When it comes to billing, you have a few options: You can bill in arrears, meaning you wait until after the service is rendered to bill your customer. Or, you can bill in advance, meaning you bill the customer before they receive the service. Finally, you can combine the two methods and bill in arrears for some services and in advance for others. Which method is best for your waste business? Let’s take a look.

Pros and Cons Of Billing In Advance for Portable Restroom Operators

Billing in advance is a great strategy for companies looking to avoid issuing lots of refunds or adding services during projects. It’s best suited towards newer customers with recurring jobs scheduled on regular basis, who need less hassle from billings and more money upfront so they can get right down to work without worrying about how much will be left over at the end.

Pros

• You won’t have to worry about dealing with collections as much
• More cash upfront
• Automating the billing process is simple

Cons

• Sometimes refunds or credits are necessary
• If the customer has add-on services, you will have to send a separate bill
• Not all customers will agree to upfront billing

Pros and Cons Of Billing In Arrears for Portable Restroom Operators

Billing in arrears is a great strategy for when you want to add on additional services at some point. Maybe your customer suddenly needs handwashing stations or more portable toilets last minute. This method will make it so you don’t have multiple bills. Billing in arrears should also be used with customers that have good relationships and trust so they can pay what’s owed after work has been done. This means there won’t likely need any refunds or proration because their payment history shows them as being reliable sources of revenue.

Pros

• The need for refunds is minimized
• Flexibility for your waste business and for your customers 
• You get paid in full on the same bill for all services provided

Cons

• Will require extra time to put consistent processes in place for reminding customers to pay
• Less cash readily available in your waste business
• It creates the risk of not being paid

Regardless of which method you choose, we suggest keeping credit cards on file for all of your customers, when applicable, to avoid the risks of not being able to collect payment and to make invoicing a quicker process.

ServiceCore is a powerful tool that helps you streamline the way to do business. It has all of your customer billing information in one place so your staff knows exactly when and how to bill your customers. ServiceCore offers both advance billing & arrears. Schedule your free demo today to see how you can get more done & stress less with ServiceCore’s billing features.