JunkBossPro Blog — Billing & Payments

Choosing Junk Removal Invoicing Software: What to Check Before You Switch

Most invoicing software is built for businesses that bill an hour of labor or a box of parts. Junk removal bills a fraction of a truck, a list of awkward items and a weight that is not known until the scale. Before you switch, make sure the software you pick understands that. Here is what to check.

Before You Start Shopping

The practical steps of moving off paper are covered in Moving Junk Removal Billing Off Paper Invoices and Spreadsheets. This article is the step before: deciding what software to move to. Spreadsheets and paper, generic field-service software and the big franchise systems all handle billing differently. Use this list to compare them on the things that matter to a junk removal company.

1. Does It Know What a Load Is?

A junk removal job is priced by how much of the truck it fills. Check whether the software can record load size on the job, in steps that match how you price: something like Min Load, 1/8 through 7/8, Full Load, and multiple loads for big cleanouts. Check whether it records the number of items and what's going, and where the load is hauled. If every job is just an address and a notes box, your crew will be writing the real details somewhere else.

2. Can It Bill the Dump Ticket?

This is the question that separates junk removal software from everything else. Ask: when a load goes over the weight included in the price, how does that get on the invoice? In JunkBossPro, you enter the ticket tons, the included tons and your per-ton rate, and the overage line is added automatically, for example “Dump fee overage (0.28 tons @ $70.00) = $19.60.” If the answer elsewhere is “type it in as a custom line,” expect it to be forgotten on busy days.

3. Can the Crew Get Paid at Completion?

Check what happens when the crew finishes. Does the invoice get created from the job, or does someone have to write it later? Can the card on file be charged right there? In JunkBossPro, the crew taps Complete in the crew app, the invoice is created and the card can be charged before the truck leaves. Also check:

• Does the crew app need an app store download, or does it run on the phones your crew already has?
• Does each crew member log in with their own PIN?
• Can the crew take before-and-after photos that stay with the job?

4. Can It Charge Without You?

Look for auto-charge on completion or on a schedule, so nobody has to run cards by hand. Check how cards get on file in the first place: a sign-up form on your website that captures the card, and a customer app where customers add and update their own.

5. Can Customers Pay Themselves?

For customers without a card on file, check whether they can see their invoice and pay online without calling. Check whether they can update a declined card themselves. And check what happens to unpaid invoices: is there past-due follow-up, or is that left to you?

6. Can It Handle Property Managers?

If you do, or want to do, trash-outs for property managers, realtors or apartment complexes, this matters a lot. Check for:

• One client with many addresses. Not a separate customer for every unit.
• Monthly billing. One statement a month covering every address.
• Lines labeled by address. So the manager can match each charge to a unit.

This is covered in detail in Monthly Statements for Property Managers: One Bill for Every Trash-Out Address.

7. Do the Estimates Flow Into the Invoice?

Check whether an approved estimate becomes the job, and the job becomes the invoice, without anyone retyping. If estimates live in one tool and invoices in another, prices will drift.

8. Can You See What Is Still Out?

Check for reports that show what was invoiced, what was paid and what is outstanding. And check whether you can import your existing customers by CSV, with addresses placed on the map automatically.

9. What Does It Cost, Really?

Check whether billing, the crew app and the customer app are included or sold as add-ons. JunkBossPro plans are Start at $59, Pro at $89 and Crew at $199 a month, with invoicing, card on file, auto-charge, online payment and monthly statements on every plan, and a 14-day free trial with no credit card.

Try Before You Switch

The best test is to click around. The fully-stocked sample junk removal company at the JunkBossPro live demo needs no signup. Open a completed job, look at the invoice, find the dump fee overage line, and see a property manager's monthly statement. Then start the free trial and bill a real job. To see every billing feature in one place, visit the JunkBossPro junk removal invoicing software page.