How it runs for HVAC, plumbing, electrical and landscaping companies
A builder pays a progress invoice short by a retainage percentage. Your dedicated specialist applies each payment to the right invoices in QuickBooks Online the day it arrives, records fees and short-pays separately, and works the unapplied-cash list every week so nothing sits as an unidentified deposit.
What is cash application?
Cash application means matching money received from customers to the invoices it pays and recording that in the accounting system. It covers bank receipts, checks, lockbox files, card payouts and remittance advices, including partial payments, deductions and payments with no reference. Done well, the aging is accurate and no customer is chased for an invoice they already paid.
What we handle for HVAC, plumbing, electrical and landscaping companies
- Processor batches split and applied to each residential ticket in the batch
- Property-management remittances matched by PO number to the open invoices
- Financing fundings applied to the install invoice with the dealer fee recorded
- Short-pays and retainage logged against the invoice with the reason
- Unapplied cash cleared weekly, with unidentified deposits sent to the office
The KPI that matters here
Payments are applied to the correct invoice within one business day of reaching the bank.
Field services compliance notes
Sales tax on services by state
Taxability of labor, parts and maintenance agreements is set state by state, and some states also tax at the city or county level. We map your service items to the right tax codes in QuickBooks Online and reconcile the tax collected against the liability each period. Filing stays with you or your tax preparer; we supply the reconciled workings.
Job costing
Materials, technician hours, subcontractor bills and permit fees are coded to the job they belong to, so a large install can be reviewed against its estimate. Progress payments on installs are held as customer deposits until the work is complete, which keeps revenue in the month it was earned.
Technician commissions
Commission plans based on sold revenue, gross margin or spiffs are documented once and calculated the same way every pay period. We accrue the commission in the month of the sale and reverse it when payroll runs, so the P&L does not spike on payday.
Inventory on trucks
Van stock is an asset until it is used, and unrecorded stock is a common reason field-service margins look wrong. We record a monthly count per truck, post the adjustment, and flag trucks whose usage is far above the fleet average for the owner to look into.
Field services software we work in
- QuickBooks Online
- Gusto
- ServiceTitan
- Jobber
- Housecall Pro
- All 50 platforms
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Frequently asked questions
How do you match a property-management check that pays 40 invoices?
By reading the remittance advice, which usually lists PO numbers or property addresses rather than your invoice numbers. Because each invoice in QuickBooks Online carries the PO, the specialist matches line by line and applies the payment across all 40. Anything on the remittance that does not match an open invoice is listed for the office within a day.
What happens when a financing lender funds less than the invoice?
The funding is applied to the install invoice in full, the dealer fee is posted as a financing expense, and the customer's balance goes to zero. This keeps revenue at the gross ticket and shows the true cost of offering financing. The monthly report lists dealer fees by lender so you can compare programs.
Why is our unapplied cash balance so high?
Usually because deposits were recorded when they hit the bank but never linked to the invoices they paid. The aging then shows customers as overdue while cash sits unapplied. We work the list weekly, match each deposit to its invoices, and ask your office about the few that cannot be identified from the field software.
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