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What FlexInvoice Does

Each period invoice is one total: the repeating service amount plus any incidentals for that period. FlexInvoice does not put extras on a second card charge.

Merchants (the businesses that subscribe) invoice clients. Clients are the households or businesses on the route. Properties are the sites you service. A recurring template always attaches to both a client and a property.

Clients and Properties

Add people on Clients. The first save also creates their first property. Billing Address lives on the client (optional; existing clients start empty and are not copied from the property). Service Address lives on the property. Open Properties to list every site, add another property, or edit the service address — the client profile only links out to the property page. A client can have more than one property. If a client moves, archive the old property and add the new one. On Properties, sort and filter by Property, Client, City, ZIP, and status. Active and Archived are separate views so the route list stays clear.

Client Credit from overpayments is on the client, not Account Balance (other overdue invoices). The client page shows the balance, credit history, and Auto-Apply Client Credit (on by default). Uncheck it to leave credit sitting; the next period invoice or one-off will not take a Credit payment until you turn it back on. Applied credit is a Credit payment, not an adjustment line.

If the property stays on the route and a new owner takes the account, transfer the property from the property page. History stays with the property. Old invoices stay with the previous client. Active and paused templates on that property are ended, and a new recurring template is created for the new owner.

Export CSV on the property page downloads that property’s maintenance history using the Type, date range, and Catalog Item filters — text only, no photos or files.

Recurring Templates

A recurring template holds repeating lines, Invoice Day, Charge Timing, auto-charge, and billing timing (in advance or in arrears). Invoice Day is when the template builds its invoice. Charge Timing is when that invoice is charged and due: on Invoice Day, a set number of days after it, or on Invoice Day the next month. The business default for billing timing is in advance — the same window FlexInvoice used before this setting — and each Recurring Template can override both defaults. Pause or end one to free a slot in the count used for capacity and bumps, without deleting the history. Ended templates cannot be billed until you start a new template. Pausing does not lower the monthly FlexInvoice fee; that stays at the purchased pack until the owner reduces capacity in Settings (only down to current active recurring templates, billed minimum still 10).

Most businesses use one amount every month. Choose Seasonal Amounts only when off-season work needs a different price each month. The twelve month boxes stay hidden until that option is selected. Weekly or biweekly visit rates can be converted to a monthly average on the form.

New businesses start on the always-free plan: 3 active recurring templates and 3 emails per month, $0 forever. Capacity packs are $5 per month for 10 billed slots; the 3 free slots stay additive (10 billed → 13 total, 20 billed → 23). One-off invoices are included and do not occupy slots. Paused and ended templates do not count toward that total or toward auto-bumps. Saving or resuming a 14th active template on a 10-slot pack raises billed capacity from 10 to 20 (23 total). The form shows a notice when that bump will happen. You cannot activate a 4th template on the always-free plan until you subscribe to Capacity.

Catalog and Incidentals

The catalog holds items, services, and recurring catalog items. Recurring catalog items can only go on a recurring template, and their price is set there, not in the catalog. Clients never see cost. Open a catalog item for merchant-only price and cost history.

Queued extras on a recurring template fold into that period’s invoice. Incidentals are always in arrears (work already done) and have no separate timing flag, even when the template bills the recurring amount in advance. After the period invoice exists, add lines on the invoice canvas. Template-sourced lines stay locked (edit the Recurring Template for future periods). Incidentals and Modify Price are edited in the line table. One-off invoices use the same canvas with every line editable. A Custom Line can also be saved as a catalog item. That is optional; adding the line does not create a catalog item unless you choose it.

On an unpaid invoice, Modify Price can mark up or discount a line from its catalog or typed price. The invoice still shows one price. Paid invoices are business records and cannot be edited.

Invoices, Email, and Charging

Period invoices come from a recurring template. The invoice Period line names In Advance or In Arrears; arrears uses the prior month’s dates. One-off invoices are for work that is not on a template and do not occupy capacity slots. Recurring catalog items cannot be added to a one-off invoice.

Invoice views (merchant detail, preview, email, and the client portal) share one document: header, Billing Address and Service Address when those are on file and useful (both when they differ; one combined line when they match), a Description / Rate / Qty / Line Total table, this invoice’s remaining amount, Past Due for remaining due on other overdue open invoices and failed-card invoices on that client, and Total Due. Template lines are locked. Clients see that a line is from the Recurring Template; merchants also see that they edit the template for future periods. That breakdown is informational: a past-due balance never blocks creating, sending, or charging a new period or one-off, and the card charge stays this invoice only. Recurring period invoices always include it. One-off invoices have Include Account Balance? checked by default; uncheck to hide Past Due. Collections stay on Needs Action.

Emailing and charging are separate. On the invoice, Charge, Record, and Send sit outside the document in that order, each with a Needed or done badge (Charged, Recorded, Sent, Scheduled, or Not Needed). Charge uses the card on file through your connected Stripe account. Record Payment logs a check, cash, or other amount (default remaining due). Amounts over remaining due become Client Credit on that client (not Account Balance) after you Confirm Overpay, and apply to the next invoice as a Credit payment by default. Mark Paid settles remaining due in one shot. Payment History lists each payment. When some but not all of the billed amount is paid, a Partially Paid badge appears next to Open or Past Due and clears when the invoice is Paid. After a partial payment, Charge Remaining voids any prior Stripe invoice that is not already for remaining due and creates a new Stripe invoice for the amount still due so Smart Retries can run. Charge Full Amount stays blocked so the card is never billed the original total again. FlexInvoice does not move offline money. Send emails the client and does not charge the card. Preview & Email sits next to Send so you can review the client document and choose a send date, wait until you press Send, or send now.

