Get paid faster.
Without chasing a single invoice.
83 days. That’s the trades industry average to collect payment after finishing a job. 56% of small businesses are owed an average of $17,500 in unpaid invoices at any given time, and 9% of invoices are eventually written off as uncollectible losses. Slow payments cost the U.S. trades industry an estimated $280 billion per year and leave 43% of contractors without enough working capital to cover unexpected expenses. With digital invoicing, one-click payment links, and automated reminders, most residential jobs pay in under 7 days. For high-ticket jobs, offer financing directly from your invoice so customers can say yes without budget being the reason they don’t.
You finished the job. Now comes the hard part.
Getting the work done is your expertise. Getting paid? The trades industry averages 83 days to collect after a completed job. That gap funds your competitors, not your business.
Professional invoicing in three taps.
Create, send, and track invoices from the same dashboard where you manage everything else.
Send branded invoices
Create invoices in your dashboard with your logo, line items, and terms. Send before you leave the job site while the scope is fresh: an on-site invoice reduces disputes because the customer can review and approve what they're paying for in the moment rather than weeks later when job details blur and memory shifts. For multi-day or multi-week jobs like HVAC installs or remodels, invoice by milestone so cash flows throughout the project instead of 83 days after you finish. Send via email or SMS in seconds.
Collect deposits & payments
Require a 25 to 50% deposit at booking before work begins, or collect full payment on-site before you leave. Leaving without payment increases the probability of a delayed collection by 40% within the first 24 hours. Customers pay with a single tap via credit card, debit card, ACH transfer, Apple Pay, or Google Pay. For high-ticket jobs over $1,000, offer Buy Now, Pay Later financing directly from the invoice: the financing provider pays your business the full amount upfront, and the homeowner pays in installments. Giving customers three or more payment options is one of the highest-leverage changes a service business can make: 81% of contractors who do report measurably faster collection.
Track everything
See what’s been paid, what’s outstanding, and who needs a nudge. Track average time-to-payment, outstanding balances, and month-over-month collection trends from a single dashboard. Automated payment reminders do the chasing for you.
Payments built for the field.
Every feature designed for how home service businesses actually work.
Stripe-powered payments
Accept credit cards, debit cards, and ACH bank transfers. Standard Stripe rates apply: 2.9% plus 30 cents per card transaction, 0.8% capped at $5 per ACH transfer. Card payments settle in your bank account by the next business day. Stripe’s infrastructure is the same used by Amazon, Lyft, and Shopify: bank-grade fraud detection, PCI-compliant card vaulting, and built-in dispute management. Contractors on Stripe Instant Payouts can access funds within 30 minutes of a payment clearing, which matters when you need to pay a supply house the morning after a job closes.
Branded invoices
Professional invoices with your logo, itemized line items, and custom payment terms. Send by SMS or email before you leave the job site. An invoice delivered on-site gets reviewed while the customer is still standing with you: they see exactly what they paid for, you can address questions in person, and disputes become nearly impossible. Invoices sent the same day the job closes have a 73% open rate within the first hour. Invoices sent the next day drop to 41% in that same window. The gap in open rate translates directly into how fast you collect.
Deposit collection
Require a 25 to 50% deposit at booking before a technician is dispatched or materials are ordered. Set fixed amounts or percentages per service type from your dashboard. A deposit requirement filters out window-shoppers: customers who decline a reasonable deposit on a $3,000 repair are rarely serious buyers. For jobs requiring custom-order equipment, a deposit before ordering protects you from non-refundable material costs if the customer cancels. Contractors who require deposits on all jobs over $500 report 60 to 80% fewer no-shows and a measurable reduction in invoice disputes, because the customer has financial skin in the game from day one.
Automated payment reminders
When an invoice goes unpaid past your terms, the system sends a timed sequence of reminders: a friendly nudge at day 3, a firmer notice at day 7, and a final follow-up at day 14, each with a direct payment link embedded. You control the timing and wording. Automated reminders recover an average of 23% of invoices that would otherwise require a manual collection call, and they do it without the awkward conversation. The customer clicks the link, pays in one tap, and the invoice closes in your dashboard automatically.
Mobile payment links
Text a branded payment link to the customer the moment the job closes. No app to download, no account to create, no PDF to open. The customer taps the link, sees your itemized invoice, and pays with one tap using a saved card or Apple Pay. SMS payment links have a 98% open rate and a median response time of 3 minutes. Contractors who switch from emailed PDF invoices to SMS portal links see average collection time drop by several days per job because every step between receiving and paying is removed.
Revenue tracking
Your dashboard shows total revenue collected, outstanding balances, and average time-to-payment across all jobs. An AR aging view breaks every unpaid invoice into buckets by how long it has been outstanding: 0 to 30 days, 31 to 60 days, 61 to 90 days, and 90 days plus. The aging view tells you which balances need attention before they cross into the harder-to-collect window. Filter by service type, technician, or customer to spot patterns: which jobs produce the slowest payments, which tech collects fastest on-site, which customers consistently pay late.
Customer financing
Offer Buy Now, Pay Later financing on jobs from $500 to $25,000 directly from your invoice. Homeowners apply and approve in minutes at the job site. The financing provider pays your business the full job amount upfront minus a processing fee. Wisetack, the leading BNPL platform for home service contractors, charges 3.9% flat on standard financing and stacks additional fees on promotional 0% APR products: 4.9% for a 6-month promo, 6.9% for 12 months, and 9.9% for 24 months. Sunbit launched on Stripe on April 23, 2026 as a second in-person BNPL option built specifically for field service businesses: activated directly in your Stripe Dashboard, it covers jobs from $60 to $20,000 with terms up to 18 months, approves 90% or more of applicants on a soft credit inquiry with no hard check, charges homeowners 0% interest with no late fees, and pays your business the full amount upfront while Sunbit manages billing and collections. For jobs above $25,000, platforms like GreenSky and Service Finance cover up to $100,000 per project and are worth setting up for high-ticket HVAC replacements, roofing, and remodels. You collect immediately while the customer pays over time. Contractors with a financing option close 35 to 55% more high-ticket jobs and see 42% higher average ticket sizes than those without one. Second-look financing is also available for customers who don’t qualify for primary financing: secondary lenders serve credit-challenged applicants and can capture 15 to 20% of the jobs that standard BNPL declines, turning a lost opportunity into a booked one.
Tap to Pay in the field
Use your iPhone or Android as a card reader. Customers tap their card, Apple Pay, or Google Pay on your phone and the payment processes instantly. No dedicated hardware required.
Recurring billing & service plans
Set up maintenance plan billing once and invoices generate automatically on your schedule: monthly memberships, quarterly tune-ups, seasonal pest control programs, semi-annual HVAC visits. Renewal reminders go out before plans expire so contracts renew without a single follow-up call. HVAC contractors who automate maintenance plan billing recover 25 to 50% more recurring revenue annually than those billing manually. Top-performing HVAC businesses generate an estimated $198,000 per year from maintenance agreements alone. Annual renewal rates on well-structured service plans run 75 to 90%, delivering predictable monthly revenue that funds payroll through the slow season without depending on the phone ringing.
E-signatures on estimates
Send estimates with a digital signature request via SMS or email. The customer signs on their phone, and the system automatically triggers the deposit payment link. Signed estimate to deposit collected in a single session, often before the technician leaves the driveway. A timestamped digital signature on every estimate is your first line of defense against invoice disputes and chargebacks. Contractors who pair signed estimates with upfront deposit collection report 20 to 25% higher deposit capture rates than those collecting deposits without a signed scope document attached.
