Five small jobs a day, five invoices paid.
You went to hang a TV and left having also patched two holes and fixed the bathroom door. Tell Redline what you did, and the invoice, the extra tasks and the card pay link are done before you're back in the van.
Invoicing a handyman visit
Finish up and say what you did
"2.5 hours, mounted a 65-inch TV, patched two drywall holes, adjusted the bathroom door, $40 in materials." Speak it if your hands are full.
Your rules apply themselves
Your hourly rate, your 1-hour minimum, your trip charge and your markup on materials come from memory once you've told Redline what they are.
Check and approve
Every task they added on site is named in the invoice line, so nothing gets left off and nothing looks padded.
Get paid in the driveway
The pay link goes live on approval. Copy it, or paste it into an email Redline drafts for your own Gmail. They pay by card on their phone.
Chase the property managers
Unpaid invoices get flagged at day 3, 7 and 14 after sending and you get told who to call. "Who owes me?" gives you the list any time.
The honey-do list, billed
Draft for Sarah Kim: $293.50, "TV mount, 2 drywall patches, bathroom door adjustment, light fixture swap (customer-supplied fixture). 2.5 hrs labor, trip charge and materials." That's 2.5 hrs at $85 ($212.50), $35 trip and $40 materials plus your 15% markup ($46). Approve?
Pay link's live. Copy it from the invoice and send it however you like. You'll get a push when she pays.
Invoicing is on Solo ($29 a month) and up. The payment push needs the iPhone app. Example prices only.
What a handyman invoice needs
- Labor by the hour, with your minimum showing when it applies
- Trip charge, named so it doesn't look buried in the hourly
- Materials at cost plus your markup
- Each task you did, including the ones they added once you were there
- Customer-supplied parts noted, so a bad fixture isn't your warranty problem
- Hardware store runs, if you bill the time
The tasks that never get billed
Every handyman knows the "while you're here" job. It takes twenty minutes, you don't want to nickel-and-dime a good customer, and it's gone from your head by the next house. Over a month those twenty-minute jobs add up to a lot of unpaid hours.
Invoicing from the driveway is how they get billed. You're still standing at the door, the list is fresh, and the customer just watched you do it. If you'd rather throw one in for free, name it on the invoice as no charge so they know they got it.
Straight answers on handyman invoicing
Redline does
- Invoices from one message, with every task named
- Remember your rate, minimum, trip charge and markup
- Card pay links on your own Stripe account, no Redline fee
- Flag unpaid invoices and tell you who to call
- Show profit per job after materials in Reports
Redline doesn't
- Clock your hours (you say how long it took)
- Take card-present payments with a reader
- Text the pay link to the customer
- Take bank transfers, it's card only
- Give property managers a portal
Questions contractors ask
How does my customer pay?
By card on the pay link, which opens in any phone browser. Copy the link to them however you like, or paste it into an email Redline drafts for your Gmail. The page becomes their receipt.
Can I quote small jobs too?
Yes. Quoting by chat is free on every plan, and the quote saves on the customer's file. Invoicing and pay links need Solo at $29 a month.
Will it tell me if a job lost money?
If you file your material receipts against the job in Money, Reports shows profit per job after materials. Your labor isn't tracked in Redline, so count your own hours.
More for handymen
Bill the next job before you pull away.
Free to start. Solo at $29 a month turns your notes into invoices with pay links, and the web trial runs 7 days.
Keep reading
- Handyman softwareBill the extras added on site, keep your minimum and markup, and pack short jobs into a day.
- HVAC invoicing softwareDiagnostic, parts, refrigerant and labor in one message, paid by card link.
- Invoicing and card paymentsInvoice from the job in two taps or one message. Customers pay by card.
- Mobile detailing invoice appPackage plus add-ons, paid by card in the driveway, next wash booked.