The invoice went out. Six weeks later it is still not paid
You finished a lock change for an agency in early spring. The invoice went to the address on the job. Nothing came back. At the end of the month someone chases, and the reply is that the invoice was never processed because it had no works order number, and it was addressed to the landlord rather than to the agency as agent for the landlord. Please reissue.
You reissue. It then waits for the property manager to approve it, but that property manager has left, so it sits in a queue nobody is watching. By the time it is paid, the job is a distant memory and the cash has been out of your business for a quarter.
Each agent has its own version of this. One wants the property reference in the subject line. One wants photos of the old and new lock. One pays only on a fortnightly run and rejects anything that arrives after the cut-off.
Every agency has rules, and they live in people's heads
Domestic customers pay on the doorstep. Agents and landlords pay through a process, and your invoicing is designed for the doorstep. The rules for each agency are learned the hard way by whoever does the invoicing and are not written down anywhere the software can use.
- Purchase order or works order numbers are not captured when the job is booked.
- The billing entity varies: agency, landlord, or agency as agent for a named landlord.
- Property references and addresses do not match the agent's own format.
- Supporting photos and job notes are not attached to the invoice.
- Nobody tracks invoices once they are sent, only when they are late.
What slow agent payments cost a small firm
Cash flow is the obvious one. Locksmiths buy parts up front and pay engineers weekly, so agent money arriving late means the owner covers the gap. The admin cost is larger than it looks: reissues, chasing emails, statements and phone calls to accounts teams, often for invoices that are individually small.
Some firms end up quietly writing off small agent invoices because chasing them costs more than they are worth. That is margin lost on work that was done properly.
Invoicing that knows each agent's requirements
We build a layer between your job records and your accounting software, usually Xero, QuickBooks or Sage, that knows what each agent and landlord needs.
- Each agent has a profile: billing entity wording, required references, whether a purchase order is mandatory, photos required, payment run dates and where invoices should be sent.
- When a job is booked for that agent, the booking asks for the purchase order and property reference then, not after the work is done.
- When the job is completed, the invoice is drafted in your accounting software through its API, with the right billing entity and references, and with photos and job notes attached as a PDF.
- If anything required is missing, the invoice is held in a short queue for the office with a clear note of what is needed, instead of being sent and rejected.
- Sent invoices are tracked by agent, with a view of which are awaiting approval, which are overdue, and which were rejected and why.
- Reminders go to the right accounts contact on a schedule you choose, and the rejection reasons feed back into that agent's profile so the same mistake does not recur.
| Rejection reason | Where it is prevented |
|---|---|
| No purchase order | Asked for at booking and checked before sending |
| Wrong billing name | Set in the agent's profile |
| Property reference missing | Required field on agent jobs |
| No photos | Attached from the job automatically |
| Missed payment run | Invoices timed to the agent's run dates |
Payment terms and whether to charge for failed access visits are commercial decisions for you and your agents. The system applies what you agree; it does not decide it.
Fewer reissues, clearer chasing
Invoices go out once, complete. The office can see at a glance which agent owes what and why, and chasing becomes a scheduled task rather than an end-of-month scramble. When an agent changes its process, you update one profile and every future invoice follows.
You also see which agents are consistently slow, which is useful information when deciding how much of your week to give them.
Signs your agent invoicing needs work
- You regularly reissue invoices for the same agents.
- Purchase order numbers are chased after the job is done.
- You do not know which agent invoices are waiting for approval.
- Small agent invoices sometimes get written off.
- Only one person knows how each agency wants its invoices.