Case study 02 · Invoices
Your invoices. Your system.
Invoices, payments, expenses, GST and reporting in one custom app. Built for Windows and the browser, and used internally by MindLabs to keep business records together.
- Project
- Invoices
- We built
- Invoicing app for Windows and the browser
- Per-user fees
- None
- Status
- MindLabs runs its own invoicing on it
What it solves
Stop chasing unpaid invoices from memory.
Invoices, payments, expenses and GST in one place, so the money side of the business stops living in your head.
Who owes me what?
The overview opens on what’s owed, what’s overdue and how late, before you’ve had your coffee.
Has it been paid?
Record a payment against its invoice and it shows part paid or paid, with the stamp and its own history.
Who do I need to chase?
Needs chasing lists overdue clients by days late, and the reminder email is drafted ready to send.
What do I owe in GST?
GST is worked out by period from your invoices and expenses, ready for the return.
Where is the money going?
Expenses by category, and this month’s profit: money in, less money out.
Does it look professional?
Branded PDF invoices with your bank details and the balance due, ready to attach.
01 · The pain
Three logins to send one invoice.
Invoices, late payments, expenses and GST can end up spread across tools and spreadsheets. Invoices brings those records together, with local storage, clear payment status and the reports an accountant needs.
- A monthly fee for every tool, and for every extra user.
- Invoices in one place, expenses in another, GST in a spreadsheet.
- Chasing late payers by memory.
- Their own figures, held on someone else's servers.
The brief One app we own. Send an invoice, see who's paid, and have GST sorted at the end of each period.
02 · Try it
Explore Invoices.
Open an invoice, record a payment, add an expense or run the reports. Anything you change stays in your own browser.
03 · What it does
Money in, money out, and the books.
Every invoice, from draft to paid.
Draft, sent, part paid, overdue, paid. Record each payment as it lands, by amount, date and method, and the invoice keeps its own history. A PAID or PART PAID stamp shows at a glance.
Who's paid, and who to chase.
What's owed, how old it is and what's overdue, on one screen. One click opens a polite reminder in your own email, ready to send. Nothing goes out on its own.
Clients, and how they pay.
Each client shows what they've been billed, what they owe, and how many days they usually take to pay, so you know who to quote a deposit.
Expenses, with GST worked out.
Log what the business spends, by category, with the receipt kept. The GST you can claim back adds itself up, and missing receipts are flagged before the accountant asks.
The reports the accountant asks for.
Income, expenses, profit and margin for three months, the tax year or twelve months. Profit and loss, who owes what by age, and GST by two-month period.
On the phone, too.
The browser version fits a phone, with a bar along the bottom for the screens you use most.
Before the invoice · concept
From enquiry to final invoice.
Invoices starts when the work is done. For a joinery workshop, most of the admin happens before that: the enquiry, the site measure, the quote and the deposit, then the job moving through the workshop to install. This concept takes Fernwright from first call to final invoice, with sample customers and figures. Drag a quote along the board, open a job or check who still owes money. Anything you change stays in your browser.
- A board of every quote
- Enquiry, measured, quote sent, deposit due. Drag a quote along and the forecast follows.
- Jobs through the workshop
- Once the deposit lands, the quote becomes a job with its steps: drawings, board ordered, build and install.
- Who owes what
- Invoices by age with the overdue ones first, and GST shown on every invoice.
- Where it sits
- In front of Invoices. A concept here; in a commissioned version the accepted quote becomes the invoice, with no retyping.
Does your business need this?
How many hours a week go on quotes and chasing payment?
Quotes rebuilt from scratch, jobs tracked on a whiteboard, invoices chased from memory. Find out what that’s costing you each week.
Seven quick questions. You see your first answer before we ask for an email.
The system behind it
More than an app.
A system they own.
- The job it replaces
- An invoicing subscription, a chasing add-on and a spreadsheet for GST.
- The data and rules
- Clients, invoices, payments and expenses, with every payment recorded against its invoice.
- What runs on its own
- Status from draft to paid, who owes what and for how long, GST by period, the reports, and a reminder email drafted ready to send.
- Where it lives
- On the business’s own computer, with the previous version kept on every save. No per-user subscription.
How it compares
Xero does the books. This is yours.
Most small businesses invoice through an accounting subscription. Here’s how that compares with an invoicing system the business owns.
| Xero Ignite | Xero Grow | MYOB Business Lite | Invoices | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | $37 | $89 | About $26 ($315 a year, after a first-year discount) | A one-off build. A monthly care plan only if you want us looking after it. |
| Invoices | Capped at 20 invoices and quotes a month | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| When the price changes | Xero can change it at any time. Ignite was $35 and Grow $75 in late 2024 | As Ignite | Set by MYOB | Nothing changes unless you decide |
| Where your figures live | Xero’s cloud | Xero’s cloud | MYOB’s cloud | On your own computer, with the previous version kept on every save |
| Shaped around you | The same for every business | The same for every business | The same for every business | Your numbering, your reports, your reminder wording |
Fair to say Xero and MYOB are full accounting packages, with bank feeds, payroll and the tools your accountant knows. If you need all of that, keep them. Invoices is for the part you do every day, and a connection that sends invoices and payments into your own Xero is on the way.
Prices are NZD ex GST, from xero.com/nz and myob.com/nz, checked October 2026. Fernwright Joinery is an illustrative client.
04 · Under the hood
Owned, not rented.
- Automated tests
- 28
- Screens
- 8
- Per-user fees
- $0
Yours, on your computer
A Windows app with no login and no internet needed. The records sit on the business's own PC, with a copy of the previous version kept every time you save.
Nothing sent behind your back
Reminders open in your own email for you to send. There is no server collecting your figures.
Numbers you can trust
Totals, part payments, aging, GST and the reports are covered by automated tests, so a change never quietly breaks the maths.
Branded PDFs
Every invoice downloads as a clean, branded PDF with the bank details and balance due, ready to attach.
React 19 · Electron · jsPDF · Plus Jakarta Sans
What does your business need its admin to do?
Tell us how invoices, payments and records move through your business, and what they need to connect to.
It’s yours. No one else owns it.