Flat-rate pricebook
Pre-built pricing for every service your team performs. Technicians select a line item in the field and the price auto-populates: no mental math, no pricing from memory, no inconsistency across the team. A digital pricebook eliminates the 15 to 30% pricing spread that occurs when techs estimate from memory and replaces it with margin-enforced flat rates built around your actual job costs. HVAC and plumbing contractors who move to flat-rate pricing see average ticket size increase 12 to 23% because flat-rate line items capture every step of the job rather than the ones the tech remembers to write down. Update pricing across all items from a single dashboard when material costs change so your entire team prices correctly from the next job forward.
Included in your plan.
See which plans include Payments & Invoicing.
Invoicing & payments are included in Growth and Scale plans. Standard Stripe processing fees apply.
Common questions.
What payment methods can customers use?
Credit cards, debit cards, and ACH bank transfers via Stripe. ACH is significantly cheaper: 0.8% per transaction capped at $5, compared to 2.9% + 30 cents for card processing. For jobs over $500, giving customers an ACH option saves you real money at scale.
Can I require deposits at booking?
Yes. You can set a required deposit amount or percentage for any service. Customers pay online when they book. A 25 to 50% deposit at booking eliminates most no-shows, filters out window-shoppers, funds your material costs before the job starts, and gives you a documented payment record if a dispute arises.
Are there extra fees beyond Stripe’s rates?
No. Standard Stripe processing fees apply: 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction for cards, 0.8% capped at $5 for ACH bank transfers. 73 Labs does not add any additional fees on top of Stripe’s rates.
Can I send invoices from my phone?
Yes. Create and send invoices from the mobile dashboard, or text a payment link to the customer directly from the job site. Customers pay from their phone before you’ve packed up the truck.
How much faster do contractors get paid with online invoicing?
Significantly faster. The trades industry averages 83 days to collect payment on a completed job. Contractors who send digital invoices with embedded one-click payment links and automated reminders collect most residential jobs in under 7 days. The combination of instant delivery, a frictionless payment link, and an automated follow-up on day 3 is the fastest collection cycle available without a collections agency.
How do automated payment reminders work?
When an invoice goes unpaid past your payment terms, the system sends an automated reminder via SMS and email with a direct payment link. You control the timing and wording. The reminder goes out automatically. You never have to track unpaid invoices manually or make an awkward call asking for money you’re already owed.
What payment terms should I use for residential jobs?
For most residential home service jobs, due upon completion or net 3 to net 7 is the right call. Only 36% of U.S. invoices are paid on time, and invoices with longer terms drag the hardest. Net 30 belongs on commercial accounts, not homeowners. When an invoice says Net 30, it goes in a pile. When it says Net 14 or due upon completion with a one-click payment link, it gets attention and gets paid. Send the invoice on-site before you leave: the customer can review the scope while it's fresh, and there's no gap for details to blur or for them to mentally move on. The longer the gap between completion and invoice, the more payment drags. For invoices over $670, offer ACH as a payment option. At 0.8% capped at $5, it saves you significantly versus card processing: on a $5,000 HVAC invoice, ACH costs $5 versus $145 via credit card.
Should I charge a late payment fee on overdue invoices?
Yes. A late fee clause is one of the most effective tools for reducing average collection time in the trades. A 1.5% monthly fee (18% annually) is standard and widely accepted by residential customers when disclosed upfront. It does two things: creates urgency to pay before the due date, and compensates you for the real cost of carrying unpaid receivables. Carrying $100,000 in outstanding invoices for 60 days costs roughly $1,600 in interest on a standard business line of credit, before you count opportunity cost. State your late fee terms on the estimate, in your contract, and in the invoice header so it is never a surprise. Most disputes over late fees happen when the customer didn't see the terms until the invoice arrived. When customers know from the start that overdue balances accrue a monthly fee, they prioritize you over other bills that don't.
Does the invoicing system integrate with QuickBooks or other accounting software?
Yes. The platform connects with QuickBooks Online, Xero, and other accounting tools via API and Zapier integrations, syncing invoice data directly to your books without manual re-entry. When a job closes and an invoice is sent, line items, payment status, and client records update in QuickBooks automatically, no CSV exports, no duplicate entry, no reconciliation surprises at tax time. For service businesses already using Jobber, Housecall Pro, ServiceTitan, or Builder Prime for scheduling and dispatch, those platforms connect to the invoicing and payment layer through the same integrations. We configure the integration during onboarding so everything flows from the first job.
What is DSO and why does it matter for my cash flow?
DSO stands for Days Sales Outstanding: the average number of days between completing a job and receiving payment. The trades industry average DSO is 83 days. That gap means you’re fronting labor, materials, overhead, and payroll for nearly three months on money you’ve already earned. The real danger beyond slow DSO is uncollectible debt: 9% of U.S. invoices are eventually written off entirely, meaning roughly 1 in 11 jobs generates a loss you absorb in full after completing the work. Invoices crossing 90 days past due are collected in full only 40% of the time, compared to near-universal collection on invoices under 30 days. The implicit financing cost makes the drag concrete: carrying $80,000 in outstanding receivables costs the equivalent of $4,800 to $6,400 per year in opportunity cost when priced at a standard 6 to 8% business borrowing rate, before counting the write-off risk on anything crossing 90 days. 17% of U.S. small businesses have nearly missed payroll because of cash flow shortfalls caused by late-paying customers. DSO is not an abstract accounting metric. It is the difference between making payroll and not. Digital invoicing with online payment, required deposits, and automated reminders is how residential service businesses bring DSO under 7 days and break the feast-or-famine cash flow cycle that stalls profitable businesses.
Should I offer financing to customers?
Yes, especially for high-ticket jobs. 29% of homeowners expect to find financing information on a contractor’s website before they call. For jobs over $3,000, whether it’s a new HVAC system, a roof replacement, or a kitchen remodel, budget is often the reason a homeowner doesn’t book on the spot. The ACCA reports that contractor close rates increase from 38% to 49% when financing is offered at the point of estimate. HVAC contractors offering financing close 35 to 55% more system replacements and see 42% higher average ticket sizes. A Synchrony Major Purchase Journey Study found that 91% of customers said promotional financing made large purchases more affordable, and those customers spent an average of $1,631 more on major home-related purchases. The most practical option in 2026 is Buy Now, Pay Later: providers like Wisetack cover job amounts from $500 to $25,000, approve homeowners in minutes without a hard credit check, and pay your business the full amount upfront minus a processing fee. Wisetack charges 3.9% flat on standard financing; promotional 0% APR products carry additional fees: 4.9% for a 6-month promo, 6.9% for 12 months, and 9.9% for 24 months. For jobs above $25,000, GreenSky and Service Finance cover up to $100,000 and are worth configuring as a secondary option for system replacements and commercial work. You don’t wait for the customer’s installments. The homeowner pays over time. You collect the day the job closes. For customers who don’t qualify for primary financing, second-look financing options serve credit-challenged applicants and can recover 15 to 20% of the jobs that standard BNPL declines. Financing is no longer a premium add-on. It’s a standard competitive expectation in 2026. Homeowners who say they need to think about it are often saying they need a payment path, not more time.
What is Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) and how does it work for contractor jobs?
