Progress Payments
I’ve been running into something with Jobber that I’m curious if other contractors are struggling with too. Jobber seems mainly designed around industries like pest control or lawn maintenance — companies that don’t usually run really high line item prices or multi-stage projects off a single quote. For trades like mine (electrical contracting), projects are often big and spread out — think full home rewires, panel changes with remodels, or multi-phase installs. On those kinds of jobs, you can’t realistically bill everything upfront. We need to take progress payments as the work moves along. Here’s what I’ve been forced to do: Create a quote for the full project and get the client to approve it. Save the quote, don’t schedule it. Start the job and then build separate invoices for progress payments. The problem is that this really messes with the books. Jobber ends up showing the full approved quote plus all the separate invoices and payments. That doubles the client value and makes reporting messy. It also makes it harder to show the client a clear record of what’s been billed versus what’s left. My idea for a fix: Add a “progress payment” option to quotes/jobs/invoices — basically the same way deposits work now. On a quote or job, we could set a deposit, and then later go back in and log progress payments against the total without closing the job. That way the system would track everything cleanly, clients could pay stage-by-stage, and we wouldn’t have to hack around the software to make it work. Also while I’m at it — one other small request: on desktop we can add text-only line items to quotes, which is amazing for breaking them into sections or adding explanations. On mobile, we can’t. It would be a huge time-saver if that feature was available in the app, too. So — is anyone else having this problem with progress payments in Jobber? Would this kind of solution help your business too? – TJ Maddock Odinson Electric, LLC
Invoice update via API
Jobber does not allow invoices to be updated and closed/marked as paid from externally. We use Xero as our main accounting system as it hooks into or bank. Every time we mark an invoice as paid in Xero, we need to manually close the corresponding invoice in Jobber. I have raised this multiple times with Jobber but it is not on their roadmap. Hoping there are more people out there with the same requirement to help boost this post so that Jobber can do something about it. Unless someone has found another way to do it. This will save at 30+ hours a month of man hour to change every invoice.How Much Should You Really Be Charging?
The number one question I receive is tied directly to the fact, most contractors are still guessing when it comes to pricing. Overhead. Profit. Labor rate. Trip fees. They think just because they throw a number they hear their competitors use, thats all that they need. It may work, but how and what do you divide these funds is just as important for your business health. If you don’t know how to do the math, you’re not building a business. You’re surviving check to check and think you need more work, when you do not. So here’s the plan: This Tuesday & Thursday on IG, I’m walking you through our Contractor Price Builder Worksheet FREE on instagram live. We will cover: - How to calculate your real hourly rate - The difference between markup and margin - Why profit is a non-negotiable - And how to price with confidence Join the session. Bring your numbers.I don’t really share this much —
I just passed the 100 contractors mark that I’ve been able to help through @buildnational. Now, a few of you have seen how I built a $1 million revenue electrical business in my first 4 years. And it had nothing to do with working harder. It’s actually the opposite. It came from securing long-term relationships/contracts, repeat/bulk work with service agreements attached. And the key to it all was understanding MY NUMBERS so I could stay competitive and still close the year at 42% NET profit. We’ve been featured in Forbes and, together, broken down stigmas around construction that keep contractors stuck. All of this—while traveling the U.S. sharing our story. At the end of the day, I just want to make sure you have everything you need to take full advantage of contracting. If you want to have a conversation or just connect, I’m here to serve.We’re In Q3 — How Are Your 2025 Goals Holding Up?
Now that we’ve officially entered Q3… I’m checking in: • Are you where you thought you’d be by this point in the year? • What worked well in the first half? • And what needs to be tweaked so you don’t coast through summer? For us, we’re doubling down on and been using this visual from our Blueprint Series to stay focused each quarter: Would love to hear from others: What’s one change you’re making to finish Q3 strong?Pricing Advice & Client Management Tips for New Landscaper
Hi everyone, I’m fairly new to landscaping and trying to get a better handle on pricing my work and managing clients. Right now, I mostly check local prices and try to go a bit cheaper, but I’m still confused about charging per hour versus per job. For example, sometimes a job might be tougher but I get it done faster because of experience or efficiency. If I charge hourly, I worry I might be punishing myself by charging less for harder work done quickly. So I usually price per job and just guesstimate a fair rate. I’d love advice on how you set prices fairly and consistently. Also, what tools or software do you use to manage your clients and jobs? Are there any good free or low-cost options for someone just starting out? Any tips regarding profit, couting in gas, time, etc I'd love to hear thanks so much! I’m based in Lima, OH, if that matters for local pricing tips. Thanks so much in advance!
