Quarter end, and the billing spreadsheet opens again
At the start of every quarter, your accounts person opens the billing spreadsheet. Some customers are billed quarterly in advance, some annually, and a couple monthly. A housing association added two lifts in the middle of last quarter. An office landlord had a lift decommissioned. One contract had its annual price review agreed in an email thread in June. The rates per lift differ depending on type and visit frequency.
Each invoice is worked out by hand and typed into the accounts package. Errors creep in: the new lifts are not billed, the decommissioned one still is, and the price increase is applied to the wrong quarter. Customers find the errors, and credit notes follow.
The billing sits apart from the lift records
The billing spreadsheet is usually a separate record from the lift list the planner uses. When a lift joins or leaves a contract, the planner updates their list and the accounts person may or may not hear about it.
- Billing periods and rates are held in a spreadsheet, not linked to lift records.
- Contract changes are communicated by email, if at all.
- Part-period charges for lifts added or removed are worked out by hand each time.
- Price review outcomes are not recorded where billing can see them.
- Customers with purchase orders or cost codes per site need invoices split in particular ways.
What wrong invoices cost
Under-billing is money you simply do not collect, often without noticing. Over-billing leads to disputes and credit notes, and customers who start checking every invoice line. Late invoices, while someone untangles the spreadsheet, delay cash coming in. For a lift maintenance business with a large portfolio of contract income, billing accuracy has a direct effect on cash flow and on customer relationships.
Billing schedules linked to the lifts themselves
We build contract billing schedules that draw on the same lift and contract records your planner uses, so billing follows the portfolio automatically.
- Each contract has a billing setup: period, in advance or arrears, invoice split rules and any purchase order or cost code requirements.
- Each lift on the contract has its rate, with a start date and, when it leaves, an end date.
- When a lift joins or leaves, the planner or account manager makes the change once, and billing picks it up for the next period, including part-period calculations under the method you choose.
- Price review outcomes are entered with an effective date, so the right rate is applied from the right period.
- At each billing run, the system produces draft invoices per contract, showing the lines and calculations, for your accounts person to review.
- Approved invoices are pushed to your accounts package, such as Xero, Sage or QuickBooks, through its API, ready to send.
| Billing situation | Handled by hand today | Handled by the schedule |
|---|---|---|
| Lift added mid-quarter | Remember and calculate | Part period from start date |
| Lift removed | Hope someone says | Billing stops at end date |
| Price review agreed | Find the email | New rate from effective date |
| Invoice split by site | Manual lines | Split rules on the contract |
Nothing goes out without a person approving it. The schedule does the arithmetic and shows its working.
A worked quarter
Say a housing association contract bills quarterly in advance. In the middle of the quarter two new lifts are handed over from an installation project and added to the contract with a start date. At the next billing run, the draft invoice shows the full quarter for the existing lifts, a separate part-period line for each new lift covering the weeks since it joined, and the full next quarter going forward. A lift that was taken out of service permanently has an end date, so its line stops, and if it had been billed in advance the draft shows the credit that your rules say is due.
The accounts person reads the draft, checks the two new lifts against the handover note, and approves. The customer's cost codes per block are already on the lines because the split rule was set when the contract was loaded.
Billing day becomes a review
The accounts person reviews drafts instead of building invoices from scratch, and spends their time on the exceptions. New lifts are billed from the right date. Removed lifts stop being billed. Price reviews take effect when they should. Customers receive invoices they can match to their contract without querying.
Owners get a clear figure for contract income per period, and can see how it changes as lifts join and leave.
Is your billing like this?
- Contract invoices are worked out in a separate spreadsheet.
- You have billed for lifts no longer on contract, or missed new ones.
- Price increases are applied late or inconsistently.
- Customers regularly query contract invoices.
- Billing day takes days rather than hours.