The problem this solves
An HVAC contractor with 30 monthly maintenance plans should have 30 invoices going out the first week of every month like clockwork. In practice, the office spends a Saturday morning every month opening QuickBooks, duplicating last month's invoices, updating dates, and emailing them one by one. By month four, two of those customers slipped through and did not get billed because the office was sick that week.
A pool route tech with 60 weekly accounts has the same problem at higher volume. Half the customers pay on time, the other half get rebilled mid-month because nobody noticed they did not pay the first time. Cash flow is a roller coaster because the billing cadence is a manual process.
The duct-tape fix is a calendar reminder set to repeat monthly. The reminder fires. The office opens the email and clicks Snooze because there are six other fires. The bills go out a week late, or worse, do not go out at all.
How Workhand handles it
Build a recurring template per customer. Pick the line items (monthly HVAC tune-up at $89, pool route visit at $45 plus chemicals). Pick the schedule (weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual). Pick the start date. Save.
From that moment, Workhand fires the invoice automatically on each scheduled date. The invoice gets emailed to the customer with a Stripe Connect payment link (card and ACH supported). The cost of the email is zero. The cost of card payment is the standard 2.9 percent plus 30 cents, with no platform markup from Workhand on top. ACH bank transfer is cheaper still for invoices over $200.
The dashboard shows a Due This Week counter so the office can spot a missed schedule before the customer does. If you set up a template halfway through a month and want to backfill the first few cycles, Run Due Now flushes them all in one tap. Snowbirds heading north for the summer get a Pause toggle that stops invoice generation without losing the schedule. Flip it back when they return.
If QuickBooks Online sync is connected, every auto-generated invoice flows to QBO with the customer, line items, and payment status attached. Your accountant sees the same invoices QBO that the customer sees in their inbox.
| What you get | How it works |
|---|---|
| Weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual | Four schedule options cover pool routes, HVAC plans, quarterly services, and annual contracts. |
| Per-customer pricing | Each recurring template has its own line items and total. Smith pool is $180/wk, Garcia is $240/mo. Each independent. |
| Auto-email on the schedule | Workhand fires the invoice and emails it on the schedule date without any manual action. |
| Stripe Connect payment links | Every invoice ships with a card and ACH payment link at 2.9% + 30c. 0% platform markup from Workhand. |
| Pause, resume, skip | Pause stops generation entirely. Skip drops a single cycle. Resume picks up where you left off. |
| Run Due Now | Flushes any backlogged invoices in one tap. Used when migrating or setting up mid-month. |
| Active vs paused status | Recurring screen lists every template with status, customer, next bill date, and frequency. |
| Due This Week counter | Dashboard widget showing how many recurring invoices fire in the next 7 days. |
| QuickBooks Online sync | Auto-generated invoices flow to QBO with customer and line items intact. |
Who has recurring revenue and does not know they need this
Most contractors think of themselves as project-based and miss that some part of their book is already recurring in disguise. If you have any of these, you have a recurring revenue stream that Workhand can put on autopilot:
- HVAC service contracts. Annual plan billed quarterly. Two tune-ups per year built in. Worth $89 to $159 per quarter per customer. Some HVAC owners run 200 of these and bill them by hand.
- Pool route service. Weekly visit, chemicals included or extra. Worth $35 to $80 per visit per customer. Route techs running 40 to 80 weekly accounts are doing roughly 200 invoices per month manually.
- Lawn maintenance. Weekly or biweekly cut, monthly billing. Worth $30 to $80 per cut. Same pattern.
- Snow removal. Seasonal contract, monthly through the winter, pause for the off-season. Recurring template plus pause toggle is perfect for this.
- Pest control routes. Quarterly billing on a service contract.
- Solar O&M. Annual or monthly maintenance contract on installed systems.
- Janitorial. Weekly or monthly cleaning on a contract basis.
- Software-style "monthly retainer" on a design-build studio or a contractor who works on a retainer with a property manager.
Who this is built for
- HVAC contractors running maintenance plans on residential or light commercial systems
- Pool route technicians with 30 to 100 weekly or biweekly accounts
- Lawn and landscape crews running maintenance routes on residential or HOA accounts
- Pest control operators with quarterly service contracts
- Snow removal contractors with seasonal monthly billing
- Janitorial and cleaning crews with weekly or monthly contracts
- Solar installers with annual O&M contracts on installed arrays
- Property maintenance companies on retainer with property managers or HOAs
Try Workhand free
Recurring invoices are on Pro at 34.99 per month and Team at 89.99 per month. 14-day free trial on paid plans. A pool route with 40 weekly accounts or an HVAC company with 25 quarterly plans typically pays back the Pro subscription in the first billing cycle.
Get the app See pricingCommon questions
How does a recurring invoice schedule work?
Pick the customer, build the line items once (monthly HVAC maintenance, pool route visit, lawn cut), choose a schedule (weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual), and pick the start date. From that point Workhand auto-generates the invoice on each scheduled date and emails it to the customer with a payment link. You do not have to remember to send anything. The dashboard shows how many invoices are due to fire this week so the office can see what is queued.
Can I skip a month for a snowbird or seasonal account?
Yes. Each recurring schedule has a pause toggle that stops invoice generation without losing the schedule itself. Flip the switch in November when the snowbird heads back north, flip it again in May when they return. Their plan stays intact, the billing just pauses. You can also skip a single cycle without pausing the whole schedule if you want to comp a one-time visit.
Can different customers have different recurring schedules?
Yes. Each recurring template is per customer and per scope. The Smith pool route bills $180 weekly with chemicals included. The Garcia pool service bills $240 monthly with no chemicals. The Johnson HVAC plan bills $89 quarterly with one tune-up included. Each schedule is independent, with its own line items, frequency, and start date. Pricing is whatever you set per customer, not a one-size template.
Do customers pay the recurring invoice with a card?
Yes. Every recurring invoice ships with a Stripe Connect payment link that supports cards and ACH bank transfer at 2.9 percent plus 30 cents per transaction. Workhand does not mark up the Stripe fee. ACH is the cheapest option for the customer on a $200-plus invoice. The link is in the email body so the customer pays from their phone in about 20 seconds.
Does Workhand sync recurring invoices to QuickBooks Online?
Yes. When QuickBooks Online sync is connected, every auto-generated recurring invoice flows to QBO with the customer, line items, and payment status attached. Your accountant sees the same invoices in QBO that the customer sees from Workhand, so the books stay clean without manual reconciliation at month end.
What is the Run Due Now button on the recurring screen?
Run Due Now flushes any recurring invoices whose schedule date has passed but have not generated yet. Normally Workhand fires them automatically on the schedule day, but if you set up a new template halfway through a month or want to backfill a few cycles, Run Due Now catches everything in one tap. Used mostly when migrating from a paper system to set up the first month of bills.
Can I see which customers have a recurring plan active?
Yes. The Recurring Invoices screen lists every template with the customer, line items, next billing date, frequency, and status (active or paused). The dashboard has a Due This Week counter that tells you how many recurring bills are scheduled to fire in the next seven days, so you can spot a missed schedule before the customer does.
Does recurring invoicing cost extra on Workhand?
Recurring invoices are on Pro at 34.99 per month and Team at 89.99 per month. Free plan focuses on running a single active job and does not include recurring. For an HVAC contractor with 30 maintenance plans or a pool route tech with 60 weekly accounts, the math on Pro pays itself back the first time you do not have to spend a Saturday morning hand-sending invoices.