Buy Now, Pay Later is a financing model where a third-party provider pays your business the full job amount upfront, then collects installment payments from the customer directly. For contractors, this means you get paid the day the job closes, without waiting for the customer to arrange financing through their bank or credit card. Providers like Wisetack offer BNPL for home service jobs from $500 to $25,000. The homeowner applies on their phone at the job site, gets an instant decision without a hard credit check, and selects a monthly payment plan. Your business receives the full amount minus a processing fee of roughly 3 to 4%, which is comparable to a credit card transaction. You don’t carry any financing risk and you don’t wait for installments. For high-ticket trades like HVAC replacement, roofing, and bathroom remodels, BNPL removes the single most common reason homeowners delay: the upfront cost. Offering a monthly payment option at the time of the estimate, before the customer even leaves, closes jobs that would otherwise result in a week of follow-up calls and a lost customer.
What is Sunbit and how does it compare to Wisetack for home service financing?
Sunbit launched on Stripe on April 23, 2026, making it the first major BNPL platform integrated directly inside the Stripe Dashboard rather than requiring a separate account, contract, or hardware. For contractors already processing payments through a Stripe-powered platform, that means activating financing is a dashboard setting, not a separate vendor relationship. The key difference between Sunbit and Wisetack is approval rate and intended use case. Sunbit approves 90% or more of applicants on a soft credit inquiry with no hard check, charges homeowners 0% interest with no late fees or penalties, and covers financing from $60 to $20,000 with terms up to 18 months. Your business receives the full job amount upfront and Sunbit handles billing, collections, and customer support. Wisetack covers up to $25,000, carries its own underwriting standards with a more selective approval process, and charges the business a fee that scales with the promotional term length. For contractors, the two platforms are complementary rather than competing. Sunbit’s 90-plus percent approval rate makes it the stronger fit for same-day and emergency service calls where the homeowner needs a financing answer in minutes, not hours. A homeowner told their HVAC compressor needs replacing today cannot wait for a pending underwriting review. Wisetack is the stronger fit for larger planned jobs where the homeowner is comparing options and the job may exceed Sunbit’s $20,000 ceiling. Running both covers the full range: Sunbit fills the gap when the job is under $500 or Wisetack declines, Wisetack handles jobs above $20,000, and GreenSky or Service Finance covers anything above $25,000. In Sunbit’s launch data across its service business beta cohort, businesses that offered financing where they previously offered none reported a 30% incremental lift in service acceptance and a 3x increase in average job value. Most of those gains came from same-day decisions where the homeowner said yes on the spot instead of saying they needed to think about it.
What is milestone billing and when should I use it?
Milestone billing means sending invoices at defined project stages rather than waiting until the entire job is complete. For a residential job done in a day or two, invoicing at completion is standard. For larger jobs, a multi-week HVAC install, a bathroom remodel, or a roofing replacement that spans several days, milestone billing keeps cash flowing instead of waiting 30, 60, or 83 days after the project wraps. A typical milestone structure is 25 to 30% at signing, 40 to 50% at midpoint when major materials are in or rough work is done, and the remainder at completion. Businesses using milestone invoicing on larger projects typically reduce their average collection window by 30 to 50 days compared to invoicing at completion.
Can I accept in-person card payments without a dedicated card reader?
Yes. Tap to Pay on iPhone and Android lets you accept contactless card payments using your smartphone. No separate card reader required. The customer taps their card, Apple Pay, or Google Pay on your phone and the payment processes instantly. This is built for field service work: finish the job, pull out your phone, and collect payment before you pack up the truck. Processing rates for tap-to-pay transactions are lower than for online invoice payments: approximately 2.7% plus 5 cents per in-person transaction versus 2.9% plus 30 cents for invoiced card payments. On a $300 service call, that difference is about 26 cents saved per job. For a business running hundreds of jobs per month, it adds up.
How do change orders affect payment collection?
Change orders are one of the most common causes of invoice disputes and non-payment in contracting. When scope changes are agreed to verbally and not documented, the customer disputes the final invoice amount: they remember a different conversation, you remember a different number, and neither side has anything in writing. The fix is a written change order for every scope change, signed by the customer before the additional work begins. A change order documents the original scope, what changed, the new price, and the customer's approval. Contractors who use digital change orders signed at the time of scope change collect on those additions significantly faster than those who handle changes verbally and invoice for them later. Digital change orders also create a paper trail that resolves disputes before they escalate: the customer approved the work, the document proves it, and the invoice matches. Change orders are generated directly from your job file, sent to the customer for digital signature by SMS or email, and attached to the final invoice so every scope change is approved, documented, and priced before the bill arrives.
How much do payment processing fees cost my business per year?
More than most contractors realize. Payment processing at 2.9% plus 30 cents per card transaction on $500,000 in annual revenue costs roughly $14,500 per year in fees alone. At $1M in revenue, that is $29,000. At $3M, it is $87,000. At higher revenue, processing costs consume 15 to 25% of actual net profit on a typical 15 to 20% margin business. The solution is routing large-ticket jobs to ACH whenever possible. ACH via Stripe costs 0.8% capped at $5 per transaction. On a $5,000 HVAC system invoice, card processing costs $145. ACH costs $5. On a $15,000 repiping job, card processing costs $435. ACH costs $5. On a $25,000 kitchen remodel, card processing costs $725. ACH costs $5. If you run 10 large-ticket jobs per month and route them to ACH, you save $1,400 to $7,200 per month in processing fees at zero cost to the customer experience. The platform lets you set an invoice threshold above which ACH becomes the default payment option, so customers on large jobs are guided toward the lower-cost method automatically during onboarding.
What is a cash discount program and should my contracting business offer one?
A cash discount program lists a higher base price and gives customers a discount when they pay with cash, check, or debit card, instead of charging a surcharge on top for credit card use. The result is that credit card processing fees are shifted back to customers who choose to pay by card, while customers who pay with cash or check get the lower price. Cash discount programs are legal in all 50 states. Surcharging, which adds a fee directly on top of the stated price for card payments, is also legal in most states but prohibited in Connecticut and Massachusetts, and requires registering with Visa and Mastercard at least 30 days before implementation with a maximum fee capped at 3% or your actual cost of acceptance, whichever is lower. For contractors processing large-ticket jobs, the math on a cash discount program is straightforward: a $10,000 HVAC replacement paid by credit card costs $290 in processing fees. Under a cash discount program, the card-paying customer pays $10,290 and your effective processing cost is zero. Most homeowners paying for a large job with a rewards credit card expect a processing fee to be in play, particularly in 2026, and compliance-structured programs are now standard practice in the trades. The practical setup requires updating your invoices and estimates to display the cash price, disclosing the program clearly at the point of estimate, and configuring your payment processing platform to apply the pricing logic automatically. We configure compliant dual-pricing during onboarding for clients who want to reduce their processing cost to zero.
What is an accounts receivable aging report and how does it help my contracting business?
An accounts receivable aging report lists every unpaid invoice grouped by how long it has been outstanding, typically in 30-day buckets: 0 to 30 days, 31 to 60 days, 61 to 90 days, and 90-plus days. It tells you exactly who owes you money and how overdue each balance is, so you know where to direct your collection effort before invoices become uncollectable. The aging buckets matter because collection probability drops sharply over time. An invoice in the 0 to 30-day bucket is almost always collectible with a simple automated reminder. An invoice at 31 to 60 days needs a direct follow-up. An invoice past 90 days has roughly a 50% chance of never being paid at all. Most contractors miss this because they track outstanding invoices as a list sorted by customer name rather than by age, so a 75-day-old invoice sits alongside a 5-day-old one with no urgency signal. The most disciplined contractors review their AR aging every Monday: they see what crossed into the 31-day bucket last week and act before it crosses 60. For seasonal businesses like HVAC and lawn care, weekly AR review during peak months is the difference between a strong cash reserve heading into the slow season and a cash crunch. Your payments dashboard surfaces this aging data automatically and flags invoices that need attention before they become losses.
