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As of November 2024, we are moving to using Quickbooks Online as our invoicing tool. The documentation below refers to this methodology. Note that the approach is a work-in-progress, and roadbumps should be expected.

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All of our commence once the client has submitted a signed Quote in Hubspot. When the quote is signed, the Project Manager must send the first invoice via Quickbooks Online.

When clients receive an invoice from QBO this is what the email looks like:

The invoice will have a link that they can use to view it. The link shows the payment amount and allows the user to view the PDF invoice. We request electronic payment through the link. Clients may also choose to pay by check or ACH, but if they do this they need to make sure the payment comes through by the due date, otherwise late fees will apply.

Late Fees

In our Quotes it generally states that we charge a 2% late fee per month for overdue invoice (refer back to each specific quote to confirm). We always provide a seven day grace period. When you send the invoice via QBO, you can set up the late fee to automatically accrue with the seven day grace period.

When the due date arrives, QBO should alert the customer and let them know they have seven days to pay before the late fee will be added.

Core Coverage Invoicing

Our Core Coverage agreements vary in structure currently but as of 2025 should be standardized around the latest agreement: Core Coverage should be invoiced on the first of the month for service within that month, at Net 15. For example, for January service, the invoice should go out on Jan 1 and be due Jan 15.

These invoices should be set up as recurring in QBO so there is no need for a project manager to remember to send it out. For these recurring invoices, customers will be able to add their payment info and select the auto-pay option, or they can review and pay each invoice individually. We ask for the Net 15 terms because we pay bills for each client such as their hosting, ghost inspector, etc plus our staff costs, and so it is not fair for us to have to float money for those things while waiting to be paid. Mid-month is fair.

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For the end of 2024 while we have many existing Core Coverage structures still active, send manual invoices via QBO to adhere to whatever policy the client’s Core Coverage indicates. As of Jan 1, 2025, all Core Coverage agreements must be unified and on the new structure.

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📏 Rules

• Send Invoices Promptly. Invoices should go out within two days of the milestone being reached.
• Enforce the Late Fees. Late payments are a significant issue and risk for our business. Feel free to waive the fee when you believe the client is doing their best to make payment, but otherwise, we should be charging the late fee.
• Add Notes. This should be a loose summary, not a comprehensive breakdown, but it should help alleviate the question “What are we paying for, again?”
• Follow Conventions. We have a convention for invoice naming and numbering. Please pay attention to how existing invoices are formatted before creating invoices. Harvest will fill this in automatically whenever possible, but sometimes it messes up.

Invoice Monitoring

The Operations team is responsible for monitoring payment status. Operations should alert the relevant project manager and strategist when a client falls significantly behind on invoices.