The business owner can refund a payment from the invoice with Refund Payment. Card payments are refunded to the client’s card through your connected Stripe account. Check, cash, and other refunds are recorded only; FlexInvoice does not move that money, so return it to the client yourself. A refund can be part of a payment, and one payment can take several refunds up to what it paid. Choose what each refund does: Add Back to Remaining Due (the client owes that amount again, and a paid invoice reopens) or Take From Client Credit (the invoice stays as it is and the client’s Client Credit goes down, up to the credit available). Credit payments cannot be refunded. Refunds are listed in Payment History and Activity. If Stripe does not confirm a card refund right away, it shows Waiting for Stripe with Retry Refund, which never refunds twice. Refunds you make in your Stripe Dashboard are still flagged on the invoice and Needs Action for you to review.

Failed card charges and aging invoices appear on Needs Action (Home and Invoices) so you can retry, send a reminder, record an offline payment, or void. Amounts on Needs Action, Outstanding Aging, and Past Due are remaining due after any partial payments, not the original billed total. Click an Outstanding Aging bucket on Home to see that invoice set. If a late fee was added locally but Stripe rejected the update, FlexInvoice keeps the fee, detaches that Stripe invoice so it cannot collect the old amount, and shows a notice on Needs Action; the FlexInvoice amount includes the fee.

On Invoices, sort and filter the list by status, client, property, due date, type, and email. Open and past-due rows show remaining due. Export CSV from Invoices (or Home) gives your bookkeeper paid and open invoices with recurring vs incidentals amounts, billed Total, Remaining (billed minus paid), and payment kind — one combined charge, not a general ledger. Home also shows this month’s paid recurring vs incidentals split and combined total in your timezone. Activity lists recent invoice and recurring template events (create, incidentals, charge, offline pay, void, email, status, and capacity bumps) with a short summary. It is not a field-by-field change log.

Each business on Capacity can send 10 invoice or coming-up emails per effective capacity slot per month (130 at 10 billed slots plus 3 always-free). The always-free plan includes 3 emails per month. An invoice can be emailed at most three times in 24 hours, counting the first send. Hitting the email cap does not raise invoice capacity. Near that limit on Capacity, the owner can add 100 emails for $5/month in Settings. Extra email packs are not available on the always-free plan. Email Log lists kind, recipient, and time for emails this business sent, with a link to the related invoice when there is one. The log is read-only; resend stays on the invoice.

Client Portal

Clients sign in with an emailed link. They can see invoices (this invoice, Past Due, and Total Due when included, plus Billing and Service Address when on file), coming-up charges, maintenance history, and their card on file. On an open or past-due invoice they can Pay Remaining Due through Stripe Checkout for remaining due only (billed minus already paid) — not the original billed total after a partial, and not an overpay. Profile edits they make — including Billing Address — are saved as a new version; earlier details are kept.

A client who also works with another business on FlexInvoice uses the same email for both. After the link, they choose which business to open and can Switch Business from the portal header. Email Portal Login on a client opens your business directly. Each business sees only its own client details. Changing a client’s email signs them out of the portal.

Team

The business owner invites staff. Staff can work on clients, properties, the catalog, recurring templates, and invoices. Billing, Stripe, business settings, and who is on the team stay with the owner.

Settings, Stripe, and Platform Billing

Settings hold the business name, timezone, default Invoice Day, default Charge Timing, auto-charge, default billing timing (in advance or in arrears), tax on customer invoices, coming-up email, late fees, and this month’s email usage. Invoice Day is 1–31 in that timezone; short months use the last day. Charge Timing sets when each invoice is charged and due: On Invoice Day, Days After Invoice (1–60), or Next Month on Invoice Day. Aging, Past Due, and late fees count from that charge date. Advance bills the coming month on Invoice Day; arrears bills the month just finished. Each Recurring Template can override that default. Incidentals are always in arrears. Coming-up emails are off until you turn them on. When on, FlexInvoice can email repeating lines plus extras a few days before Invoice Day; each recurring template can still skip the email. Late fees are off until you turn them on. When on, FlexInvoice adds one fee per overdue open or past-due invoice after the grace days you set, using a flat amount or a percent of that invoice’s total before the fee (not the client’s full account balance). Recurring and one-off invoices both qualify. Uncollectible invoices are never charged a late fee, and late fees never block new invoices.

Connect Stripe so you can charge cards. FlexInvoice never asks for a secret key. Card charges go to your connected Stripe account; there is no FlexInvoice platform fee on card charges (Stripe processing only). The Capacity subscription is billed separately on the FlexInvoice Stripe account. Signup defaults to Always Free (no card). Capacity’s first month is free; signup and Settings cover how Capacity billing starts. A dated public comparison with FreshBooks, QuickBooks Online, Jobber, Housecall Pro, and Wave is at /compare, with the date the prices were checked.

Pause or end a recurring template to free a slot in the count and bump. The monthly FlexInvoice fee stays at the purchased pack until the owner lowers capacity in Settings, and only down to current active recurring templates (billed minimum still 10). Settings shows an Unused Billed Capacity notice when the purchased pack is above the pack that covers currently active recurring templates (counting the 3 always-free slots); FlexInvoice does not lower the pack automatically. Use Manage Billing to update the card on file or cancel. Canceling Capacity returns the business to the always-free plan (3 slots). If more than 3 recurring templates are still active, new invoices and coming-up emails pause until extras are paused or ended, or Capacity is resumed.