Should I offer early payment discounts to get invoices paid faster?
Yes, particularly on larger commercial or multi-phase jobs where payment terms are negotiated in advance. The standard format is 2/10 Net 30: the customer gets a 2% discount if they pay within 10 days, and the full amount is due within 30 days. For a $10,000 invoice, the customer saves $200 by paying early. From your side, 2% is significantly cheaper than the carrying cost of waiting 30 days and far cheaper than the cost of the invoice crossing 60 days unpaid. For residential jobs where you invoice on completion and collect before leaving the job site, early payment discounts are less relevant because you are already collecting at the moment of highest motivation. For commercial accounts, multi-day jobs, or remodels where payment terms are structured in the contract, a 1 to 2% early discount consistently accelerates collection. The businesses that benefit most are those carrying $50,000 or more in regular receivables: at that volume, even a modest shift in average payment speed from 30 days to 10 days recovers meaningful cash and reduces the cost of financing ongoing operations out of your own pocket.
What is job costing and how does it connect to my invoicing?
Job costing is tracking every cost tied to a specific job, including labor hours, materials, drive time, and overhead, and comparing that cost to what the invoice collected. Without job costing, a contractor knows total revenue and total expenses but has no idea which jobs are profitable and which ones are eroding margin. The result is common in HVAC, plumbing, and electrical: a full schedule that produces a revenue number that looks healthy but margins that disappoint at the end of the month. Healthy HVAC gross margins run 35 to 45%, with maintenance calls at the high end and equipment installs at the lower end due to material cost. Plumbing gross margins run slightly higher, often 5 to 10 points above HVAC, because service calls carry lower material cost and emergency calls command real pricing power. Electrical service call margins typically run 40 to 50% on well-priced work. If your actual numbers are below those benchmarks, job costing usually reveals the cause: callbacks absorbed at no charge, unbilled drive time, supply house runs that were never invoiced, or flat-rate pricing that was set years ago and hasn’t kept pace with labor and material cost increases. Connecting your invoicing data to job-level cost tracking closes the loop. When each invoice is tied to a specific job record with costs logged, you can see margin by job type, by technician, by service line, and by season. Contractors who grow profitably are the ones who know their numbers at the job level, not just the month-end total.
What is a mechanics lien and should I use one when a customer won’t pay?
A mechanics lien is a legal claim filed against a property that prevents the owner from selling or refinancing until the debt is resolved. For home service contractors, it is the single most effective non-court tool for recovering payment from a residential customer who refuses to pay after the work is done. Mechanics lien filings resolve over 70% of payment disputes without requiring any court action because the lien encumbers the homeowner’s title: they cannot close a sale, refinance, or take out a home equity loan until your lien is satisfied or released. The critical requirement is deadline compliance, and the deadlines are absolute. In 34 states, you must send a preliminary notice within 20 to 45 days of starting work or you permanently forfeit your right to lien. Missing the deadline by even one day invalidates the entire claim. State rules vary significantly: California requires a preliminary notice within 20 days of first furnishing work or materials. Florida requires 45 days. Texas has 15th-of-month rules that are among the most complex in the country. A Texas HVAC subcontractor who sent his preliminary notice on day 48 instead of 45 lost a $120,000 lien claim entirely when the general contractor defaulted, because the court ruled the notice untimely regardless of the work performed. The paperwork trail determines your ability to lien successfully: a signed estimate or contract showing agreed scope and price, signed change orders for any additions, dated invoices the customer received, photos of completed work with timestamps, and any written customer acknowledgment of the job. Digital invoicing creates this trail automatically because every invoice is timestamped, signed estimates generate a record of customer agreement, and change orders require digital sign-off before work proceeds. For residential jobs under $2,000 to $3,000, the filing cost and timeline may not justify a lien. For any job over $3,000 where a homeowner is actively refusing to pay, filing a mechanics lien is the right move: most states allow contractors to file without an attorney using state-provided forms, and homeowners almost always pay once the lien is on record against their property. One important caution: signing an unconditional final waiver in exchange for a check that later bounces releases your lien rights permanently. Never sign an unconditional waiver until the payment has cleared.
What should I do if a customer disputes a credit card charge after the job is done?
A credit card chargeback is a forced reversal of a transaction initiated by the customer’s bank. When a homeowner calls their card issuer and claims the work was not completed or not as described, the bank typically reverses the charge within 30 to 90 days and requires you to dispute it with documentation. More than 30% of small businesses have dealt with chargebacks, and home service contractors are particularly exposed because the work is intangible: there is no product to return, only a service performed. Your defense in a chargeback dispute rests entirely on documentation. Five items resolve most chargebacks in the contractor’s favor: a signed estimate or contract showing the customer agreed to the scope and price before work began, a digital invoice with a timestamp showing it was sent and received, before-and-after photos of the completed work taken on the job date, any text or email communication showing customer approval or satisfaction after the job, and a signed change order for any scope additions. When you have all five, the bank typically sides with you. When you have none, you typically lose. A digital invoicing platform creates this paper trail automatically: the invoice is timestamped, the customer receives it via email or SMS before payment, and their payment or digital signature creates a record of acknowledgment. Three additional protections reduce chargeback exposure. First, collect payment before you leave the job site: a customer who has already paid is far less likely to dispute than one invoiced days later when the emotional context of the job has faded. Second, send a follow-up SMS the day after the job asking if everything looks good: a positive reply is documented satisfaction that directly counters a later dispute claim. Third, use a signed change order for every scope addition agreed to during the job, because most chargebacks cite work the customer claims they never authorized. One more important point: a customer who files a chargeback does not eliminate your right to file a mechanics lien. If the chargeback resolves in the customer’s favor and the job value justifies it, a lien filed against the property remains a valid legal remedy independent of the credit card dispute.
Should I use Zelle, Venmo, or CashApp to collect contractor payments?
No. Zelle, Venmo, and CashApp were designed for peer-to-peer transfers between individuals, not for collecting business payments. Using them for contractor invoices creates specific legal and financial exposures most contractors discover only after a problem occurs. Zelle transactions cannot be reversed once sent. There is no purchase protection for either party and no formal dispute mechanism. If a customer pays via Zelle and later disputes the quality of your work, you have no documentation and no platform recourse. Venmo carries a different risk: if a customer funds their payment with a credit or debit card, they retain the right to file a chargeback through their card issuer. Venmo notifies you and gives you a short window to provide evidence. Without a signed estimate, a timestamped invoice, and a written scope record, you typically lose the dispute. Starting in 2026, the IRS enforces a $600 annual reporting threshold for business payments processed through digital platforms. Venmo, CashApp, PayPal, and similar apps must issue a 1099-K to any account receiving $600 or more in annual business payments. Contractors who mix personal and business use on the same account face audit exposure because all income is reportable and none of the offset expense documentation is attached. Zelle is particularly difficult at tax time because it has no transaction categorization: payments appear in your bank account as transfers with no memo field, no line items, and no way to distinguish revenue from reimbursements at year end. The practical alternative for on-site collection is Tap to Pay through Stripe: the customer taps their card or phone, payment processes at 2.7% plus 5 cents, and a receipt with your business name and job details is emailed immediately. Every transaction is documented from the moment it processes. For jobs above $1,000, a portal payment link sent by SMS collects faster than a Zelle request and creates a timestamped, chargeback-protected record that integrates directly with your accounting software.
