PestBossPro Blog — Billing & Payments

The Pest Control Month-End Billing Review: A One-Hour Routine

Most billing problems are small when they start. A completed job that never got invoiced. A declined card nobody followed up on. A commercial statement that went to a manager who left. A prepaid mosquito season with treatments nobody scheduled. One hour at the end of each month catches all of them while they are still small.

One Hour Catches What the Month Missed

Seasonal swings, covered in Pest Control Cash Flow Across the Seasons: Billing for the Slow Months, are the big picture. The month-end review is the close-up: making sure every dollar from the month you just finished is billed, collected or followed up.

Put it on the calendar. The first business morning of each month works for many owners. Block the hour, pour the coffee, and go through the same list every time. The routine matters more than the exact day.

Step 1: Completed Work Without an Invoice

When jobs are invoiced at completion, this list should be short or empty. Check it anyway. Look for completed visits that should have billed and did not: extra work the tech noted that never got added, a one-time job finished on a day the tech forgot to tap Complete until the next morning, a re-service that should have been free but was not set up as one.

While you are at it, check the schedule's “need a chemical record” button for completed treatments still missing their application record. Billing and records tend to break at the same jobs.

Step 2: Open and Declined Invoices

Next, look at every unpaid invoice. PestBossPro shows what is unpaid and gives you past-due follow-up. Sort them into piles:

• Declined cards that have not been updated. Text the customer to update their card in the customer app.
• Invoices waiting on a check or online payment. Send a reminder.
• Old invoices past your follow-up schedule. Call, and decide whether service should pause.
• Disputed invoices. Resolve the question; do not just resend the bill.

The full routine is in Past-Due Pest Control Accounts: A Follow-Up Routine That Gets You Paid.

Step 3: Prepayments and Programs

Look at every account with a prepayment on it: mosquito seasons, annual plans, deposits on termite and bed bug jobs. For each one, ask:

• Are the visits happening on schedule? A prepaid customer who has not been serviced in two months is a complaint coming.
• Is the balance going down as visits are invoiced?
• Is the season or year ending soon? If so, plan the final visits and the renewal notice.
• Any deposits on jobs that never got scheduled? Call the customer.

Step 4: Commercial Statements

Accounts set to Monthly get one statement covering every location. Before it goes out:

• Check that every visit you expected for each location is on it. A missing visit is either a missed service or a missed charge.
• Check add-ons: follow-up visits, unit treatments, drain treatments, station additions.
• Confirm the billing contact is still the right person.
• Confirm last month's statement was paid.

For property managers, ask whether any properties were added or dropped.

Step 5: Sales Tax and the Numbers

Look at the month's totals with PestBossPro's reports: what was invoiced, what was collected and what is still open. Note the sales tax collected and set it aside for your filing; it is not your money. Compare the month to the same month last year if you have it. A drop in a month that is usually strong is worth a closer look, and the numbers worth watching are covered in Pest Control Billing Reports: The Numbers Worth Looking At Every Week.

Step 6: Look Ahead

Finish with next month. Which annual plans renew? Which programs start, such as mosquito season in spring? Which price changes take effect, and have customers been told? Five minutes of looking ahead saves a lot of reacting later.

Check the Waiting List as part of this step too. Accounts showing overdue past the seven-day grace are visits that should have been billed and were not, because the work has not been done yet. Getting them onto a route in the first week of the month turns last month's missed revenue into this month's invoices. If the same accounts keep showing up overdue, the problem may be route capacity rather than billing, and that is worth knowing before the busy season.

Same Hour, Every Month

A month-end billing review is not complicated: invoice what was missed, follow up on what is open, check prepayments, clean up commercial statements, set tax aside and look ahead. Done every month, it keeps small problems from becoming big ones. For more on PestBossPro's billing tools, visit the pest control invoicing software page.