CarpetBossPro Blog — Billing & Payments

Choosing Carpet Cleaning Invoicing Software: What to Check Before You Switch

Any invoicing tool can put a number on a page and email it. That is not the hard part of billing a carpet cleaning company. The hard part is rooms and stairs and sofas and add-ons sold in the living room, a card charged before the van leaves, and a property manager who wants one bill for a month of move-outs. Before you switch, check that the software handles the carpet cleaning parts, not just the invoice parts.

Know What You Are Moving From

The steps for moving off carbon tickets and spreadsheets are covered in Moving Carpet Cleaning Billing Off Paper Tickets and Spreadsheets. Whether you are coming from paper, spreadsheets or generic field-service software, these are the questions worth asking.

1. Does the Invoice Come From the Job?

If you have to type the invoice separately from the job, you will miss lines. Look for software where the estimate becomes the job, the job details carry over, and the invoice is built from the job when it is completed. In CarpetBossPro, the approved estimate becomes the scheduled job, and tapping Complete creates the invoice.

2. Can It Show Rooms, Pieces and Add-Ons?

A carpet cleaning invoice needs real line items:

• Per room, per square foot or whole house pricing
• Stairs and hallways
• Sofas, loveseats, chairs and sectionals
• Area rugs, mattresses and tile & grout
• Pet odor treatment, stain protector, deodorizer and spot removal
• Sales tax

Ask to see a sample invoice for a typical job of yours. If it cannot show those lines clearly, your customers will be calling to ask what they paid for.

3. Can the Tech Get Paid on Site?

Check whether the tech can complete the job from their phone and have the card on file charged right then. Check whether it needs special hardware or an app store download. CarpetBossPro's tech app runs in the browser on iPhone and Android, signs in with the company login and a personal PIN, and charges the card on file when the tech taps Complete.

Also ask how add-ons sold on site get onto the bill. A clear answer, like the office adds them to the job before completion, matters more than a flashy feature.

4. What Happens After the Job?

Getting paid is not just the first charge. Ask about the rest:

• Auto-charge on completion or on a schedule.
• Online payment where customers can see and pay their own invoices.
• Card updates customers can do themselves.
• Past-due follow-up so the office is not keeping a list.
• Declined cards and what happens to the invoice.

CarpetBossPro covers all of these through the customer app and billing follow-up.

5. Can It Bill Commercial and Property Accounts?

If you do any office maintenance, apartment work or move-outs for landlords, this is a deal-breaker. Look for one client with many addresses, and one monthly statement covering every address with each line labeled. Without it, you will be building those statements by hand. More on that in Monthly Statements for Carpet Cleaning: One Bill for Offices, Apartments and Property Managers.

6. Does It Handle Repeat Work?

Yearly and every-six-months customers are where steady income comes from. The software should bring them due on their own and start each new job from the last one, so billing stays consistent year after year. In CarpetBossPro, repeat cleanings are set by minimum days between visits and come due on the Waiting List map.

7. Is Billing Included, and What Does It Cost?

Some systems charge separately for billing features or customer portals. Ask what is included in the price. CarpetBossPro plans are Start at $59 a month, Pro at $89 and Crew at $199, and invoicing, card on file, online payment and monthly statements are on every plan. Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial with no credit card.

Last, ask how hard it is to get started. Can you import your customers by CSV? Do imported addresses land on the map on their own? Can you try it on real jobs before paying? A system that takes a month to set up is a month of double work. In CarpetBossPro, CSV import brings customers in and places their addresses on the map automatically, and the free trial needs no credit card.

Try It on a Real Job

The best test is a real job from your own book. Build the estimate, approve it, complete it on a phone and look at the invoice. You can also click around a fully stocked sample carpet cleaning company in the live demo at my.carpetbosspro.com/demo.html with no signup. If the invoice at the end looks like something your customer would pay without calling, you have found the right tool. For the full overview, go back to the CarpetBossPro carpet cleaning invoicing software page.