What is a payment portal link and why does it get invoices paid faster than a PDF?
A payment portal link is a URL sent to the customer by SMS or email that opens a mobile-friendly, branded invoice page where they can review their itemized charges and pay in a single tap. A PDF invoice requires the customer to download a file, open it in a viewer, and find a separate way to pay. For a homeowner on their phone immediately after a job, those are three or four extra steps between satisfaction and payment, and each one increases the chance the invoice sits until the next day or longer. A portal link removes every step except the tap. The customer sees your logo, the date, the itemized work, and a payment button. They confirm and pay in under 60 seconds without switching apps or entering card details manually. Beyond speed, portal links create automatic documentation: the platform records when the invoice was sent, when it was opened, and when it was paid. If a customer disputes a charge or a processor asks for proof of delivery, the portal record shows the timestamp of every interaction. A PDF forwarded by email has no equivalent tracking unless you configure it separately. For contractors sending invoices by SMS, portal links work because they behave like any other tap-through link a customer receives on their phone. PDFs sent by email often sit unopened until the customer switches to a desktop, if they open them at all. Contractors who switch from email-attached PDFs to SMS portal links see average collection time drop by several days on standard residential jobs because the friction between receiving and paying is removed entirely. We send all invoices as portal links by default so every job is paid faster and every transaction has a documented delivery record.
How do I invoice for HVAC maintenance agreements and service plans?
Maintenance agreements are billed differently from one-time service calls. Instead of invoicing at job completion, recurring billing sends invoices automatically on a defined schedule: monthly for membership-style plans, quarterly for seasonal programs, or annually for customers who prefer to pay upfront. The invoice generates and delivers without anyone entering it manually, and renewal reminders go out automatically before the plan expires so contracts roll over without a follow-up call. HVAC contractors who automate maintenance plan billing recover 25 to 50% more recurring revenue annually than those managing agreements manually with spreadsheets or paper records. Top-performing HVAC businesses generate an estimated $198,000 per year in recurring revenue from maintenance agreements alone. A proven three-tier maintenance plan structure captures 40% more revenue than a single-option agreement by matching price to willingness to pay. A Basic plan at $19 to $35 per month covers annual maintenance and repair discounts. A Premium plan at $39 to $69 per month adds semi-annual preventive visits and labor inclusion. An Elite plan at $79 to $149 per month includes quarterly visits and priority response. Annual renewal rates on well-structured service plans run 75 to 90%, which means a base of 100 plan members at $40 per month generates roughly $48,000 in predictable annual revenue with no new customer acquisition cost for those renewals. For plumbing, pest control, lawn care, and cleaning businesses, the same recurring billing model applies: set the service interval, set the billing interval, and the system handles the invoicing automatically.
Should I offer monthly or annual billing for maintenance plan members?
Both work, and offering both increases total sign-up volume compared to offering only one option. Annual billing collects the full contract value upfront, eliminates the risk of monthly card declines, and improves your cash position during the slow season. Monthly billing reduces the upfront commitment and increases sign-up rates for budget-conscious homeowners who have been trained by subscription services to pay incrementally. The math is straightforward. A $480 annual plan sold as $40 per month collects the same total revenue but at a 3 to 5% higher sign-up rate in most markets. If you offer annual prepay at a 5 to 10% discount, roughly $432 versus $480, a meaningful segment of customers will pay upfront to save money, and your business collects the full contract value in one payment. The biggest operational risk with monthly billing is card decay: credit and debit cards expire, get replaced after fraud, and get updated. An automated billing system handles failed card recovery by sending customers a payment update link rather than quietly dropping them from the plan. Businesses that manage monthly maintenance billing manually lose an estimated 5 to 8% of active members per year purely from card failures that no one followed up on. Automating the dunning process for failed payments, sending an SMS update link the day a card declines, recovers most of those members before they lapse.
Do I need e-signatures on estimates before starting work?
Yes, and connecting a signed estimate to same-day deposit collection is one of the highest-leverage improvements in a contractor’s payment workflow. A digital signature on the estimate creates a timestamped record that the customer agreed to the scope and price before work began. That single document resolves the majority of invoice disputes and chargeback defenses, because the bank or arbitrator sees a customer-approved scope that matches the final invoice. E-signature adoption reached 82% of commercial contractors in 2026, and contractors who pair signed estimates with upfront deposit collection report 20 to 25% higher deposit capture rates than those collecting deposits without a signed document attached. The workflow is straightforward: send the estimate with a signature request via SMS or email, the customer signs on their phone, and the system automatically triggers a deposit payment link. The customer goes from reviewing the price to approving the scope to paying the deposit in a single session, often before the technician leaves the driveway. For change orders, the same logic applies. A signed change order for every scope addition creates an approved record before the additional work begins. Customers who dispute a final invoice rarely dispute a signed scope document with their own signature on it. Contractors who use digital estimates with e-signatures and connected deposit collection reduce invoice dispute rates by 30 to 40% compared to those relying on verbal agreements or paper estimates.
What is Good-Better-Best pricing and should I use it on estimates?
Good-Better-Best pricing presents three tiered options at the point of estimate instead of a single price: a base option that covers the essential repair or installation, a mid-tier option with a warranty extension or upgraded components, and a premium option with the best materials, longest coverage, and additional services. The model works because homeowners buying a home service have no reference price for what “good” costs. When presented with a single price, they evaluate it as expensive or affordable with no frame of reference. When presented with three options, most choose the middle tier, and roughly 20 to 30% choose the premium option. HVAC contractors using a three-tier presentation on system replacements average 18 to 25% higher revenue per job compared to single-price estimates. Plumbing contractors using tiered water heater options see a 15 to 20% increase in average ticket. The same principle applies to maintenance agreements: a single-option plan at $40 per month captures one segment of homeowners, but a three-tier plan at $25, $45, and $75 per month captures a wider range by matching price points to different levels of willingness to pay. For contractors who currently present a single estimate with one price, moving to a Good-Better-Best format is typically the fastest path to a 10 to 20% increase in average ticket size without adding a single new customer or spending more on marketing. The system lets you build multi-option estimate templates for each service type so technicians can present tiered pricing in the field from their phone without building custom estimates from scratch on every call.
How does my payment system help manage seasonal cash flow?
Home service businesses are intensely seasonal, and cash flow mismanagement during peak season is one of the most common reasons profitable contractors run into trouble. In HVAC, May through August is peak revenue, but the bills from that surge, covering payroll, equipment, supplies, and overhead, keep arriving through October and November when the phone goes quiet. The contractors who manage this well use four payment infrastructure moves. First, they sell maintenance agreements during peak season and collect annual prepay from customers who want to lock in pricing before renewal. A 100-member maintenance plan at $480 annual prepay brings $48,000 into the business before a single slow-season call is dispatched. Second, they run early-bird promotions in January and February for spring tune-ups at a small discount, collected upfront. The cash hits your account in February when competitors are scraping through the dead season, and the jobs are already booked. Third, they require deposits on all system replacement estimates booked during peak season so they are never waiting 60 to 90 days for payment on a $10,000 install completed during a July heat wave. Fourth, they use AR aging data to tighten collection in October and November before receivables become hard to collect during the holidays. A business that actively uses its payment infrastructure to pull cash forward, sell maintenance agreements in volume, and collect deposits as standard practice exits peak season with reserves instead of debt. The businesses that sail through the slow season are the ones that treated the busy months as a cash-building opportunity, not just a revenue one.
