HVACBossPro Blog — Maintenance Agreements

One Monthly Statement for a Landlord: Billing HVAC Maintenance Agreement Visits by Address

A homeowner on a maintenance plan is easy to bill: one address, one card, one charge per visit or per year. A landlord with a dozen rentals is different. Charge them the same way and they get a dozen charges and a dozen invoices a season, and their bookkeeper starts calling your office with questions.

Many Homes, One Bill

Setting up the landlord's homes is covered in HVAC Maintenance Agreements for Landlords With Many Homes. Once the addresses, equipment and plans are in place, the next question is how to bill them.

HVACBossPro has monthly account billing for exactly this. A property manager or business set to Monthly gets one statement each month that covers every rental home or building, with each line labeled with the address.

How Monthly Billing Works

On the client, set billing to Monthly. From then on:

• Each completed visit at any of their addresses is recorded with its own line.
• Each line is labeled with the address where the work happened.
• At the end of the month, the landlord gets one statement covering everything.

Tune-ups, repairs approved from estimates, filter changes, whatever was done that month at any of their properties, all on one statement. Sales tax is applied the same way as on any other invoice.

Why Labeling by Address Matters

Landlords track costs by property. A statement that says “3 tune-ups, 1 capacitor” does not help them. A statement that says:

• “412 Elm St — Spring AC Tune-Up”
• “1180 Oak Ave — Spring AC Tune-Up”
• “1180 Oak Ave — Replace Run Capacitor”
• “77 Pine Ct — Spring AC Tune-Up”

tells them exactly which property each cost belongs to. Their bookkeeper can split it out without calling you. Fewer questions, faster payment.

Paying the Statement

Landlords and property managers usually pay one of two ways:

• Card on file. The statement is charged automatically. Easiest for everyone.
• Online payment. The landlord gets the statement and pays it from the customer app, where they can also see past invoices.

Past-due follow-up handles statements that are not paid on time. Most property managers have a monthly payment routine, so a single predictable statement fits how they already work.

Plan Fees on a Monthly Account

If your landlord agreement has a plan fee, decide how it shows up. A few options:

• Per visit. Each tune-up line carries the plan visit price, so the landlord pays for visits as they happen.
• Per address per month. A flat monthly amount for each covered property, listed by address.
• Per address per year. Charged once a year, labeled by address.

A flat monthly amount per property is popular with landlords who budget each rental separately. They know what each home costs them for HVAC care every month, and repairs show up as separate lines when they happen. A yearly charge per address suits landlords who prefer to pay once and forget about it until next year.

Per visit is the simplest to explain and the easiest for a landlord to match against work done. Whatever you choose, keep it consistent across all their properties.

Not Just Landlords

Monthly billing fits any client with multiple locations:

• Property managers handling homes for several owners.
• Small businesses with a few storefronts or offices.
• Commercial buildings on quarterly PM, especially when several buildings belong to the same owner.
• Churches, schools and nonprofits with more than one building.

Commercial quarterly agreements are covered next in Commercial HVAC Service Agreements: Quarterly PM Visits at 90 Days. Tag business accounts Commercial so they are easy to find.

Setting Expectations Up Front

When you sign up a landlord, explain how billing works before the first visit. Tell them they will get one statement each month, that each line will show the address, and how it will be paid. Ask whether the statement should go to them, their bookkeeper or their property manager. Getting that right once saves a lot of back-and-forth later.

It is also worth checking the first statement with the landlord after it goes out. Did each address show the way they expected? Did it reach the right inbox? Small fixes on the first month keep the next eleven running without a single phone call. After that, the statement goes out each month on its own, and the only time you hear from them is when they add a property or need a repair.

Monthly account billing is one of the things that makes landlord agreements worth having. To see how it works alongside the Waiting List, reminders and auto-charge, visit the HVAC maintenance agreement software page.