JunkBossPro Blog — Billing & Payments

Invoicing Estate and Garage Cleanouts: Multi-Load Jobs on One Clear Invoice

A cleanout invoice has more going on than any other junk removal bill. Multiple loads, a few awkward single items, a dump run that came back heavy, maybe an up-front payment already made. Often the person paying was not there when the work was done. The invoice has to make sense to someone reading it cold.

Start With What Was Paid Up Front

If the job had an up-front payment, the approach is laid out in Deposits on Big Junk Removal Cleanouts: Billing Up Front With a Separate Invoice. This article covers the final invoice: how to put a big, messy job on one page that reads clearly.

The Loads

Every job in JunkBossPro records the truck load: Min Load, 1/8 through 7/8, Full Load, or 1.5, 2 or 3 loads for the big ones. Cleanouts are where the bigger sizes get used. On the invoice, the load line should match the load recorded on the job, priced from your service list:

• “Estate cleanout — 2 loads”
• “Garage cleanout — Full Load”
• “Storage unit cleanout — 3/4 load”

If you price cleanouts as a flat service rather than by the load, that works too. What matters is that the customer can see the size of the job on the invoice.

The Single Items

Cleanouts usually include a few things that cost more to handle than general junk: a piano in the living room, a hot tub on the back deck, a fridge and freezer in the garage. Put them on their own lines from your service list instead of folding them into the load price. The family reading the invoice will see exactly why the total is what it is.

The job card records the number of items and what's going, such as “Upright piano, front room, two steps down,” so the crew knows what to expect and the office knows what to bill.

The Dump Runs

A multi-load job means multiple dump runs, and some will be heavier than others. Basements full of old paint cans and magazines, garages with workbenches and tile, back rooms of books: weight adds up. Enter the tons from the tickets on the job, along with the tons included and your per-ton rate, and the dump fee overage is added as its own line, for example “Dump fee overage (0.28 tons @ $70.00) = $19.60.”

The job also records where each load is hauled: the dump, a transfer station, a donation center or a metal recycler. The crew's Go button navigates to each one. What those places accept is their call, so check with your local transfer station before you plan the runs.

The Up-Front Payment and the Balance

If the customer paid part up front, the final invoice accounts for it, and the balance is what is left. When the crew taps Complete, the balance can be charged to the card on file before the trucks leave. If there is no card on file, the invoice waits in the customer app for online payment.

Make the math easy to see. A customer who paid up front and then sees a total with no mention of it will call. A customer who sees the total, the amount already paid and the balance will pay.

When Someone Else Is Paying

Estate cleanouts are often paid for by a family member in another city, an executor, or a realtor getting the house ready to list. That person was not standing in the driveway. Two things help:

• Before-and-after photos. Taken in the crew app and kept with the job, they show the empty rooms to someone who never saw them full.
• Clear lines. Load sizes, named single items and the overage with its tons. Nothing that needs explaining on the phone.

If a realtor sends you cleanouts regularly, setting them up as a Monthly account means one statement a month covering every listing, which is covered in Billing Realtors for Listing Cleanouts on One Monthly Statement.

Garage Cleanouts: The Smaller Cousin

A garage cleanout is usually a single load and a few items, but the same rules apply. Name the load size, list the hard items, add overage if the ticket calls for it, and charge at completion. It is a simpler invoice, built the same way.

Multi-Day Cleanouts

Some estate and hoarder-style cleanouts run more than one day. You can keep them as one job and bill when the last load is out, or split them into a job per day so each day's work is invoiced and charged as it is finished. Splitting by day keeps cash coming in on a long job and gives the family a clear picture of progress. Keeping it as one job makes for a single tidy invoice at the end. Either is fine. What matters is that the customer knows which you are doing before the first truck arrives, and that the dump tickets from each day end up on the right job.

One Job, One Clear Bill

Cleanouts are where clear invoicing pays off most. To see how multi-load jobs fit with card on file, the dump ticket overage and monthly statements, visit the JunkBossPro junk removal invoicing software page.