Setting Up Mobile Payments for Your HVAC or Plumbing Shop

DEFINITION

Payment Processing Fee

The percentage and flat fee charged on each transaction by the payment processor. The industry standard for card-present and card-not-present transactions in field service is 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction. On a $300 repair invoice, the processing fee is $9.

DEFINITION

ACH Payment

An electronic bank-to-bank transfer that costs less to process than credit cards. Typically 1% or a flat $1-$5 fee per transaction. Useful for large invoices like equipment installs where 2.9% processing on a $5,000 invoice ($145) is significant.

Why On-Site Payment Collection Matters

When a tech finishes a job and leaves without collecting payment, your invoice joins a queue. The homeowner gets busy. The invoice sits in their email. Your office manager sends a reminder in 7 days. Another reminder in 14 days. Maybe you get paid in 30 days.

When a tech collects payment on-site, you have the money the same day. No follow-up. No chasing. No accounts receivable aging. For a shop running 20 calls a day, the difference between 30-day collections and same-day collections is a cash flow problem that software solves in under an hour of setup.

Built-In vs Standalone Payment Processing

Most field service software now includes payment processing. The advantage of built-in processing is that the payment links directly to the invoice and job record. When a customer pays, the job status updates automatically. Your bookkeeper sees the payment matched to the job without manual reconciliation.

Standalone processors like Square work fine but create a gap: the payment and the job record live in different systems. You or your office manager reconcile them manually. For shops running 5 or fewer calls a day, this is manageable. At 15-20 calls a day, manual reconciliation costs time.

Processing Fees Are a Cost of Speed

The 2.9% processing fee on a $300 repair invoice is $9. Some shop owners see that as lost revenue. In practice, the cost of waiting 30 days to collect a paper check, the time spent on follow-up calls, the risk of non-payment, the cash flow drag, exceeds the $9 processing fee.

For large invoices (equipment installs at $3,000-$10,000), processing fees become meaningful. Offer ACH payment as an option. At 1% versus 2.9%, the savings on a $5,000 install is $95. Frame it to the customer: “We offer a discount for bank transfer payment.”

Getting Techs to Collect

The technology setup is the easy part. The behavioral change is harder. Techs are used to finishing the job and moving to the next call. Adding a payment collection step feels like extra work.

Three things make the difference. First, make it a policy, not a suggestion. The expectation is that every tech collects payment or sends a payment link before leaving. Second, make the process fast. If the tech can send a text link in 10 seconds, there is no excuse. Third, track it. Review collection rates per tech weekly. The techs who collect on-site are the ones who get recognized.