Can a payment processor put a hold on my contractor funds and how do I prevent it?
Yes, and it is one of the most disruptive cash flow events a home service business can experience. Payment processors including Square, PayPal, and Stripe classify certain accounts as elevated risk based on transaction size, industry type, and refund rate. A contractor who suddenly processes several transactions above $5,000 after months of smaller charges, or who sees an unusual refund rate spike, can trigger an automated hold that freezes all or part of their balance for 90 to 180 days while the processor reviews the account. This can happen without warning. The preventive steps are straightforward. Use a dedicated business bank account and a merchant account opened under your legal business name, EIN, and business address rather than your personal name or an undocumented DBA. Process a consistent volume each month so spikes look like growth rather than irregularity. Complete Stripe’s Know Your Customer verification during account setup so your business is fully documented before you process your first job. Contact your payment processor before processing an unusually large transaction, such as a commercial contract or a multi-system install for a property manager, rather than after. Pre-notifying the processor about atypical transactions dramatically reduces the chance of an automated hold. For businesses already experiencing a fund hold, the resolution path is documentation: your business license, your contractor’s license, copies of recent invoices matching the held transactions, and a written explanation of your business model. A processor reviewing a documented, licensed contractor with consistent transaction history resolves holds faster than one reviewing an undocumented account with no paper trail. We configure your Stripe account during onboarding with full business verification so you process your first job with an established, documented profile rather than starting from scratch and triggering risk filters as volume grows.
How much does manual invoicing cost compared to automated invoicing?
The fully loaded cost per invoice, counting the time to create it, send it, track its status, and follow up on non-payment, runs $12.88 to $19.83 per manual invoice in direct overhead. Automated invoicing that fires the moment a job is marked complete brings that cost to $1.77 to $3.18 per invoice: an 80% reduction per transaction with no change in output quality. For a contractor running 100 jobs per month, manual invoicing costs $1,288 to $1,983 monthly in processing overhead alone. Automated invoicing at the same volume costs $177 to $318, a savings of $1,100 to $1,665 per month before counting the cash flow benefit. The cycle time gap is equally significant. Manual invoicing averages 17.4 days from job completion to payment received. Automated systems that deliver a payment link instantly and follow up on schedule achieve a median cycle time of 5.1 days. For a business carrying $50,000 in monthly receivables, compressing the invoice cycle from 17 days to 5 days means $20,000 more in working capital available at any given moment, without financing or a line of credit. Home service businesses that implement automated billing workflows collect 85% of invoices within 7 days of job completion, versus an industry average of 34 days for businesses using manual processes. The savings stack at every stage: faster delivery, faster payment, lower overhead, and less time spent chasing invoices by phone. Automated invoicing does not require more technology or investment than most contractors already use: it is a workflow setting, not a separate tool, and it pays for itself in the first week of volume.
What is invoice factoring and should my contracting business use it?
Invoice factoring is a working capital tool where you sell outstanding invoices to a third-party financing company at a discount in exchange for immediate cash. The factoring company advances 80 to 95% of the invoice face value within 24 hours and collects payment directly from your customer when the invoice comes due. For contractors carrying $100,000 or more in receivables at any given time, factoring eliminates the cash flow gap between completing a job and collecting payment without taking on traditional debt. The cost runs 1 to 5% of the invoice face value depending on the invoice total, your customer’s credit profile, and the factoring company’s terms. Factoring works best in two situations. First, when you need capital to fund materials and payroll on new jobs before existing ones have paid, and you cannot access a bank line of credit quickly enough. Second, when you regularly work with property managers, HOAs, or commercial clients on net-30 or net-60 payment terms where the slow-pay cycle is built into the contract. It is not the right tool for residential service work, where your goal should be collecting payment before you leave the driveway. A residential HVAC technician or plumber who sends a digital invoice with a one-click payment link before packing up the truck does not need factoring. A contractor who regularly wins commercial maintenance contracts with 45-day terms and needs to fund the next month’s payroll before those invoices clear may find factoring more cost-effective than a revolving business line of credit. Factoring fees run higher than bank financing but lower than a merchant cash advance, and factoring does not require the credit history or collateral that SBA loans demand. For residential home service businesses, the more impactful tool is almost always digital invoicing with on-site payment collection: collecting the day the job closes eliminates the receivable entirely and costs nothing.
What deposit amount should I require based on job size?
Deposit requirements should scale with the size of the job and the risk of the work. For small residential jobs under $2,500, a 50% deposit at booking and 50% collected on completion is the standard structure. It protects your material costs and labor time without creating friction for a homeowner booking a routine service. For mid-size jobs between $2,500 and $15,000, a one-third deposit at signing, one-third at a defined midpoint milestone, and one-third on completion balances your cash flow against a manageable upfront commitment for the homeowner. For larger jobs above $15,000, including HVAC system replacements, whole-home repiping, or full roofing replacements, a 25 to 30% deposit at signing, a second payment of 40 to 50% when major materials are received or rough work is complete, and the balance at completion keeps cash flowing through a multi-day project rather than waiting until the last nail is in. For any job requiring custom-order equipment or specialty materials, collect a deposit before placing the order: the deposit covers your non-refundable material costs if the customer cancels after the order ships. Contractors who require deposits on all jobs over $500 report 60 to 80% fewer no-shows and a measurable reduction in invoice disputes, because the customer has financial skin in the game before a single hour of labor is logged. Digital estimate-to-deposit workflows, where the customer signs the estimate and pays the deposit in the same session before you leave, produce 20 to 25% higher deposit capture rates than workflows where signing and payment happen in separate steps. The deposit amount you charge is also a trust signal: a homeowner who balks at a reasonable 25% deposit on a $10,000 job is rarely a serious buyer, and a deposit requirement filters that out before you order materials and commit crew time.
Can I add a credit card surcharge to customer invoices to cover my processing fees?
You can in most states, but surcharging is outright banned in several jurisdictions and subject to strict disclosure rules everywhere else. Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, and Puerto Rico prohibit surcharges entirely: adding a line item for processing fees is illegal in those states regardless of how it’s labeled. California and Texas have had conflicting statutes and court rulings for years, creating a gray area where most processors recommend avoiding surcharges until the legal landscape settles. Debit cards and prepaid cards cannot be surcharged under any circumstances in any state: the federal Durbin Amendment limits debit interchange and the card networks prohibit surcharging on debit regardless of state law. Where surcharging is permitted, two rules apply everywhere. First, you must disclose the surcharge before the transaction is completed, not after payment is processed: posting a sign at the door, listing it on the estimate, or showing it on the invoice before the customer confirms payment all satisfy disclosure requirements. Burying the fee in the total without advance disclosure violates both network rules and most state consumer protection statutes. Second, the surcharge cannot exceed 4% under Visa and Mastercard rules, and in practice most processors and attorneys recommend staying at or below 3% to avoid network violations. A legally cleaner alternative is cash discounting: instead of adding a surcharge on top of your standard price, you post a slightly higher list price and discount that price for customers who pay cash or by check. Cash discounting is legal in all 50 states, has no disclosure complexities, and produces the same net margin result as surcharging without the legal exposure. The 73 Labs platform supports both models and can configure your invoice templates to show a cash discount line rather than a surcharge line, which avoids state law conflicts entirely.
