How to get paid before the truck leaves the driveway

The best moment to get paid for a service job is the ten minutes after the work is done. The customer has just watched the furnace light, the drain clear or the door close. They know what they are paying for. A week later, the same invoice is a piece of mail competing with every other bill.

Yet many field service companies invoice from the office, days after the visit, because that is where the paperwork has always lived. This guide covers why that delay costs more than it looks, what has to be settled before the truck arrives so the tech can close the job on site, and how to fit collection into the day without wrecking the schedule. It is about practice, not accounting advice. For tax, revenue recognition or bookkeeping questions, talk to your accountant.

What the delay costs: days sales outstanding

Days sales outstanding (DSO) is the average number of days between doing the work and collecting the money. The usual form is:

DSO = Accounts receivable ÷ Revenue per day

Turn it around and you get the cash tied up in unpaid invoices at any moment:

Cash waiting = Revenue per day × DSO

These numbers are invented to show the method. The point is the shape. Cutting DSO frees cash once, and that cash stays freed as long as the habit holds. For a company that buys parts and equipment up front, pays techs every week or two and waits a month for its money, that difference can decide whether the next truck gets bought.

There is a second cost that does not show up in DSO: chasing. Every unpaid invoice past its due date means a reminder, a phone call or a second visit to someone's inbox. That office time is real even when the money eventually arrives.

Why invoices drift to the office

If getting paid on site is so much better, why do so many companies not do it? Three reasons come up again and again.

1. The price isn't settled until someone in the office looks at it. The tech writes down what they did and the parts they used, and someone else turns that into a number. If the number needs judgement, the invoice waits for the person with the judgement.
2. The tech isn't comfortable asking. Many techs are excellent at the work and uneasy with the money conversation. If the process leaves it to them to say a price out loud and ask for a card, many will hand over a business card and leave.
3. There is no time in the schedule for it. Collecting payment takes minutes: reviewing the work, answering a question, waiting while the customer pays. If the job duration doesn't include those minutes, the tech is already late for the next stop and skips it.

Each of these is fixable, and none of them is fixed by telling techs to try harder.

Settle the price before the truck arrives

Getting paid on site starts at booking, not at the end of the job. The more of the price is known before the tech knocks, the less there is to work out on the driveway.

• Use set prices where the work allows it. Flat-rate pricing exists partly for this reason. A tech who can point at a price list doesn't have to calculate or defend a number. The field service pricing guide covers how to build one.
• Tell the customer the price, or the price range, when they book. A confirmation that says what the visit will cost, or what the diagnostic fee covers, means the payment at the end is no surprise.
• Take a deposit on large jobs. For installs, replacements and anything with special-order parts, a deposit at booking reduces both the money at risk and the size of the conversation at the end.
• Know your cost on each job type. If you track job costing, you know which jobs carry a margin that can absorb a small adjustment on site and which can't. Give techs clear limits on what they can change without calling the office.

Make the invoice from what the tech already recorded

The tech is already noting the work, the parts used and often photos. If the invoice is built from those notes in the field, it exists the moment the job is marked done. Nobody has to retype it.

The order that works for most teams:

1. Tech marks the work complete and confirms parts used.
2. The invoice is generated from the job, with the agreed price and any approved changes.
3. The tech walks the customer through what was done, ideally showing a photo or two.
4. The invoice goes to the customer's phone with a link to pay by card, and the tech offers to wait while they pay.

Step 4 is the one that moves DSO. A pay link on the customer's own phone removes the awkward handover of a card and lets the customer pay in the time it takes the tech to load the truck. Customers who would rather pay later can still use the same link, which is better than a paper invoice because it is already in front of them.

Fit it into the job duration

Those minutes belong in the job duration estimate. If a typical visit spends five minutes on the walk-through and payment, plan the visit at its work time plus five. Otherwise collection competes with the next arrival time, and the next arrival time wins. The field service workflow guide walks through where each step sits in the life of a job.

The conversation, scripted

Techs who are uneasy asking for payment do better with words they can use every time. Something like:

"Everything's done. Here's what I did and the part I replaced. I've just sent the invoice to your phone; the link lets you pay by card right now, and I'm happy to wait a minute in case you have questions."

It states the work, it doesn't apologise for the price, and it makes paying now the easy default. The broader point about telling customers what happens next is in the customer communication guide.

Where CrewLink fits

CrewLink sends invoices with a pay link the customer can pay by card, takes deposits at booking through Stripe for services that take one, and texts the customer when an invoice is sent. The tech's phone app records the work, photos and parts used, and the job is marked done there. Card payments are at most 2.9% plus 30 cents and ACH is 1% capped at $15 a payment, with the platform fee inside; the details are on the pricing page. CrewLink is in early access. It is not accounting software, and it does not replace your books.

Measure it

Track two numbers each month:

• Share of jobs paid on the day of the visit. This is the direct measure of whether the habit is holding.
• DSO. Calculate it from your receivables and revenue the same way every month so the trend is honest.

If the first number is high and DSO is still long, the problem is probably your commercial or account customers on payment terms. That is a different process, and it usually needs agreed terms in writing rather than a pay link on the driveway.

Common questions

How do field service companies collect payment on site?

They settle the price at booking or use a price list, build the invoice from the tech's job record when the work is done, and send it to the customer's phone with a link to pay by card before the tech leaves. Deposits at booking cover large jobs.

What is a good DSO for a residential service company?

There isn't a single right number, and it depends heavily on how much of your work is commercial on payment terms. Track your own DSO the same way every month and watch the trend. For residential work paid on site, the gap between the visit and the payment can be close to zero.

Should techs collect payment or should the office?

Techs are in the best position because the customer has just seen the work. That only works if the price is already settled, the tech has a short script and the time is in the schedule. The office should handle disputes and account customers.

How long should payment collection add to a service call?

Usually a few minutes for the walk-through and payment. Measure it on your own jobs and add it to the job duration estimate so collection doesn't make the tech late for the next stop.