Invoicing ·
Year-End Invoicing Checklist: What to Do Before January
A December checklist for freelancers: bill the year's work, chase late payers, record payments, tidy drafts and export the year for your accountant.
10 min read
Who it's for / Pressure washing & window cleaning
Exterior cleaning businesses price work in a few ways: per square foot for driveways, decks and siding, per window or per pane for window cleaning, or a flat price per job, often with a minimum charge. Add-ons such as gutter cleaning, screens or sealing go on top, and regular customers come back every few months. Tell Clodou what you did and at what price, and it writes the quote and the invoice, reminds you of the next clean and keeps track of who has paid.
"Quote the Parkers: driveway, 900 sq ft at $0.25, house wash at $350 and gutter cleaning at $150" writes the quote with three lines, $725 before tax. Clodou uses the measurements and prices you give and never measures or prices a job for you.
After a job, add a task for the customer's next clean with its date, such as window cleaning for the Parkers on March 2. It shows as their next step and in your morning plan on the day.
Ask "which invoices are overdue?" and Clodou lists them with what is still owed, and prepares a reminder for you to approve. On Team, automatic reminders can go out for you once you turn them on.
Driveways, patios, decks and siding are often priced per square foot, windows per window or per pane, with inside and outside at different rates, and smaller jobs at a flat price with a minimum charge. Clodou takes any quantity and unit price: 900 square feet at $0.25 is one line of $225, and 32 windows at $9 is $288. If a job falls under your minimum, give the minimum as the price; Clodou never applies one by itself.
Gutter cleaning, screen cleaning, hard-water stain removal, sealing or a soft wash of the roof are often priced on their own, and each becomes its own line at the price you give. Log cleaning solution, sealer, fuel and equipment repairs as expenses, from a sentence or a receipt photo you confirm, and ask how last month went to see what you invoiced, collected and spent.
Homes often come back every three, six or twelve months, and storefronts every week or two. For a storefront at a fixed monthly price, set up a retainer: Clodou prepares one draft invoice a month for you to check. For a home cleaned every few months, add a dated task for the next clean after each one; repeating tasks run weekly or monthly. Whether sales tax applies to your services depends on where you work; Clodou applies the rate you set.
Step 1
Quote the Parker family: driveway, 900 square feet at $0.25, house wash at $350 and gutter cleaning at $150
Adds the Parker family as a client and creates quote DEV-0052 with three lines: driveway cleaning, 900 sq ft at $0.25, $225; house wash, $350; gutter cleaning, $150. No tax is set on this workspace, so the total is $725.
Step 2
The Parkers said yes and we did the job, plus sealing the back patio at $180. Turn DEV-0052 into an invoice and add the sealing. Then add a task to offer them window cleaning on March 2.
Creates draft invoice INV-0090 from DEV-0052, with the note "Based on quote DEV-0052.", and adds patio sealing, $180, so the total is $905. Adds the task "Offer window cleaning to the Parkers", due March 2 and linked to them.
Step 3
Set up a $280 monthly retainer for Main Street Bakery from November 1: storefront windows, inside and out, every two weeks. Then prepare this month's retainer invoices.
Finds Main Street Bakery and sets up the retainer: $280 a month with the line "Storefront windows, inside and out, every two weeks", starting November 1. Then creates draft invoice INV-0091 for the bakery with that line, $280.00.
Step 4
I sent INV-0090 and INV-0091. The Parkers paid the $905; the bakery pays on 30-day terms.
Marks both invoices as sent and shows an approval card to record $905.00 on INV-0090. Once you approve it, INV-0090 is marked paid, and INV-0091 stays open with $280.00 owed.
Quote the Parker family: driveway, 900 sq ft at $0.25, house wash at $350 and gutter cleaning at $150
Set up a $280 monthly retainer for Main Street Bakery from November 1: storefront windows every two weeks
Add a task to offer the Parkers window cleaning on March 2
Invoicing ·
A December checklist for freelancers: bill the year's work, chase late payers, record payments, tidy drafts and export the year for your accountant.
10 min read
Getting paid ·
Email, phone and text scripts to ask a client for payment politely and firmly, before the due date to 30 days late, plus disputes, silence and stopping work.
13 min read
Expenses ·
How to track business expenses and receipts with a simple system: capture, categorize, store, reconcile monthly and hand clean records to your accountant.
9 min read
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