TrashCanBossPro Blog — HOAs & Commercial

Monthly Statements for HOA and Commercial Bin Cleaning: One Statement, Every Address

Ask a property manager what she hates about vendors and "the invoices" will be near the top. Twenty rentals cleaned means twenty invoices in her inbox, each one needing to be matched to a property and an owner. A bin cleaning company that sends one clear statement instead has an edge before the first cleaning.

Access First, Then Billing

Getting into the sites is covered in Site Contacts and Access Notes for Commercial Bin Cleaning: Keys, Lockboxes and Gate Codes. Once the crews are getting in and the work is done, the next thing the account cares about is the bill. For HOAs, managers and businesses, that bill should be a monthly statement.

How Monthly Account Billing Works

In TrashCanBossPro, a client set to Monthly billing gets one statement each month that covers every address they own. As the crew completes cleanings during the month, those jobs collect on the account. At the end of the month the client receives one statement, and each line is labeled with the address it belongs to.

For a property manager, a statement might look like this:

• 412 Elm St — monthly cleaning, 2 cans
• 418 Elm St — monthly cleaning, 3 cans
• 90 Birch Ct — monthly cleaning, 2 cans
• 90 Birch Ct — move-out deep clean
• Sales tax, total due

Her bookkeeper can see exactly which rental each charge belongs to and pass it to the right owner without calling you.

Why One Statement Wins Accounts

It sounds like paperwork, but it is a sales point. When you pitch an HOA board or a manager, show a sample statement. The treasurer sees one document per month with every address on it, and that answers the question they were going to ask. Many owners find the statement does more to close the deal than the price.

It also keeps you out of trouble. Separate invoices get lost, paid twice or paid late because one of twenty slipped through. One statement is one thing to approve and one thing to pay.

Line Items and Sales Tax

A statement is built from the same line items as any invoice: the services from your service list, the quantity and the price. Sales tax is applied where it applies. If the account also had a one-time pad degrease or a move-out cleaning that month, it appears as its own line under the right address.

Keep your service names clear. "Monthly cleaning, 2 cans" tells a treasurer what they bought. A cryptic code does not.

Getting Paid on a Statement

How the account pays is your policy. Two common setups:

• Card on file, charged on a schedule. The statement goes out and the card is charged. Good for smaller managers, restaurant groups and anyone you have not worked with long.
• Pay by check or online against the statement. Common for HOAs, schools, churches and larger management companies with their own payables process.

The client can also see invoices and pay online in the customer app. For the trade-offs, see Card on File or Check? Setting a Payment Policy for Commercial Bin Cleaning Accounts.

When Not to Use Monthly Billing

Residential customers with one address do not need statements. Charging their card on file when the job is completed is simpler for everyone. Monthly billing is for accounts with many addresses, or for single commercial addresses where the customer insists on one bill per month.

Use a tag, Monthly, on these accounts so the office can see at a glance who is billed that way.

Month-End Habits

A clean statement depends on a clean month. A few habits help:

• Make sure every cleaning was marked Complete in the tech app, so it lands on the statement
• Review skips and decide whether each one bills, per your agreement with the account
• Add any one-time work at the right address before the statement goes out
• Check that new addresses added mid-month have their service set

Past-due follow-up then handles any statement that sits too long.

It also helps to send the statement to the right person. On many accounts the manager approves the work but a bookkeeper or treasurer pays the bill. Ask at the start who should receive the statement, keep that contact on the client, and update it when the board changes officers or the manager hands the account to an assistant. A statement that lands in the wrong inbox is the most common reason a good account pays late, and it is the easiest one to prevent.

The Short Version

One account, every address, one statement, each line labeled. It is the single most useful thing you can offer a commercial customer. For the full set of commercial tools, see the HOA and commercial bin cleaning software page.