PortaPottyBossPro Blog — Billing & Rental Invoices

From Price Sheet to Invoice: Setting Up Porta Potty Services So They Bill Right

Every invoice is only as good as the price list behind it. If your prices live in the owner's head, on a laminated sheet by the phone and in three old quotes, your invoices will be inconsistent. Setting up your services properly once fixes that for every bill that follows.

The Price List Is the Foundation

Porta Potty Billing Reports Worth Reading Every Week covers the numbers worth checking each week. Many of the problems those numbers reveal start right here, with how services and prices were set up in the first place.

In PortaPottyBossPro, your service list is used everywhere: estimates are built from it, the sign-up form shows services and pricing from it, jobs are created from it and invoices bill from it. Set it up carefully and every one of those places stays in step. Set it up loosely and every one of them inherits the mess.

List Every Service You Actually Sell

Start by writing down everything you charge for. A typical porta potty company's list looks something like this:

• Unit rental, by unit type
• Weekly service, by unit type
• Extra pump-out
• Delivery and pickup
• Relocation on site
• Trip fee
• Extra rental days
• Damage, cleaning and graffiti charges

Anything you have ever charged a customer for should be on the list, even if it only comes up a few times a year. A charge that is not on the list gets priced on the fly, and on-the-fly prices are never consistent.

Price by Unit Type

Standard, Deluxe Flushing, ADA Accessible, High-Rise / Crane, Hand Wash Station and Restroom Trailer all cost different amounts to rent and to service. Give each its own rental and service price rather than one price with mental adjustments. The office should never have to remember that ADA units are a little more. The list should say so. See Pricing Deluxe, ADA, Hand Wash and Restroom Trailer Units on the Invoice.

Set Service Frequency

Each service has a minimum number of days between visits. For weekly service that is seven days. Set it on the service and the site comes due on its own on the Waiting List map: not due yet, due now or overdue past a seven-day grace. The schedule and the bill both follow from that one setting.

Set Included Days and the Daily Rate

For short rentals, decide how many days are included and what each day after costs. Set them on the rental so the office does not invent terms for each customer. Then extra days land on the invoice automatically as an "Extra rental days" line when the unit comes back.

Name Services for the Customer

Whatever you call a service on your list is what shows up on the customer's invoice and sign-up form. Use plain names a customer understands: "Weekly service — Standard unit," not "WKSVC-STD." See Porta Potty Invoice Line Items Customers Actually Understand for more on wording.

Different Prices for Different Customers

Many companies charge contractors a different rate from event customers or homeowners. That is fine, as long as it is decided in advance. Tag clients by type and keep a clear rule for which prices apply to which tag. What you want to avoid is one-off discounts that only one person in the office knows about.

Test It With a Real Invoice

Before you rely on the list, run a few real jobs through it. Build an estimate for a typical contractor site, a weekend event and a homeowner rental. Compare the totals to what you would have charged before. If something looks off, fix the list now rather than on fifty invoices later.

Review It Every Year

Costs change. Fuel, labor, chemicals and parts go up. Review the list at least once a year, update prices on the list, and give existing customers notice before the new prices show up on their bills.

Who Can Change Prices

Decide who in the office is allowed to change the service list. When anyone can edit a price, prices drift: a discount for one customer becomes the new price for everyone, or a typo doubles a delivery fee for a week before anyone notices. Office user roles let you limit who can change settings, so the list stays the way you set it. Keep a short note of every change and the date it took effect, so you can answer a customer who asks why their bill went up.

Get the Foundation Right

A clean service list makes every quote, every sign-up and every invoice consistent. Set it up once and let it do the work. Learn more on the porta potty billing software page.