Working with consultants

Monograph lets you budget for consultants, invite them to collaborate on projects, and handle their bills end-to-end. This page is for your firm. If you’ve been invited to collaborate as a consultant, see Collaborating as a consultant.

Set up your directory first

Add the consultant company (and contact) in the Consultant Directory before assigning them to a project.

Add consultant fees

On the Consultant Fees tab of the Project Budget, enter the total consultant fee — the slice of the budget going to consultants — then add each consultant as one of two types:

• Phase consultant — involved in specific phases only (e.g. a structural engineer billing at the end of certain phases). Add them, set any markup, then use + Add a Phase to assign phases and budgets.
• Project consultant — involved throughout the project. Add them, set markup, and enter a budget.

The choice affects how they appear on invoices. Any default markup from Settings → App Defaults pre-populates and can be adjusted.

Hourly consultants

Monograph doesn’t track hourly consultants directly. To bill hourly, create an expense rate for the consultant and track it through Expenses instead.

Locked once invoiced

A consultant that’s already on an invoice can’t be edited or deleted until that invoice is removed. Also, the same consultant can’t be added twice under the same type — use a project + phase split or a differently-named consultant type as a workaround.

Invite consultants to collaborate

Inviting a consultant lets them see their phase timelines and assigned deliverables, and upload bills directly. You’ll be prompted to invite them when you assign them on the Consultant Fees page — or invite/manage them anytime from the Consultant Directory or a project’s Details → Consultant Collaboration section.

• Connect sends the invitation; Skip bypasses it.
• Turn on Auto-Connect to automatically invite a consultant to any project they’re added to in the future.
• The Collaboration Status shows where each consultant stands: Connected, Invited, Not invited, or Declined.

Consultants never see your financials

Invited consultants can’t view your billable rates, budgets, or phase financials. They can set their own budgets, which stay private to them.

Request & remind for bills

You don’t have to wait for consultants to remember. From Details → Consultant Collaboration, click the ellipsis next to a consultant to:

• Request bill — emails them to upload an invoice or simply reply with a PDF attached. No account required; a bill request also doubles as a collaboration invite.
• Add monthly bill reminder — schedule an automatic monthly nudge (choose the day of month, optional end date, and a note). Reminders include phase progress and budget details automatically.

Review & pay bills

When a consultant submits a bill, review it before it hits a client invoice. Reviewing requires the Edit invoices and consultant bills permission.

1. Open the review flow from the bill email or the Money → Costs → Bills page (a banner shows how many bills need review).

2. For each bill, Accept, Request changes (notifies the consultant), or Reject with a note. Add internal notes as needed.

3. Only accepted bills can be linked to client invoices, sent to QuickBooks Online, or paid through Monograph.

If both firms use Monograph Payments, click Pay now on a bill to pay via Stripe — the same flow your clients use for invoices.

Who marks a bill paid

Collaborative consultant bills can’t be marked paid by your firm — the consultant marks their invoice paid on their end. Only bills created in Monograph by a paid consultant can be marked paid (or partially paid) in-app.

Next steps

Budgets & feesWhere consultant fees fit in the project budget.

Collaborating as a consultantFor consultants invited to a firm's project.