ElectricalBossPro Blog — Billing & Payments

Who Bills What: The Office, the Tech and the Owner in Electrical Billing

In a lot of small electrical shops, billing belongs to whoever is least busy at the moment. The owner does it on Sunday night, the office manager does it when the phone is quiet, and the techs are asked to “make sure the office knows” about extra work. When billing has no clear owner, things fall through the gaps between people. When each person has a clear part, it runs.

Delivery Is One Part of the Job

The previous guide, Getting Electrical Invoices in Front of Customers by Email, Text and the Customer App, was about getting invoices to customers. Behind that are people doing their part. This guide lays out who does what when billing runs through ElectricalBossPro.

The short version: the tech finishes the job, the office keeps the details right, and the owner watches the numbers.

The Tech's Part

Techs should spend their time on electrical work, not paperwork. In ElectricalBossPro, their billing job is small but important:

• Log in with the company login and their personal PIN, so every job, photo and clock-in belongs to the right person.
• Note any extra work the customer asked for, so it gets onto the job.
• Take before-and-after photos and complete the safety inspection checklist when the visit calls for it.
• Tap Complete when the work is done. That creates the invoice and can charge the card on file.

That is it. The tech does not calculate tax, write invoices or collect checks.

The one habit worth drilling into every tech is the note. If the customer asked for something extra, or the job turned out different from what was scheduled, a short note on the job is what lets the office bill it correctly. A tech who writes “added GFCI in garage at customer request” has just made sure the shop gets paid for it.

The Office's Part

The office keeps the billing details accurate, so the tech's tap on Complete produces the right invoice:

• Keep the service list and prices current. That is what every line item comes from.
• Set up clients correctly. Card on file, scheduled auto-charge or Monthly statement, with the right contact details.
• Add extra work to jobs from the tech's notes, as separate line items, before the invoice goes out.
• Bill deposits on big installs as their own invoice or line item when estimates are approved.
• Handle the past-due list that follow-up does not clear, with two-way texting where a conversation is needed.
• Answer billing questions by opening the job, with its lines, photos and notes.

The Owner's Part

The owner sets the rules and watches the results:

• Set prices on the service list, and decide on deposit and payment policies.
• Set sales tax in the settings, with your accountant's guidance.
• Review the reports regularly: what was billed, what came in, what is still owed.
• Set up office user roles so each person in the office has the access their job needs.

In a one-person shop, all three parts belong to the same person. That setup has its own guide next: Billing as an Owner-Operator Electrician: Doing the Work and Getting Paid From One Phone.

Office User Roles and Employee PINs

ElectricalBossPro has office user roles, so each person in the office can be given a role that fits their job. Employees in the field get their own PIN and van assignment. When someone leaves the company, turning off their access is a quick change, and their past work stays on the jobs they completed.

Clear roles also make billing easier to hand off. If the office manager is on vacation, the owner or another office user with the right role can pick up where they left off, because everything lives in the system instead of on one desk.

Where Hand-Offs Used to Break

Most billing mistakes in a small shop happen at a hand-off: the tech to the office, the office to the customer, one office person to another. ElectricalBossPro removes most of those hand-offs. The tech's Complete creates the invoice directly. The customer sees it directly in the customer app. The office sees every completed job as it happens. There is no ticket to pass along and no folder to share.

Everyone Knows Their Part

Billing runs best when the tech finishes the job, the office keeps the details right, and the owner watches the numbers. ElectricalBossPro gives each of them the tools for their part: the Complete button, the client and service list setup, and the reports. To see how these fit together with the rest of the billing tools, visit the ElectricalBossPro electrical invoicing software page.