What is a payment application and when do I need one instead of a regular invoice?
A payment application, often called a pay app or an AIA application, is a formal billing document used on larger commercial, multi-phase, or general-contractor-managed projects where simple invoices are not sufficient. A standard invoice says “here is what I did and here is what you owe.” A payment application says “here is what I contracted to do, here is what I’ve completed as a percentage of the total scope to date, here is the retainage you’re holding back, and here is the net amount due this period.” The difference matters because general contractors and commercial property managers process payments against a schedule of values, a line-by-line budget breakdown of every scope item, and they cannot release payment without a pay application that maps to that schedule. Submitting a standard invoice to a general contractor on a commercial job is one of the most common reasons subcontractors experience payment delays: the GC’s accounting team cannot reconcile a simple invoice against a schedule of values without reformatting it manually. A complete payment application includes four components: the schedule of values showing each scope item and its contracted amount, a work-in-place summary showing how much of each line item is complete this period and cumulatively, a retainage calculation showing the amount being withheld per your contract terms, and any conditional or unconditional lien waivers the GC requires as a condition of releasing payment. Most commercial contracts specify the format: AIA Document G702 is the most common template in the United States, and many GCs require it explicitly. For residential service contractors who primarily do one-day or one-week residential jobs, a pay application is rarely needed. For contractors who win commercial maintenance contracts, multifamily renovation work, or projects managed by a general contractor, the ability to submit a compliant pay application on the GC’s billing cycle is often the difference between getting paid on time and sitting in a 90-day receivable queue.
How do I format a retainage invoice on a multi-phase project?
Retainage is a percentage of each payment withheld by the owner or general contractor until the project reaches substantial completion, typically 5 to 10% of each draw. Retainage invoices follow a specific four-line format that shows the full picture rather than just the current amount due: gross earned this period (the value of work completed since the last billing), retention withheld this period (the retainage percentage applied to this draw, typically 5 or 10%), net due this period (gross earned minus retention withheld), and cumulative retention held to date (total retention across all draws so far). For example: a plumbing subcontractor on a 10% retainage contract completes $40,000 of work in month two of a commercial project. The invoice shows gross earned $40,000, retention withheld $4,000 (10%), net due this period $36,000, and cumulative retention held $7,500 (including the prior month’s $3,500 retainage). The owner or GC pays $36,000 now and holds $7,500 to be released at substantial completion. The retainage release invoice, submitted at project completion, is a separate billing that shows only the cumulative retention held across all draws, typically with a conditional lien waiver and a final completion sign-off attached. In most states, retainage on residential construction projects is capped at 5 to 10% by statute, and the GC must release it within 30 to 45 days of substantial completion. Late retainage release triggers interest penalties in most states. For subcontractors carrying significant retainage balances on multiple active projects, the cumulative retention line on each billing is the fastest way to see total capital tied up in completed but unpaid work across your active job book.
What is flat-rate pricing and should my contracting business use it?
Flat-rate pricing sets a fixed price for a defined scope of work regardless of how long the job actually takes. A flat-rate repair for a capacitor replacement costs $285 whether the technician finishes in 25 minutes or 55 minutes. Time-and-material pricing bills the customer for actual labor hours plus parts, which means the final price is unknown until the job is done. For home service contractors, flat-rate pricing has clear advantages. First, the customer knows the price before work begins, which eliminates sticker shock when a job runs long and the invoice is larger than expected. Second, your technicians have no incentive to rush and skip steps because the price is fixed regardless of time. Third, your margin is predictable: you set the flat rate based on fully-loaded job cost plus target profit, and that margin holds whether the tech is fast or slow. Fourth, pricing is consistent across your entire team. A senior tech and a junior tech charge the same for the same repair. In 2026, HVAC and plumbing contractors on flat-rate pricing average 12 to 15% higher gross margin than equivalent businesses running time-and-material estimates, because flat-rate prices capture every step of the job and the overhead that time-and-material techs routinely underestimate. The practical implementation is a digital pricebook: a pre-built list of every service you perform, each priced at a flat rate, that your technicians use to build invoices in the field. The tech selects the items from a phone or tablet, the prices auto-populate, and the customer approves and signs before work begins. No mental math, no pricing from memory, no inconsistency across the team.
What is a digital pricebook and how does it help my technicians in the field?
A digital pricebook is a pre-built catalog of every service, repair, and installation your company performs, each with a set price built around your job costs and target margin. In the field, your technician opens the app, selects the relevant items from the catalog, and the invoice auto-populates with accurate prices. The technician shows the customer the itemized total, collects a signature, and starts the work. The two biggest problems a digital pricebook solves are undercharging and pricing inconsistency. Undercharging happens when a technician prices a job from memory and misses line items: the drive charge, the diagnostic fee, the second part used, the disposal cost. On a $600 job, forgetting two line items is a $60 to $90 margin hit. Across 15 jobs per week, that is $900 to $1,350 in revenue the business earned and did not collect. Pricing inconsistency happens when different technicians charge differently for the same work. One tech prices a furnace igniter replacement at $220. Another prices the same job at $310. Neither is wrong by their own reasoning, but the inconsistency creates customer complaints, referral damage, and unpredictable margins. A pricebook forces consistency: every technician prices every job the same way because they are selecting from the same pre-priced catalog. For HVAC and plumbing contractors who move from memory-based pricing to a flat-rate digital pricebook, the typical results are an 80 to 90% reduction in pricing variance across the team and a 12 to 23% increase in average ticket size, because flat-rate pricing captures the full scope of the job rather than the items the technician happened to remember.
What is friendly fraud and why are home service contractors at risk for it?
Friendly fraud is a chargeback filed by a real customer who received the service, not a criminal. Research shows that 75% of chargebacks in home services come from friendly fraud rather than actual fraud or stolen cards. Three scenarios trigger most of them. First, the billing descriptor problem: a homeowner gets their credit card statement two weeks after the job and sees 'ABC HVAC SERVICES LLC' on a line they do not recognize. They call their card issuer and dispute it as an unknown charge before they even try to call your office. Second, the verbal approval problem: you agreed to scope additions during the job, the customer nodded, and you did the extra work. No signed change order. The final invoice is higher than the original estimate. The customer disputes the difference claiming they never approved it. Third, the performance dispute problem: your technician replaced a capacitor for $285 in June. In September, the same AC unit fails for an unrelated reason. The homeowner files a chargeback on the June repair claiming the work did not fix the problem. The HVAC diagnostic escalation is the most dangerous trigger in the trades. Your tech arrives for a $250 diagnostic call and discovers the compressor needs replacing. The scope is now $2,800. Without a written, signed change order showing the homeowner approved the new price and new scope before work started, that escalated charge is a chargeback target the moment the customer has second thoughts. The fix is a documented approval for every scope change before work proceeds: a signed change order with the homeowner's signature, a timestamp, and the exact dollar amount approved. A positive follow-up text after the job, asking if everything looks good, adds a second layer of documentation. A customer who replied 'yes, looks great' to your post-job text rarely wins a dispute claiming the work was defective. Chargebacks cost you the original charge plus a dispute fee of $15 to $50 per incident regardless of outcome. Winning a dispute requires submitting documentation within 7 to 30 days of the chargeback notice depending on your processor. Missing that window means automatic loss. A digital invoicing system creates the paper trail that wins these disputes automatically: timestamped invoices, signed estimates, signed change orders, and documented delivery all generate as part of the normal workflow.
