to highest posted Average of its midpoints

Firm A

$70,000–$90,000

$80,000

Firm B

$65,000–$85,000

$73,333

Firm C

$75,000–$95,000

$85,000

Firm D

$60,000–$72,000

$66,000

Firm E

$63,770–$109,320

$88,489

Firm F

$64,000–$80,000

$72,167

How the figure was reached

A web search, not an exhaustive one. It looked for postings titled project accountant, project accounting, billing coordinator or billing specialist at engineering and architecture firms in the United States, listed between January and October 2026. Senior, lead and manager titles were left out.
Every posting the search found that stated a yearly pay range on a page we could read is included. Postings with no stated pay, or pay by the hour, are not.
Sixteen postings from six firms, read between September 12 and October 12, 2026. Some were read from job-board copies, including copies of postings the firm had already taken down. Three of the sixteen were no longer listed when read.
Each posted range enters at its midpoint. The $60,000–$72,000 range enters as $66,000.
The figure is an average per firm. A firm that posted more than once is averaged first, so it counts once. One firm posted five of the sixteen.
The range is the lowest and highest pay any posting stated; the average uses each range's midpoint, per firm.
None of these firms is a customer.

What the postings asked for

Lines quoted from four of the sixteen postings.

“Prepare and coordinate monthly client billings and consultant invoicing”
“Oversee the monthly billing process, including invoice preparation, approval, and compliance with contractual requirements.”
“Contract management and review”
“Identify and record unpaid contract billings, following up on any delinquent accounts receivable and/or unbilled costs.”

Hire ClauseClerk. It starts with a demo.

We walk through the sample with you, then look at how your billing runs today.

The discovery and diagnosis is free, and we come to you.