The billing studio
Open Estimates → New estimate or Invoices → New invoice and the app chrome gets out of the way. You get three panes: line items in the middle, a live preview of the document on the right, and a readiness rail telling you what’s still missing.
Estimate and invoice are the same editor. The Document type toggle in the top bar switches between them, so a quote that turns into a bill doesn’t mean retyping anything.
Building the line items
The grid is built for typing, not clicking.
- Tab moves to the next field, Enter starts a new row. You can price a whole visit without touching the mouse.
- Add service… searches your service catalog and pulls in the price, unit and taxability. Enter adds the top match.
- Each line takes an optional detail line underneath — where “Mow & edge” becomes “Mow, edge, blow walks; bagged clippings removed.”
- The discount toggle on a line cycles none → % → $.
- Drag the handle to reorder. The order is what the customer reads, so lead with the work they care about.
Suggested from history offers services you’ve billed this customer before, with how many times. It’s the fastest path for a repeat customer.
The rail on the right
Ready to send? is a live checklist, not decoration. It won’t let a document look finished when it isn’t:
- Customer — with their terms, tax rate, YTD billed, and current balance
- Line items priced — or Nothing to bill yet
- Email on file — or No email — will print only, which is the one people miss
- Deposit request and whether online payment is on
Underneath, When you hit send spells out what’s about to happen in plain words: email it, request an e-signature, collect a deposit at signing, attach a card + ACH pay link. Read that line before you send. It’s the difference between a customer getting a pay link and a customer getting a PDF and a shrug.
Two warnings worth heeding
The overdue banner. If this customer already has overdue invoices, the studio says so, with the total and how far past due the oldest is. Billing more work to someone who hasn’t paid for the last three visits is a decision — this just makes sure it’s a decision.
The prefill banner. Starting from a job copies the customer, property, line items and crew notes across. If you’d rather not, Unlink & start fresh.
Preview, templates and language
The right pane renders the real document, not an approximation. Zoom, fit to pane, and switch Preview language to see what a Spanish-speaking customer will actually receive.
Switch template changes the form style — layout, logo, colors — without touching a line item.
Sending
Your work is saved as you go — the top bar shows Saved and the time.
Turning an estimate into an invoice
From an approved estimate, Convert to invoice. Line items and tax carry over; you set the due date (defaults to 30 days) and can edit the cover note, which arrives prefilled from the estimate’s notes. The estimate is marked converted, so it stops showing up as outstanding work you’re still waiting on.
Tips
- For a one-line bill, skip the studio. A job’s detail page has Quick add, which creates a single-line invoice or estimate in one dialog.
- No email on the customer is the most common reason a send does nothing useful. The rail says so before you send; it’s easy to scroll past.