A freelancer invoicing portal for an agency paying 71 freelancers and contractors
Freelancers and contractors submit invoices in the portal, priced from a rate card or a flat monthly amount, and approvals run in order.
We built Fame an invoicing portal for its 71 freelancers and contractors: freelancers pick delivered work from a rate card, contractors confirm a flat monthly amount, and each invoice goes through manager, head of operations and founder approval before payment. Main result so far: 71 freelancers and contractors invoice through it.
Who we built it for
Fame is a B2B podcast agency that has been running for six years. Its team finds and books guests, produces episodes and promotes each show for around 100 clients, and Fame Crew finds local videographers for shoots and handles the editing. Team size: about 97 people (estimate), most of them freelancers and contractors. Fame is Forge's own sister company, so we built these tools for ourselves first and still run every one of them.
Who uses it: freelancers and contractors, managers, finance.
Every invoice was a different format
Everyone at Fame who isn't on UK payroll invoices each month: 71 people at the last count. Invoices arrived as PDFs and emails in different formats, and amounts had to be checked against rates and what was delivered before anyone could be paid.
Finance spent around 40 hours a month processing freelancer invoices (estimate).
Invoices that arrive already checked
Two routes
Freelancers itemise delivered work from a rate card; contractors confirm a flat monthly amount with set adjustments like reimbursements or bonuses.
Approvals in order
Manager, then head of operations, then founder, with Slack nudges at each step.
A payment run
Approved invoices roll into a monthly run for finance, with pay dates that follow each route's procedure.
What the finance team used before
PDF and email invoices in different formats, checked by hand against rates.
Monthly cost of what came before: £0 a month (estimate)
What changed for the finance team
How we look after the freelancer and contractor invoicing
Forge built this for Fame and looks after it: errors are reported automatically to an error tracker, and anything that stops someone doing their job is fixed the same day.
What broke, and how we fixed it
- August 2026: Two approvals arriving at the same moment could race each other. We fixed the ordering so each invoice moves one step at a time, before the first full payment run.
What it's built with
- Next.js
- Supabase
- Vercel
- Supabase Storage
- Slack webhooks
- Xero
Connects to: Xero, Slack, Trello (to suggest delivered work).
What it would cost a client today
Start with the 2-week ops audit ($2,500 / £2,000, credited to your first month). A tool like this then fits the starter plan at $2,000 / £1,600 a month, with this as the first build included. Invoicing is one workflow for one group of people, so it fits starter.
Plans have a 3-month minimum. AI usage is passed on at cost, and the tool runs on your own accounts, so you own it. See pricing for the full breakdown.
Would this work for your firm?
If you pay more than a dozen freelancers or contractors a month, an invoicing portal gives your finance team those hours back. It suits agencies, consultancies with associate networks and accounting firms with contractors.
See what we build for accounting firms, or read about our business automation work.
Questions about building a freelancer and contractor invoicing
Can freelancers be paid per deliverable and contractors a flat monthly amount?
Yes. Fame's portal has both routes: a rate card for freelancers and a confirmed flat monthly amount, with set adjustments, for contractors.
How do invoice approvals work?
Each invoice goes manager, then head of operations, then founder, with a Slack nudge at each step. The payment run is limited to finance.
Does it connect to Xero?
Fame's finance tools connect to Xero. Exactly what flows between invoicing and Xero is set up to suit how each finance team works.
Who owns the tool once it's built?
You do. It runs on your own accounts and you pay those tool costs directly; we monitor it, fix it and keep improving it on the monthly plan.
Want a freelancer and contractor invoicing shaped to your firm?
Start with a 2-week ops audit - $2,500 / £2,000, credited to your first month.