File 04 — Quotes, invoicing & payments
No firm price before diagnosis. One approved price after it.
Two money leaks drown service shops quietly: quotes given by phone that explode on site, and invoices that drift unpaid because nobody owns the reminder. This file is the pack's quoting rules and payment playbook — the rules that keep a price a promise, and the ladder that gets a closed job paid.
Quoting rules
A phone quote is a range with caveats. A site quote is a price.
The rule, stated the way the pack states it: no firm project quote without a site visit. Phone and web enquiries get estimate ranges with explicit caveats; the final price is confirmed on site, after diagnosis. The visit or diagnostic fee is quoted by phone and disclosed at booking, so the customer knows the cost of finding out before anyone rolls a truck. Planned projects require the same discipline — a site visit before any firm number, every time. This protects both sides: the customer never gets ambushed, and your crew never works a job that was sold at a price the work cannot carry.
The signed estimate
One approved price, signed before work begins.
After diagnosis, the repair is presented as one approved price — not a menu of maybes — and the customer signs the digital estimate before work starts. That signature does three jobs. It is the customer's informed yes. It is the crew's authority to proceed. And it is the reference document for everything after: any change in scope goes back to the customer as a written, priced change order, signed before execution (the QA file's rule), and the invoice may never carry a charge that was not on the approved estimate.
Invoicing
The invoice is born at closeout, not at the kitchen table.
When the job closes, the signed work order converts to an invoice on site — the same visit, while the tested repair is still in front of the customer. Payment is collected same-day by card reader or payment link. The customer then receives the full closeout set: the invoice, the payment receipt, the labour warranty terms, and a maintenance recommendation (for plumbing, for example, an annual water-heater flush). An invoice written that evening from memory is late, wrong, or both; an invoice converted from the signed work order at closeout is neither.
The reminder ladder
Day 0, 3, 7, 14 — then a human.
Invoice issued
The invoice goes out with the payment link; a receipt follows automatically on payment. Most jobs end here.
Polite reminder
A short reminder with the link and the job summary. Factual, unhurried — many unpaid invoices are simply buried inboxes.
Second reminder
The link again, plus an offer to answer any question about the work. A dispute surfaces here far better than at day 30.
Human follow-up
The office calls. Per your own stated policy, no new work is booked until the balance is resolved. Automation hands over to a person — deliberately.
Every reminder stays tied to the signed work order and its photo evidence. The ladder works because it is boring: same intervals, same tone, no surprises, and an escalation to a human before the relationship is spent.
The hard line
What never goes on an invoice.
A charge that was not on the approved estimate. Not the extra fitting, not the additional hour, not the “while we were in there” — unless it went back to the customer first as a signed change order. The moment an invoice invents a number, every other number on it becomes negotiable in the customer's mind, and the photo evidence and signed estimate that protect you stop mattering. The estimate is the contract; the invoice is its echo.
From the pack
File 04 ships the quoting rules, the invoicing flow, and this reminder ladder as working playbooks in your workspace. Before money, though, comes proof — read File 05 — evidence first, invoice second.
Straight answers
Asked about quotes and getting paid.
Should I give a firm price over the phone?
No. Give an estimate range with explicit caveats, disclose the diagnostic or visit fee at booking, and set the firm price only after an on-site diagnosis. The customer then signs one approved price before any work begins.
When should invoice reminders go out?
On a fixed ladder: the invoice with its payment link on day 0, a polite reminder on day 3, a second reminder offering to answer questions on day 7, and a human follow-up from the office on day 14. Keep every reminder factual and tied to the signed work order.
Can I add a charge the customer did not approve?
No. Any change in scope goes back to the customer as a written, priced change order, signed before the extra work is done. An invoice should only ever echo the approved estimate and its signed change orders.
End of shift
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