Do I need to charge sales tax on contractor invoices?
Yes in some states, no in others, and the rules vary enough that getting this wrong in either direction creates real problems. In most states, contractors are treated as end consumers of materials: you pay sales tax at the supply house when you buy parts, and you do not collect additional tax from the homeowner on those materials. In others, contractors are treated as retailers who must collect sales tax from the customer on the materials portion of the invoice. A handful of states also tax certain installation labor. Texas taxes both labor and materials on new construction but exempts repair and maintenance labor. Florida changed its contractor tax rules in 2024 and now taxes some service jobs differently from capital improvement projects. New York treats installation work as taxable and maintenance as exempt, but the line between the two is frequently disputed in state audits. Not collecting tax you are required to collect creates state audit exposure with years of back taxes, penalties, and interest. Collecting tax you are not required to collect creates billing disputes and refund liability with customers. Four steps protect you. First, confirm whether your state classifies contractor work as a consumer transaction or a retailer transaction: your state department of revenue website publishes this, and most states have a dedicated page for contractor tax rules. Second, if your state requires you to collect on materials, your invoicing platform should generate a separate, itemized tax line on each invoice so the amount is transparent and auditable. Third, keep tax-exempt certificates on file when commercial customers or nonprofits provide them: a property management company, a church, or a government agency may hold tax exemptions that apply to your work, but you need the certificate in your records to justify not collecting. Fourth, if your business operates across state lines or handles both residential and commercial jobs, a one-time review with a CPA who works with trade contractors is worth the hour: the rules for a residential plumbing repair in Texas differ significantly from the same job in California, and the treatment gap is wide enough to affect your pricing model and your legal exposure.
What is the 30-60-90 day collection escalation process and when should I use each step?
A 30-60-90 day escalation framework turns your accounts receivable aging report into an action plan. Each bucket triggers a defined response, and knowing exactly what to do at each stage is how you collect most overdue balances before they become write-offs. Days 1 to 3: your system sends an automated SMS and email reminder with a direct payment link embedded. Most homeowners who miss a due date do so accidentally, and a frictionless one-tap reminder resolves the majority of overdue balances at this stage without any manual work on your end. Days 7 to 14: a second automated reminder with firmer language confirms the invoice is past due and states that a late fee will apply per your terms. Day 30: a direct phone call from your office. Keep the conversation factual. Confirm the homeowner received the invoice, confirm the amount is correct, and ask when you can expect payment. Most residential invoices that reach 30 days are sitting in an inbox, held up by a budget transfer, or tied to a disputed detail. One phone call resolves most of them. Days 45 to 60: send a formal demand letter via certified mail on company letterhead. State the outstanding balance, cite your contract terms, and state clearly that you intend to file a mechanics lien if the balance is not paid by a defined date. Most homeowners respond to a certified letter because a mechanics lien encumbers their title and blocks any sale or refinancing. Day 90 and beyond: file a mechanics lien or refer to a collections agency, depending on job size and your state’s lien deadline requirements. Invoices crossing 90 days past due are collected in full only 40% of the time, compared to near-universal collection on invoices under 30 days. Waiting beyond 90 days to escalate does not improve your position. Your accounts receivable aging dashboard surfaces which invoices are in each bucket so you can act on the right ones at the right time without manually reviewing every outstanding balance each week. HVAC companies and plumbers that implement this workflow and automate the first three stages typically reduce their average days sales outstanding from 45 or more days to under 15, recovering working capital that would otherwise sit in receivables through the slow season.
Should I use revenue-based working capital or a business line of credit to bridge contractor cash flow gaps?
Both tools exist to solve the same problem: you have completed work, customers owe you money, and you need cash now to fund payroll, materials, or the next job. The right choice depends on speed, cost, and your current business documentation. Revenue-based working capital advances, including Stripe Capital if you process cards through Stripe, are based on your payment processing history rather than your credit score or collateral. Funds can arrive in one business day with no separate application. Repayment happens automatically as a percentage of your daily card processing volume rather than fixed monthly payments, which means repayment slows during quiet weeks and accelerates during busy ones. The cost runs higher than bank financing: typical revenue-based advances carry flat fees of 10 to 16% of the advance amount, which translates to effective annual rates of 30 to 60% depending on repayment speed. For a $30,000 advance, you might pay $3,000 to $4,800 in fees to access cash in one day rather than waiting four weeks for a bank approval. A business line of credit through a bank or credit union costs significantly less when your documentation is in order. Creditworthy contractors typically access lines at 7 to 12% annually. A $30,000 line at 9% costs roughly $225 per month to carry. The trade-off is qualification time: bank lines typically require two years of business tax returns, a credit score above 660, and three to four weeks to fund. Most HVAC owners processing $40,000 per month qualify for $30,000 to $50,000 in revenue-based advances, while a multi-tech shop processing $120,000 per month typically qualifies for $90,000 to $150,000, based on lender benchmarks for 2026. Avoid merchant cash advances from non-bank lenders. Despite similar marketing language, MCA products carry effective annual rates of 40 to 150% and require fixed daily repayment amounts that add pressure during your slowest weeks. For most residential home service contractors, the most impactful approach is using digital invoicing and on-site payment collection to eliminate the working capital gap entirely, maintaining a business line of credit for equipment purchases and commercial job materials, and using revenue-based advances only for short-term gaps during growth periods when speed of funding matters more than cost of capital.
Is it still safe to accept checks for contractor payments?
Personal checks still account for roughly 14% of home service payments on jobs above $3,000 in 2026, mainly from older homeowners who default to checks for large purchases. The risk has grown: the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network reported check fraud more than doubled from 2021 to 2023 and has continued rising. Check washing, where a criminal intercepts a paper check and chemically removes the payee name and dollar amount to rewrite it, is the most common method. A homeowner writes you a legitimate check for $1,800. A check washer intercepts it, alters it to $18,000, and cashes it under a fraudulent business name before your bank processes the original. You are typically not liable if you acted in good faith and did not modify the check, but the dispute resolution takes 30 to 90 days and your bank may hold the funds during that period. For checks you do accept, four steps reduce your exposure: photograph both sides immediately before leaving the customer, write 'For Deposit Only' and your account number on the back at the job site, deposit via your banking app the same day rather than holding checks in your truck, and avoid accepting checks from first-time customers on emergency calls where you have no prior relationship. A check held in a truck for three days is easier to intercept than one deposited within hours of the job. The cleaner alternative for homeowners who prefer not to pay by card is ACH bank transfer via Stripe: 0.8% capped at $5 per transaction, no physical check to intercept or wash, a 2 to 5 business day hold eliminated compared to paper checks, and a documented electronic trail that integrates directly into your accounting records. ACH provides stronger fraud protection than paper, costs less than card processing on any ticket above $625, and creates the same clean documentation record as a portal payment link. For most residential home service contractors in 2026, accepting card, ACH, Tap to Pay, and BNPL financing covers every customer payment preference at lower fraud risk and lower overhead than paper checks, and gives you a dispute-ready paper trail that no check can match.