WindowBossPro Blog — Window Cleaning Software

Billing in Window Cleaning Software: Invoices, Cards on File and Auto-Charge

Clean glass does not pay the bills until somebody pays for it. For a lot of window cleaning companies, billing is the chore that falls furthest behind: invoices written on the weekend, payments tracked in a spreadsheet, and a pile of small balances that never quite get collected. Billing is where window cleaning software pays for itself fastest.

The Job Isn't Done Until It's Paid

In Texting and Automatic Alerts in Window Cleaning Software we covered the messages that keep customers informed. Billing is the last message in the chain: the invoice, the charge and, if needed, the reminder. Here is how each piece works in WindowBossPro.

Invoices Built From the Job

Invoices have line items and sales tax. The line items come from the services on the job — per window, per screen, story add-ons, hard-water removal — so the invoice matches what was quoted and what the tech saw on the phone. Nobody types the invoice from scratch.

When the tech taps Complete in the tech app, the invoice is created. If extras were added on the day — the customer asked for the screens at the door — and the job was updated, the invoice reflects it.

Card on File and Auto-Charge

A card on file is the single biggest change most window cleaners can make to their billing. With a card on file, the customer can be charged:

• On completion — the card is charged when the tech taps Complete, often before the van leaves the driveway.
• On a schedule — for customers or accounts you prefer to charge at set times.

Cards get on file in a few ways. A sign-up form on your website can capture the card when a new customer signs up. Existing customers can add or update their card in the customer app. Once it is there, every recurring cleaning after that bills itself.

Online Payment for Everyone Else

Not every customer will put a card on file. Some prefer to pay each invoice as it comes. Those customers get the invoice and can pay online from the customer app, where they can also see past invoices. For many customers, paying from a link the same day is easier than writing a check, so payments come in faster even without auto-charge.

Past-Due Follow-Up

Some invoices will not get paid on time. Past-due follow-up reminds customers about open balances so the owner is not the one making awkward calls. The office can see which invoices are open and which are past due, and follow up personally on the ones that need it.

The result is a much smaller pile of old balances, and far less time spent chasing them.

Cards on file help here too. Plenty of past-due balances come from expired cards and customers who meant to pay and forgot. When customers can update their own card in the customer app, and recurring work is charged on completion, there is simply less to chase in the first place.

Monthly Statements for Accounts With Many Locations

Property managers and businesses with several locations do not want a separate invoice for every building, every visit. In WindowBossPro, a client set to Monthly gets one statement each month covering every location, with each line labeled by its address. A property manager with six buildings on every-two-week service gets one clear bill instead of a dozen invoices. Property Manager Accounts: One Monthly Statement for Many Addresses covers this in more detail.

Sales Tax and Currency

Sales tax is added to invoices, so the amounts customers see match what you need to collect. If you work outside the US, WindowBossPro bills customers in their own currency in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK.

Why Billing Is Worth Setting Up First

If you only change one thing when you move to software, make it billing. A recurring customer with a card on file who is charged on completion takes zero office time per visit. Multiply that across a quarterly residential list and a monthly storefront route and the weekend invoicing session disappears.

It also changes cash flow. Money arrives the day the work is done instead of weeks later. For a small company buying squeegees, water-fed pole parts and fuel, that matters.

Start with your recurring customers. Ask each one to add a card in the customer app at their next cleaning, and let the one-time customers pay online. Within a season, most of your billing runs itself.

Get Paid When the Glass Is Done

Invoices built from the job, cards charged on completion, online payment and past-due follow-up turn billing from a weekend chore into something that happens on its own. Read more on the window cleaning software page.