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In the HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning) business, providing a detailed and accurate invoice to your customers is crucial. You want your customers to clearly see all of the charges in a way that avoids confusion and complaints and leads to an expedited payment process.
Some businesses use Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel to create their invoices, but these programs can add unnecessary steps and make it take that much longer to get paid. Others use even more traditional methods like carbonless paper forms which can't be tailored to your needs.
Skynova's invoice template allows HVAC businesses to create and customize professional invoices in just minutes. For added convenience, you can even export or email your invoice in a convenient file format like a PDF and send it directly to your customers. Check out the template you can customize for your HVAC business invoice below:
The satisfaction of a job well done is a great feeling. That is until you remember the paperwork you need to complete to get paid. You need to give the customer an itemized list of materials used, hours worked, and more. To remain competitive, it should also look professional. A simple homemade spreadsheet just won't do.
The last thing you want to do is sink hours into formatting an invoice. Fortunately, Skynova is here to help. Creating an HVAC invoice form after a job is done doesn't have to be a headache. Simply follow the steps below for using Skynova's invoice template to create an invoice like the one featured above.
The first step requires you to enter both your business name and address as well as your customer's name and address. Including your business address makes it very clear to the customer who is billing them and where they should send payment. If a customer doesn't immediately recognize who sent them a bill, you run the risk of not getting paid. It's also important for the customer to be able to find your contact information easily in the event they have any questions about the bill. You may consider including your phone number on the bill for this purpose.
Your customer's address should also be added. If you are billing a homeowner, this would simply be their name and address. If you did work for a company, however, make sure you include the name of the person or the department where the bill should be handled.
Always double-check after entering the information that the addresses you've entered are correct and that they are free of typos. Note that if you bill online or via email, you may also want to include an email address.
The next field to fill out is the one for the invoice number. This is a number that allows you to keep track of different invoices. If you have several customers who are billed more than once, you may already know how important it is to index your invoices in this way. If not, now's your chance to avoid such confusion in the future.
You can use any combination of letters and numbers to create an invoice number. The most obvious is to begin with invoice #001 for your first invoice and number each subsequent invoice consecutively. A benefit of using Skynova is that the system will automatically increment your invoice numbers for you, ensuring that you never have any duplicate invoice numbers.
Your invoice numbering system can start from any number, be any length, and include convenient alpha-numeric codes as needed. Choose a system that works best for you and your needs.
There are two important dates to include in your invoice: the invoice date, which is the date you create the invoice, and the due date, which is the date you expect to be paid by. Some businesses allow 30 days from the invoice date for payment, while other businesses may expect payment upon receipt.
Whatever you decide for your payment due date, it is always a good idea to be consistent and use the same time frames for all of your customers. Moreover, you should make your billing cycle and expected payment timeline clear at the time you begin a job to avoid problems or different expectations down the road.
Not only does having the invoice date and due date clearly labeled on the invoice make it clear to the customer when they should send payment, but it also provides you a legal basis for collecting late fees and proceeding with legal consequences for past due or unpaid invoices.
This next step is where you include all materials and supplies used and their respective costs. Make sure the description of each item is clear and that you are consistent from invoice to invoice, always describing the same item with the same wording. Not only does this help your customers but it also helps you keep track of the materials.
For example, instead of entering the description "replacement filter" or "thermostat," you may want to indicate the size, brand, and possibly even the SKU number so that it is abundantly clear which type of replacement filter or thermostat was used. Note that by keeping track of these items in your invoices, you can also keep an eye on how many of a particular item you have used and have a better idea of when you might need to reorder materials.
You will also enter a Unit Price in the field to the right of each item on your list. The Unit Price is the price for one item. In the next field, you will enter the Quantity, or the total number of that item used. The Amount field should then automatically populate with the total price for that line item.
When performing a job, it is always important to keep track of how many hours you spend working on it. For most HVAC jobs, you will likely charge the customer an hourly rate for your time spent working. Be sure to quote them this rate upfront and give them an idea of how many hours the job might take.
Include the total amount of your labor costs in the invoice by entering a description of the labor, along with a Unit Price (hourly rate) and Quantity (number of hours). The description of your labor might simply just be "Labor" as it is relatively self-explanatory. If you charge different rates for different types of work, like ventilating or heating, however, you should include this distinction in the description.
For some jobs, you may wish to charge a flat fee. If that is the case, enter a description that makes it clear that the charge is for flat-fee labor, enter the total fee in the Unit Price field, and enter a quantity of "1" in the Quantity field.
There may also be times in which you are providing an ongoing customer with regular service or maintenance. If so, this should be described in the description box and the appropriate Unit Price for this type of work should be entered.
You may wish to offer discounts to attract customers. This might be via a coupon code or a discount for referring another customer to you. Such discounts can be entered as line items as well. Simply enter a description and amount of the discount, make sure you select "Discount" in the item field, and the discount amount will be subtracted from the total.
The note section of the invoice is the final section to fill out. This is a great place to summarize the work done, add clarification to any of the line items, or include helpful information about what further services might be needed or what the customer should do in the future to maintain their HVAC system. You can also include accepted payment methods like if you take credit cards.
You may also choose to use this note section to include a brief thank you or kind closing remarks to the customer.
Skynova's HVAC invoice template can help you create and send professional invoices quickly and efficiently, helping streamline your billing process and allowing you to better track and record your invoices.
In this section, we've compiled a few more tips and tricks to keep in mind as you bill your customers and follow up with them.
If there are large items, such as old compressors or central air conditioner units or substances such as refrigerants that require careful handling and/or disposal on your end, be sure to include the associated fees as line items in the invoice to get compensation for the time and costs related to their disposal.
Some HVAC businesses simply charge a flat "environmental fee" to compensate for these expenses, while others may choose to base the costs on the specific items being disposed of for a particular job. It's up to you to determine which makes the most sense for your business.
Things are great when customers all pay their bills on time, but as any business owner knows, that doesn't always happen. There may be times when an invoice is not paid by the due date and you have to follow up with the customer.
You may choose to resend the invoice or to contact the customer via email, mail, or phone with a simple friendly reminder. In many cases, this is all that is required and the customer pays promptly shortly thereafter. Skynova helps business owners track their invoices so they can easily see which invoices have not been paid and follow up as necessary.
Many customers fall short on maintaining their HVAC units and may expect the system to run well on its own all the time without issue. When interacting with customers, be sure to go over maintenance requirements, including maintenance they can do themselves and any more detailed HVAC repair that might require additional service from you. It might even be beneficial to create a maintenance agreement that would allow you to be the go-to contractor for any maintenance needs.
If one of your customers is a larger business with multiple HVAC units, figuring out a way to ensure maintenance is ongoing with the customer can also help you avoid HVAC work orders from piling up.
Skynova helps small businesses in the HVAC industry and elsewhere with all of their invoicing needs. With our template, you can easily create an HVAC service order invoice as well as other types of contract templates and work order forms that you can easily use again and again. We also offer templates for sending quotes to customers before taking on a job. If you're ready to simplify your billing and invoicing, get started with our templates today.