A contract for boiler servicing, gardening, office cleaning or IT support has one big advantage: predictable income, month after month. It also has a quiet trap: it only earns money if it is invoiced on every billing date. In a busy season, one forgotten monthly invoice slips by, then another. Here is how to set up recurring invoices you can rely on, from the contract to the last billing date.
What a forgotten invoice costs
A contract at 80 a month is worth 960 a year. Miss two months and you lose 160 of revenue, or you send a catch-up invoice the client does not understand. The more contracts you hold, the bigger the risk: with twenty contracts, one miss a month becomes likely.
The problem is not the invoice itself. It is having to remember it.
Set the basics in the contract
Before invoicing, the contract should answer four questions clearly:
- 1What period does each invoice cover? A month, a quarter, a year.
- 2What amount? Before and after tax where relevant.
- 3When is the invoice issued? Start or end of the period, on a fixed date.
- 4How does the client pay? Bank transfer, direct debit, mobile money, payment link.
Add what the service includes, what it does not, the contract length and the cancellation terms. Those points prevent most disputes.
Schedule instead of remembering
A recurring invoice is a template that your software issues automatically on each billing date. To set one up:
- create the template invoice with the client, lines and amount;
- choose the frequency: monthly, quarterly, yearly;
- choose the date of the first invoice and, if needed, an end date;
- decide whether each invoice is sent automatically or prepared for you to review.
Each invoice issued takes the next number in your sequence, like any other invoice. What every invoice must show is covered in our guide to what to put on an invoice.
Check payments every month
Scheduling invoices is not enough; you also need to see them paid. Once a month, go through your recurring invoices:
- paid: nothing to do;
- pending, not yet due: nothing to do;
- overdue: a polite reminder, then a firmer one if needed.
Automatic reminders take care of simple delays. The method for chasing is in our guide to chasing late payers.
Reviewing the price
A multi-year contract should say how the price is reviewed: review date, notice to the client, method. Without a clause, any increase becomes a renegotiation. With a clear clause, it is simply an update announced in advance.
Ending a contract cleanly
When a client cancels:
- 1check the effective date in the contract;
- 2stop the recurrence on that date;
- 3make sure the last invoice covers the last period owed, no more and no less;
- 4confirm the end of the contract to the client in writing.
Example set-up
| Contract | Frequency | Issue date | Sending |
|---|---|---|---|
| Garden maintenance | Monthly | 1st of the month | Automatic |
| Boiler servicing | Yearly | Anniversary date | After review |
| Office cleaning | Monthly | End of month | Automatic |
| IT support | Quarterly | Start of quarter | Automatic |
Payment terms that fit recurring work
Short payment terms suit recurring invoices: the amount is known and expected. Set a clear due date on each invoice and, where possible, offer a payment link or direct debit so the client does not have to act each month. More on setting terms in our article on invoice payment terms.