A handyman job looks like it needs no paperwork, which is exactly why this trade has more disputes per dollar than almost any other. Four documents cover it: a proposal for anything above a certain size, an estimate or a fixed price, a work order recording what was actually done, and an invoice. Most single operators produce the last one and produce it days later, from memory.
The proposal, for anything that is not obvious
For a small job a verbal price is fine. For a day of work with materials, a short written proposal saying what is included, what is not, and how long the price stands prevents the conversation that begins with I thought that included. It is a page, it takes ten minutes, and it is the cheapest insurance in the trade.
The work order, written at the address
What was asked for, what was found, what was done, how long it took. A handyman job changes on site more often than most trades because the request is usually a symptom rather than a diagnosis. A record written at the address is a record; the same thing written that evening is an argument in three weeks.
The invoice, which is a different document
An invoice is a demand for money with a number, a date and terms on it. Merging it with the work order saves paper and loses the ability to hand somebody the record without the price. Two documents attached to one job is cheaper than it sounds and considerably easier to defend.
Doing it on a phone, in the van
The reason single operators skip the paperwork is that it happens at the end of an already long day. Producing the documents where the work happened turns twenty minutes of evening admin into two minutes on site. Records supporting income and expenses have to be kept anyway, which the Internal Revenue Service sets out for small businesses.
Questions people ask about handyman invoice app
Do I need all four documents on every job?
No. A small call needs a work order and an invoice. The proposal is for anything where the price or the scope could be remembered differently.
Can the invoice just be a text message?
It can be sent that way and it still needs the lines an invoice carries: a number, a date, a description, the amount and the terms.
What does Dispatchzo do here?
It holds the job and the documents it produced, with your own name and logo on them on Pro, at $69 a month rather than per person.