It’s easy to treat HVAC invoices like an afterthought. By the time technicians are finally finished with a job and know customers are happy with their work, invoices seem like a last formality that stands between getting paid and moving on to the next job. So, technicians rush through the process treating invoices like receipts instead of taking the time to recap the work completed in professional detail.
This can do your business an incredible disservice – especially in HVAC. In HVAC, customers generally only know one thing about the work you performed: whether or not it was effective. For everything else, they have to rely on their impression of you, like whether you seemed professional and trustworthy. And what better way is that reflected than the final recap of the work you did?
Foster Trust and Loyalty
Besides your work, HVAC invoices are the last impression of your business customers are left with and tend to reflect the work you’ve done. A professional, detailed invoice can convey that you take pride in your work and assure customers that the quality and extent of work reflects what they paid. This will not only minimize potential conflicts and miscommunication but leave customers with a positive overall impression of you and your business. You’ll be the first person on their mind when their system runs into issues or friends ask for recommendations.
Below, we’ve outlined how to create perfect HVAC invoices as well as provided free professional, easy to edit templates and advice to streamline the process with an app.
Streamline Your Invoices With The Right App
While templates can make your business look more professional, they don’t necessarily make the invoicing process faster or less expensive. You still have to manually write down services and materials for every job, calculate totals, and then follow up with customers individually long after the job is finished. Luckily, HVAC apps like FieldPulse can streamline this process making it easy to follow up with customers in just a few clicks without repetitive manual entry.
Instead of writing down services and materials for every job, every time, you can add them to a repository once and insert them into invoices as needed. This allows for quicker, more detailed invoicing that explains services rendered in a way that customers understand and reassures them the job was not only done right but thoroughly.
You can also avoid spending hundreds a year on paper, ink, and lost time.
There are a number of additional advantages HVAC invoicing apps can provide including but not limited to:
- Electronic payments and signatures
- Payment status tracking
- Automatically calculated subtotals, tax, and totals
- Customer management
- The ability to pull from a repository of commonly used invoice line items
- Conversion of proposals and estimates directly to invoices
- Email templates for payment status and lead generation that can be automatically filled out from customer data
- The ability to automatically pull up invoices in case of disputes
HVAC Invoices: Templates (Free!)
Below, we’ve provided a number of HVAC invoice templates you can use to bill customers. Simply click on the invoice to download it. Then, after downloading the invoice, open the document in a spreadsheet program like Google sheets and edit. Invoices are automatically sized to fit pages when printed.
How To Create Perfect HVAC Invoices
Including the right information on your invoices will help you avoid a number of common invoicing mistakes like unclear terms and late payments.
Invoices should all include the following information:
‘Invoice’ stated clearly
The word ‘invoice’ and its number should be printed clearly at the top of the page. A clear indication that the sheet is an invoice makes it obvious to clients that this is the final bill and not an estimate. And numbering the invoice at the top where it’s easy to see will make it easy for you to keep track of documents and save you time should you need to reference this document in the future in case of a conflict.
An easy way to pay
Generally, clients are more likely to pay on time when it’s easy for them to pay and clear expectations are set about when payments are due. That means every invoice should clearly state the date the invoice was issued, when payments are due, how exactly customers can pay, and to whom they should pay as well as any fees that may be accumulated from late payments.
A simple way to contact you
Always include contact information on your invoices. This includes your business name, phone number, email, social media, and address if applicable. Oftentimes, customers will keep invoices on hand making it the easiest way for them to contact you if they run into issues or want additional work done.
A complete cost break down
Simple, transparent pricing goes a long way in building trust. While it may be obvious to you that a condenser coil needs to be cleaned in order to ensure a customer’s system functions properly, customers may see it as an unnecessary add-on to hike up the price. So, it’s important to explain the full value of services rendered and materials used. Instead of simply saying you cleaned the condenser coil, point out that it was chemically cleaned because the system was low on charge and not cooling properly. And don’t be afraid to include complimentary services rendered that you don’t charge for directly, like checking and verifying the system’s electrical components. This paints an easy to understand picture of the work you did and your expertise.
Regulated information
In addition to the aforementioned information, you should include any regulated information that may need to be included, like your license number. Also include any sales tax and VAT if your company is VAT-registered.
Marketing
Ensure future work by offering customers a discount on their next maintenance visit or inviting them to refer a friend for a discount. The next time someone asks for a recommendation, they’ll be reminded of your referral program.
