Online invoicing for contractors
By Business Genie, Mesa, Arizona
Published · Updated
Online invoicing means the customer gets the invoice as a link they can open and pay on their phone, instead of a paper bill or a PDF they have to deal with later. This guide covers what to put on it, when to send it, and how to follow up.
What an online invoice replaces
An online invoice replaces the three slow steps a paper invoice takes after the work is done: someone writes it up, it travels to the customer, and the customer finds a way to pay it. Sending an invoice online from the job removes the first two and shortens the third, because the way to pay is on the invoice itself. Pricing the job doesn’t change. The waiting does.
An illustration of one job’s invoice: on paper, written up at the office, mailed to the property manager’s PO box and paid by check; online, sent from the truck and paid from its link.
What every invoice should show
Every invoice should show who it is from, who it is for, what was done and what is owed, so the customer can pay it without calling you first.
If the job started from an estimate, the invoice should match it line for line, with anything added on the day shown as its own line. For a layout to start from, see the free invoice templates for service businesses.
Sample invoice · names and amounts made up
Send it before you leave the job
The best time to send an invoice is while you are still at the property and the customer can see the finished work. They can ask about a line in person and pay on the spot. An invoice sent that evening lands in an inbox with everything else. In Business Genie the tech can create and send the invoice from the iOS or Android app, without going back to the office. The invoicing features page shows how it works.
Let customers pay the way they already pay
Every payment method you don’t accept gives the customer a reason to put the invoice aside. Business Genie invoices can be paid by card, Apple Pay, PayPal, Venmo or Cash App, so the customer picks.
On larger jobs, take a deposit with the estimate. Then the final invoice is the balance, not the whole price. Estimates with deposits covers how that works.
Follow up on a rule, not from memory
Decide how you follow up once, and use the same rule for every invoice. For example: a reminder a few days after the invoice goes out, another on the due date, and a phone call if neither works. Business Genie can send automated follow-ups, so reminders go out even when nobody remembers to send them. Put your terms and any late fee on the invoice itself. The invoice late fee calculator shows what a fee comes to on a given balance.
Keep the books in one place
If your accounts are in QuickBooks Online, Business Genie syncs with it, so nobody types the same invoice twice. See the QuickBooks Online integration.
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Send your next invoice from the job
Business Genie is field service management software for contractors, built around route optimization: schedule and route your crews, then invoice and get paid, on the web and in the iOS and Android app. Use all of it free for a month, with no credit card to start, and the team sets up your account for free.