TrashCanBossPro Blog — Billing & Payments

Setting Up Billing for a New Bin Cleaning Customer: A Checklist

Most billing problems can be traced back to a customer who was set up in a hurry. A missing can, the wrong plan, no card, no tag. Each one is a two-second fix on day one and a month of confusion later. A short checklist for every new customer keeps the whole billing chain clean.

Tags Are the Last Step, Not the First

Tags, explained in Organizing Billing With Tags: Monthly, Every-Other-Week, HOA and Commercial Accounts, only help if every new customer gets the right ones. They come near the end of this checklist, after the details that decide what the invoice says.

Run through the list below for every new customer, whether they came from your website sign-up form, a phone call or an approved estimate.

1. Convert the Sign-Up

If the customer signed up on your website, their sign-up is waiting in Form Responses. One click converts it into a client. The address, plan and card come with it. If they called instead, create the client by hand and send them to the sign-up form or the customer app to add their card.

2. Confirm the Card on File

Check that the card is there. If the customer is on a residential plan and you require a card, do not schedule the first cleaning until it is on file. If they are an HOA, manager or business on Monthly billing, a card may not be needed. For more, see Card on File at Sign-Up: Where Bin Cleaning Billing Really Starts.

3. Cans, Trash Day and Location

On the address, confirm:

• Number of trash, recycling and yard waste cans
• City trash pickup day
• Can location notes: side of the garage, behind the gate, gate code

The can counts drive the invoice. The trash day drives the schedule. The location notes get the tech to the cans. All three need to be right before the first visit.

4. Plan and Add-Ons

Set the plan: weekly, every other week or monthly, which sets 7, 14 or 28 days between visits. Add any recurring add-ons like deodorizing. If the first visit includes a one-time deep clean, add that to the first visit only so it does not repeat.

Double-check the prices match what the customer was told, whether that was your website, an estimate or a phone call.

5. Billing Type

Decide how this customer is billed. Most residential customers are charged per visit when the tech taps Complete. HOAs, property managers and businesses are usually set to Monthly, so they get one statement covering every address. Make sure the setting matches what you agreed.

6. Tags and Custom Fields

Add the tags that apply: Every-Other-Week, Monthly, HOA, Commercial, Prepaid. Fill in any custom fields you use for billing details, like a purchase order number or the name of the person who approves statements.

7. Alerts

Check the customer's alert preferences: the night-before reminder, the when-you're-next alert, and the tech-arrived alert. The night-before reminder to leave cans out is the one that prevents the most skipped stops, and fewer skips means fewer billing adjustments.

8. The Welcome Message

Send a short welcome text or email that covers billing in plain words:

• When they will be charged (after each cleaning, or monthly)
• Where to see invoices (the customer app)
• How to update their card (the customer app)
• What happens if cans are not out (your policy, in one sentence)

A customer who reads that once will rarely call you about billing.

9. Watch the First Invoice

After the first cleaning, look at the first invoice. Did it show the right cans, add-ons and tax? Did the card charge? If anything is off, fix it now while there is only one invoice to correct, not ten.

Also check the before and after photos from that first visit. They show whether the can count and location notes matched what the tech found at the curb. If the tech had to hunt for the cans or found an extra one, update the address now. The first visit is the best chance to make the record match reality, and every invoice after it depends on that record being right.

Print the Checklist

Tape this list next to the office computer, or keep it in a shared note. When a new office hire sets up customers, they follow the same steps the owner would. When the owner is rushing on a busy Monday, the list catches what memory skips. It takes a couple of minutes per customer and saves far more than that in corrections later.

The Short Version

Convert the sign-up, confirm the card, check cans and trash day, set the plan and add-ons, pick the billing type, tag it, check alerts, send a welcome message and watch the first invoice. For more billing guides, head back to the trash can cleaning billing software page.