DocPik
My documents

Service jobs

Write an estimate, turn the accepted one into a work order, record agreed changes with change orders, bill the job with an invoice and give a receipt for each payment, without retyping client or lines. Send a statement when several invoices are open, and count the cash drawer at the end of the day.

9 documents

How a service job moves through the paperwork

A service job usually needs three documents, one after the other, and sometimes a few more. You price the work, you hand the accepted job to the person doing it, and you bill what was done. Changes agreed during the job get a change order, and each payment gets a receipt. Each step here starts from the one before, so the client, the job site and the lines are typed only once.

Document Who uses it When What it holds
Estimate or quote You and the client Before the job Labor and materials, optional extras, the tax rate you set, Valid until
Work order You and the crew While the job is done Work requested, Assigned to, hours and parts used, Work performed, sign-off lines
Change order You and the client When the agreed work changes Reason for change, lines added or removed, Schedule change (days), Status, Revised total
Invoice You and the customer After the job What is owed, Due date, Payments and Balance due
Payment receipt You and the customer Each time money arrives Amount received, Payment method, Balance after this payment
Timesheet You or your staff While the work is done Start, end and break times, hours per day, billable hours
Expense report You or your staff After a trip or a month Expenses you paid for a client job or a trip, totals per currency
Statement of account You and the customer Monthly, or when several invoices are open Invoices and payments of a period, Opening balance, running Balance, Closing balance, aging
Cash count sheet You or your staff At the end of a day or shift Coins and notes counted per drawer, Expected, Over/short, Float to keep, Deposit

Step by step

  1. Price the job. Fill in the estimate and send the PDF. Offer extras as Optional lines; when the client says yes, tick Include on that line. If the client asks for changes before accepting, choose New revision so the document prints Revision 2 and both versions stay apart.
  2. Hand it to the crew. Open the accepted estimate and choose Create work order. The client, job site and the lines that count are copied; optional lines without Include are left out. Print it for the crew, then correct the hours and parts to what was actually used and fill in Work performed.
  3. Changes during the job. When the client asks for more, less or something different, open the estimate or work order and choose Create change order. Set Status to Approved once the client has signed. Approved change orders go onto the invoice with Add to invoice.
  4. Bill the work. Choose Create invoice on the work order, or straight on the estimate when the job went exactly as quoted. Billable hours on a timesheet can also become invoice lines with Create invoice on the timesheet.
  5. Payments. When money arrives, open the invoice and choose Record payment and create receipt. The payment is added to the invoice’s Payments, the invoice shows the new Balance due, and a payment receipt opens for the customer.

Every new document shows where it came from under Based on, and the earlier document is never changed. That gives you a trail from the price you offered, through each agreed change, to the amount you billed and the money received.

While the job runs, the work order can show an Estimate vs actual panel when its estimate is saved on this device: labor, materials and total as estimated, plus approved change orders, against what the work order now holds, with the difference. It compares prices on your documents, not your costs, so it is not an accounting profit. It prints only when you tick Print this table on the work order.

Beside the job: statements, cash and expenses

Some documents sit beside the chain rather than in it:

  • Statement of account for a customer with several invoices and payments. Pick the customer and the period; the statement lists each invoice and payment saved on this device with a running balance, the balance at the end of the period and how long each open invoice is overdue. A payment you recorded on the invoice and also confirmed with a receipt is counted once. It is a reminder of open items, not a ledger, a tax document or a demand for payment.
  • Cash count sheet for the cash in a register or drawer at the end of the day. Count each coin and note, type the cash you expected from your own sales record, and see whether the drawer is over or short, what to leave as float and what to deposit. It is a counting aid, not a register report or cash book.
  • Expense report for what you or an employee paid for a client job or a trip, in the currency you paid, and what is owed back.

Common mistakes

  • Billing from the estimate after the job changed. If the crew used more hours or parts, invoice from the work order, where the actual figures are; add agreed extras as change orders.
  • Reading the estimate vs actual panel as profit. It compares the prices on your estimate, change orders and work order, not your costs, so it is not an accounting profit.
  • Expecting a statement to include documents you did not save. It is built from the invoices and receipts saved on this device; a payment you never recorded is not on it.
  • Overwriting a sent estimate. Start a new revision instead, so you can show which version the client accepted.
  • Doing changed work before it is approved. Agree on the change order first; only approved change orders count in the revised total and can be added to an invoice.
  • Expecting tax to be filled in. Tax rate (%) starts at 0 and the tool does not know your local rules; type the rate in the Totals box and untick Taxed on lines that carry none.
  • Reusing an invoice or receipt number. Each document needs its own number; keep your sequence going.

If a printout comes out cut off or on the wrong paper, see Fix print cut-off. Long price lists can come from a spreadsheet with the CSV item import.

Your data

All of these documents are built in your browser, and nothing you type is uploaded. Saving is optional: tick Keep my documents on this device to keep them in this browser, and download a backup file now and then, because browsers can clear stored data. The tools do not send documents or take payments, and they do not check tax or invoicing rules for your country.