How Electronic Invoicing and Installment Payments Can Help Plumbing Companies Get Paid Faster

For a plumbing company, completing the job is only part of running a successful business. The other part is getting paid efficiently.

Plumbers regularly handle everything from small service calls to major emergency repairs, water heater replacements, sewer work, repiping projects, and commercial plumbing jobs. Depending on the work involved, a customer’s invoice might be a few hundred dollars or several thousand.

That creates a challenge: How do you make it easy for customers to pay while reducing the amount of time your staff spends sending invoices, taking payments over the phone, and following up on outstanding balances?

Cobalt Payments’ proprietary payment gateway can help plumbing companies modernize the way they bill and collect payments. With electronic invoicing and the ability to establish installment payment plans, plumbers can give customers more convenient ways to pay while improving their own accounts receivable process.

Send Electronic Invoices Instead of Chasing Checks

Many plumbing companies still rely heavily on paper invoices, mailed checks, or phone calls to collect payment.

Electronic invoicing can make the process considerably easier.

Once a job is completed, an electronic invoice can be sent directly to the customer. Rather than asking the customer to mail a check or call the office with a card number, the invoice can provide a convenient way for the customer to make an electronic payment.

This can be particularly valuable for plumbing companies with technicians working throughout a large service area. Your office does not necessarily have to wait for paperwork to make its way back from the field before beginning the collection process.

Electronic invoicing can help:

• Reduce the time between completing a job and requesting payment
• Make it easier for customers to pay electronically
• Reduce manual payment collection
• Minimize reliance on paper invoices and checks
• Improve recordkeeping
• Give office staff more visibility into outstanding invoices
• Reduce time spent calling customers for payment

The easier you make it for a customer to pay an invoice, the fewer unnecessary obstacles there are between finishing the job and collecting your money.

Installment Plans Can Make Larger Plumbing Bills More Manageable

Plumbing problems do not always happen when it is financially convenient.

A homeowner may suddenly need a new water heater, sewer line repair, major leak remediation, repiping, or another expensive service. The work may be necessary immediately, but the customer may not be prepared to pay the entire bill at once.

That is where installment payments can be useful.

Depending on the payment arrangement offered by the plumbing company, a larger balance can be divided into scheduled payments rather than requiring the customer to make one large payment.

For example, instead of requiring a $3,000 invoice to be paid all at once, a plumber could potentially establish an agreed payment schedule that divides the balance into multiple payments.

For the customer, this can make an unexpected expense easier to manage.

For the plumbing company, it can provide a structured method for collecting an outstanding balance instead of relying on repeated phone calls, mailed statements, and promises that a check is coming.

Turn Payment Plans Into a Process, Not a Collection Headache

There is a significant difference between telling a customer, “You can pay us over the next few months,” and actually having a system for managing those payments.

Informal arrangements can quickly become an administrative problem.

Who is supposed to remember when the next payment is due? Did the customer make last month’s payment? How much is still outstanding? Does someone in the office need to call the customer every month?

Cobalt’s proprietary payment gateway can help businesses establish a more organized electronic payment process.

Rather than maintaining payment arrangements through spreadsheets, handwritten notes, or calendar reminders, plumbing companies can use payment technology designed to make billing and collection more manageable.

That means your staff can spend less time acting as a collections department and more time scheduling jobs, assisting customers, dispatching technicians, and growing the business.

Especially Useful for Expensive Plumbing Projects

Electronic invoicing and installment-payment capabilities can be particularly useful for higher-ticket plumbing services, including:

Water Heater Replacements

Tank and tankless systems can represent a substantial unexpected household expense. Offering a more flexible payment process can make it easier for customers to move forward with necessary work.

Sewer and Drain Projects

Larger repairs may require excavation, specialized equipment, labor, and significant material costs. Electronic billing can provide a clearer and more efficient way to collect payment.

Whole-Home Repiping

Major plumbing projects can result in invoices that customers may prefer to divide into multiple payments.

Emergency Plumbing

Customers do not get to choose when a pipe bursts or another serious plumbing problem occurs. Convenient payment options can make an already stressful situation easier to manage.

Commercial Plumbing

Business customers may have their own accounting and approval processes, making electronic invoicing particularly useful for tracking and collecting balances.

Renovation and Construction Projects

Larger jobs may involve deposits, progress payments, or other agreed payment schedules. A capable payment gateway can help support a more structured billing process.

Improve Cash-Flow Visibility

A plumbing business has expenses of its own.

Payroll needs to be met. Trucks need fuel and maintenance. Materials need to be purchased. Suppliers need to be paid. Equipment needs to be replaced. Insurance, rent, software, advertising, and other operating expenses continue regardless of whether customers have paid their invoices.

When a significant amount of revenue is sitting in accounts receivable, managing cash flow becomes more difficult.

Electronic billing does not eliminate accounts receivable, but it can help create a more efficient collection process.

Instead of wondering whether an invoice was mailed, whether the customer received it, or when someone is going to call with payment information, businesses can build electronic payments into their normal billing workflow.

Give Customers the Convenience They Already Expect

Consumers have become accustomed to paying bills electronically.

They pay utilities online. They receive electronic medical bills. They manage subscriptions automatically. They pay credit cards through websites and mobile devices.

A plumbing invoice should not necessarily require them to find a checkbook.

Providing modern electronic payment options can make the billing experience feel more professional and convenient, particularly when customers are already dealing with the stress of an unexpected plumbing repair.

The goal is simple: make paying your plumbing company as easy as possible.

Cobalt Offers More Than a Credit Card Terminal

Payment processing for a plumbing company does not have to begin and end with placing a credit card terminal in the office.

Cobalt Payments works with businesses to build payment solutions around how they actually operate.

Our proprietary payment gateway can provide plumbing businesses with tools for electronic billing and payment collection, including the ability to send electronic invoices and establish installment payment arrangements where appropriate.

Instead of piecing together separate invoicing, payment, and collection processes, Cobalt can help your business create a more streamlined payment environment.

Whether you operate a small local plumbing company or manage a larger operation with multiple technicians and service vehicles, your payment technology should help make your back office more efficient, not create additional work.

Spend More Time Plumbing and Less Time Chasing Payments

Every hour spent tracking down an unpaid invoice is time that could have been spent serving customers or growing the business.

Electronic invoices can make it easier to request and collect payment. Installment arrangements can provide additional flexibility for customer situations involving larger balances. A centralized payment gateway can help your office manage the process more efficiently.

Cobalt Payments can help plumbing companies implement a payment solution built around the way they bill their customers.

If your plumbing business is still relying on paper invoices, mailed checks, manual payment reminders, or disconnected payment systems, it may be time to modernize your payment process.