A month of cleans, and the invoices still aren't out
Your commercial work has grown: a chain of shops cleaned fortnightly, a few offices monthly, a managing agent with blocks cleaned quarterly and a café that pays on the day. At month end you sit down to invoice. The chain wants one invoice per branch, each with the branch code and a purchase order that changes every year. The managing agent wants invoices per block, uploaded to their portal. The offices want one invoice a month, but one of them was missed last week because of rain, so the amount needs adjusting.
It takes a full evening. Some invoices go out a week into the month. Two are rejected because the purchase order had expired. The managing agent's upload fails because the portal needs a reference you do not have.
Each client invoices differently, and the rules are in your head
Residential customers pay per clean. Commercial clients pay through a process, and every client's process is different.
- Some clients want an invoice per clean, some monthly, some quarterly.
- Purchase orders and site references are required, and they expire.
- Some invoices must be uploaded to a supplier portal, not emailed.
- Missed or extra cleans need adjusting before invoicing.
- Invoicing is done in a batch at month end, from memory and notes.
Late invoices, late payment
Late invoices mean late payment, and commercial clients often pay on fixed runs, so a late invoice can wait a whole extra cycle. Rejected invoices go to the back of the queue. The month-end evening is unpaid. And clients see invoice errors as a sign of how carefully the rest of the contract is run.
There is also the problem of silence. When an invoice is rejected by a portal or an accounts team, the rejection is often an automated email that lands in an inbox nobody checks during the day. Weeks later, when you chase payment, you discover the invoice was never accepted in the first place.
Invoices built from the cleans, by each client's rules
We build contract invoicing that connects your round records to your accounting software, such as Xero, QuickBooks or Sage.
- Each commercial client has a profile: invoice frequency, grouping (per clean, per site, monthly), required references, purchase order and expiry, delivery method and payment terms.
- Cleans done are recorded on the round as usual. Missed cleans and extras are recorded with a reason.
- At each client's invoice point, invoices are drafted automatically from the cleans actually done, with the right grouping and references.
- Invoices missing a required reference or with an expired purchase order are held for you, with a note of what is needed, instead of being sent and rejected.
- Invoices are created in your accounting software through its API and sent by email, or prepared for upload to the client's portal.
- Purchase order expiry dates trigger a reminder to ask the client for a new one before invoices start being rejected.
| Client rule | Handled by |
|---|---|
| Monthly or per clean | Client profile |
| Invoice per site | Grouping in the profile |
| Purchase order required | Checked before sending |
| Portal upload | Prepared in the required format |
| Missed clean | Adjusted from the round record |
Invoices out on time, paid on the first run
Invoices appear when each client expects them, built from what was actually done. Rejections become rare because references are checked before sending. Purchase orders are renewed before they expire. And the month-end evening disappears.
You also get a view of what each contract earns across the year, including missed and extra cleans, which helps when it is time to renew or retender.
A normal month then runs like this. Cleans are recorded on the round as they happen. On the first working day of the month, the drafts are ready: most go out automatically, and the one or two held for a missing reference show exactly what to ask the client for. The evening at the kitchen table is gone.
Does your commercial invoicing look like this?
- You spend an evening at month end doing commercial invoices.
- Invoices have been rejected for missing or expired purchase orders.
- Some clients require portal uploads.
- Missed cleans are adjusted by hand before invoicing.
- Commercial invoices often go out late.