PortaPottyBossPro Blog — Running a Porta Potty Business

Collecting Unpaid Invoices in a Porta Potty Business

Every unpaid invoice is work you already paid for. The fuel is burned, the dump fee is paid, the tech is paid, and the unit has been sitting on someone's site. Collecting is not the fun part of running a portable toilet business, but it is the part that decides whether the work was worth doing.

Why Invoices Go Unpaid

After billing every extra day and keeping every weekly service on time, as covered in Missed Services: What They Cost a Portable Toilet Business and How to Stop Them, the last step is getting the money in.

Most unpaid invoices are not customers refusing to pay. They are:

• Invoices sent late, so the customer has moved on mentally
• Invoices sent to the wrong person, like the super instead of the office
• Bills that are confusing, so the customer sets them aside to ask about later
• Customers who pay by check and forget
• Past-due balances nobody followed up on

Each of these has a fix.

Card on File First

The single best way to get paid is to have a card on file before the work starts. For homeowners, event customers and small contractors, ask for a card at sign-up. The sign-up form captures the card with the sign-up, and customers can update their card on file in the customer app.

With a card on file through Stripe, you can auto-charge on completion, when the tech taps Complete in the driver app, or on a schedule, such as monthly for a weekly service rental. The customer gets an invoice, and the money is in your account without anyone chasing it.

Bill Promptly and Clearly

If a customer pays by invoice, send it promptly. A bill that goes out the day the work is done gets paid faster than one that goes out three weeks later. Make it easy to read: line items for each service, extra rental days on their own line, sales tax per site. Customers can see invoices and pay online in the customer app, which removes the excuse of a lost check.

Monthly Account Billing for Contractors

Large contractors often have their own payment process and want one bill a month. Monthly account billing sends ONE statement covering every job at every one of their sites, with each line labeled by site address. Their office can code it and approve it in one pass, instead of sorting through a pile of separate invoices. Send it to the person who pays, not the super on site.

Past-Due Follow-Up

Past-due follow-up in PortaPottyBossPro goes out on its own, so customers get reminded without the office having to send each one by hand. Most late payers pay after a reminder or two. The ones who do not need a personal touch.

When to Make the Call

For balances that keep aging, pick up the phone. Be polite and direct: what is owed, how old it is, and how they would like to pay. Often there is a simple reason, like a question about a charge or a new person in their accounting office. Fix the question and the payment usually follows.

Decide in advance at what point you stop servicing an account that will not pay, and write it into your rental terms. Stopping service is a hard step with a contractor, but providing weekly service for free indefinitely is worse.

Watch the Aging

Make past-due balances part of your weekly review. Look at the total, the oldest balances and the customers who show up every week. Old balances are harder to collect than new ones, so the earlier you notice, the better your chances.

Prevent the Next One

Every collection problem teaches you something. If a certain kind of customer is often late, require a card on file for them. If confusion about extra days causes disputes, explain the rental period more clearly on quotes. If invoices go to the wrong person, update the billing contact. Collecting gets easier when the bill is clear, on time and easy to pay.

Set Terms Before the First Delivery

The easiest collections happen before the work starts. Put your payment terms on every quote and every sign-up: when invoices are due, how customers can pay, what happens to accounts that fall behind, and whether a card on file is required. Customers who agreed to terms up front rarely argue about them later.

For new commercial accounts you do not know, it is reasonable to ask for a card on file at the start, even if they will usually pay by invoice. The card is a backstop. Most of the time you will never need it. When you do, you will be glad it is there.

For the billing tools that help you get paid, visit the Porta Potty Business Software page.