Get paid for the work you already did.

Most overdue invoices in a service business aren't disputes. They're a customer who meant to pay, a card that expired, or a property manager who needs a second nudge. The fix is a schedule that nudges every time without someone remembering to, plus a hard stop for the few customers who keep booking while they owe you. TradesWork does the nudging automatically and keeps the hard decisions with the owner.

The collections ladder

Here is how an unpaid invoice moves through TradesWork with the default settings. Each rung is a setting you can change or switch off.

The reminder text says, in substance, that invoice number N for the amount was due on the date, links to secure payment, and thanks the customer if they've already paid. You can set up to eight reminder steps, each between 1 and 365 days past due.

Reminders that don't embarrass you

Three checks run before any reminder goes out:

• The balance is re-checked. If the invoice was paid an hour ago, nothing is sent.
• Quiet hours and STOP are respected. The default quiet window is 9 pm to 8 am in your company's time zone. Opted-out numbers are never texted.
• One text per invoice per step. A re-run of billing never doubles up.

Invoices still in a membership card-retry sequence are skipped, because the retry texts already cover them. That's the main way TradesWork avoids sending a customer two different "you owe us" texts on the same day.

Card retries on membership dues

Recurring dues are where the money quietly leaks. When a member's card is declined, TradesWork retries it on a schedule: 1, 3, 7 and 14 days after the first failure by default (one to six retries, each up to 60 days, increasing). Each try texts the customer a link to update their card, a pay link and the date of the next try. An expired card or no card on file counts as a failure and gets its own "add a card" text.

After the last retry the period becomes past due, the customer gets a past-due text, and the overdue reminders above take over for that invoice. The membership stays active; it is never suspended automatically. Every step lands in the Billing activity log on Accounting, Billing, and the office can Retry now or Skip each period. More on dues in memberships.

Reading A/R by age

app.tradeswork.app · Accounting overview with accounts receivable and invoices

TradesWork shows aging two ways, because they answer different questions:

Days late is the one to work from each week. If an invoice has no due date, your company's invoice terms are used, so nothing silently drops out of the buckets. The A/R aging widget can sit on any dashboard (see reports and dashboards), and Connect QuickBooks reconciles open A/R to the penny when you move over (see QuickBooks).

Credit holds that actually hold

A credit hold in TradesWork is a rule, not a reminder. While a customer is on hold, these are blocked:

• creating any new job for them,
• booking from the office or the API,
• online booking,
• booking their membership visits.

Membership billing jobs are exempt, so dues can still be invoiced. The error tells staff to settle the balance or ask an owner to allow bookings from the customer page. Everyone who can see the customer sees a Credit hold or Can book badge, the overdue balance and any past-due membership note.

1. 1

   Hold is placed

   Automatically, when any invoice is at least 60 days past due and the overdue balance meets your minimum, or manually by an owner or admin with a reason.

2. 2

   Booking is blocked

   Office, API and online booking all stop for that customer, with a message telling staff what to do.

3. 3

   Owner or admin overrides if needed

   Allow bookings with a reason for 2 hours, 24 hours, 3 days or 7 days. It expires on its own.

4. 4

   Hold releases

   Automatic holds release once the customer no longer qualifies. Manual holds stay until someone releases them.

Placing, releasing and overriding all write audit entries, and the Credit holds list on Accounting, Billing shows who's on hold and for how much. Automatic holds are off by default. The 60-day threshold can be set anywhere from 1 to 365 days.

ServiceTitan's article on collections says it plainly: a credit hold "does not physically block new bookings," and it recommends a manual policy for CSRs instead.¹ If your office already runs that policy well, the difference matters less. If holds have been ignored in a busy week, it matters a lot.

Finance charges, only if you want them

Finance charges are off until the owner turns them on, and turning them on means confirming a note that interest and late fees are regulated by state and local law. Turn them off and the confirmation is cleared, so turning them back on asks again.

At most one labelled line is added per invoice per month, for example "Finance charge (1.5% per month on the overdue balance)."

That's the no-compounding rule: interest is never charged on interest. Finance charges are never taxed or member-discounted, and each one is audited. ServiceTitan's help center, by contrast, says there is no automatic recurring interest and that someone has to charge it manually each cycle.¹

What's not here yet

Be clear-eyed about the gaps before you plan your collections process around TradesWork:

• No customer statements. Each invoice is chased individually. ServiceTitan sends statements from AR Management.¹
• No payment plans. Consumer financing runs through third-party lenders, with the office handling applications.
• No write-offs or bad-debt workflow. Void what should be voided and handle bad debt in your books.
• No email in the built-in reminders. Use an automation for email.
• One-off invoices aren't auto-charged. Saved-card charging and retries cover membership dues; other invoices get reminders and a pay link.

If you're coming from ServiceTitan, note that its help center says the AR Management screen isn't built to export directly to Excel and points to the AR Transactions By Customer report instead, with a layout that isn't identical.² Run that before cutover so you have a clean starting A/R to check against.