ElectricalBossPro Blog — Billing & Payments

Choosing Electrical Invoicing Software: What to Check Before You Switch

Switching billing software is not something any electrical shop owner wants to do twice. It means moving customers, learning a new system and asking techs to change habits. So it is worth being picky before you commit. The right software makes billing disappear into the workday. The wrong one adds a new set of chores on top of the old ones.

Before You Compare

If you are coming from paper or spreadsheets, the practical steps of moving are in Moving Electrical Billing Off Paper Invoices and Spreadsheets. This last guide in the series is a checklist for picking the software in the first place, whether you are looking at ElectricalBossPro, generic field-service software or the big enterprise platforms.

Does the Invoice Come From the Job?

The first and most important question. If someone has to retype the job into an invoice, you have only moved the paperwork onto a screen. Check that:

• An approved estimate becomes the scheduled job without retyping.
• The job becomes the invoice, with line items from your own service list.
• Sales tax is applied from a setting, not by hand.
• Extra work done on site can go on the job as its own line.

In ElectricalBossPro, the invoice is created when the tech taps Complete, with line items and sales tax.

Can the Tech Get Paid on Site?

Same-day payment is where the biggest time savings are. Check that the tech can finish the job and collect payment from the same phone, without a separate payment screen or device. ElectricalBossPro's tech app creates the invoice and can charge the card on file at completion, and it runs in the browser on iPhone and Android with no app store download.

How Many Ways Can Customers Pay?

Different customers need different setups. Look for:

• Card on file, charged at completion or on a schedule.
• Online payment from a customer app or portal.
• Self-service card updates, so expired cards do not turn into calls.
• Monthly statements for customers with many addresses, with each line labeled by address.

If a property manager with many addresses would get a stream of separate invoices, keep looking.

Does It Handle Electrical Work Specifically?

Generic field-service software treats every job as an address and a notes box. Electrical billing works better when the software understands the work behind it:

• Equipment saved on the house (panels, generators, transfer switches, EV chargers, surge protectors) that fills in future jobs.
• A safety inspection checklist and a printable report that backs up the inspection invoice.
• Recurring plans for yearly inspections and generator maintenance that come due on their own.
• Deposits on big installs billed as their own invoice or line item.

Follow-Up and Reports

Check that past-due follow-up is built in, so the office is not writing every reminder by hand, and that reports show what was billed, what came in and what is still owed. If you will need a spreadsheet next to the software to know where you stand, the software is not finished.

Ask how follow-up connects to payment, too. A reminder that sends the customer to a phone number is far weaker than one that sends them to an invoice with a pay button. In ElectricalBossPro, customers pay and update their card from the customer app, so a reminder can turn into a payment in a minute.

Is the Price Simple?

Watch for billing tools sold as add-ons and pricing that is hard to predict from one month to the next. ElectricalBossPro has three plans, Start at $59, Pro at $89 and Crew at $199 per month, with invoicing and payments on every plan and a monthly text allowance of 500, 1,000 or 2,000 segments sent and received. Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial and no credit card.

Try Before You Commit

The best test is to click around. Can you find the invoice from a completed job? Can you see what a customer sees? Can you set up a Monthly account? The ElectricalBossPro live demo is a fully stocked sample electrical company you can explore with no signup. Then start the free trial with a handful of real customers and run a week of jobs through it.

To start from the beginning of this series, read Electrical Invoicing Software: The Complete Guide to Billing and Getting Paid for Electrical Work.

Pick the One That Bills From the Job

Good electrical invoicing software builds the invoice from the job, lets the tech get paid on site, gives customers easy ways to pay, handles electrical work like inspections, plans and big installs, follows up on its own and costs a simple monthly price. To see how ElectricalBossPro checks each box, visit the ElectricalBossPro electrical invoicing software page.