Jobs vs. Invoices

When to use a job, when to use an invoice, and how the two connect.

Updated May 12, 2026

The short version

A job is one visit of work. An invoice is a bill. Whether a job ever touches an invoice comes down to one setting on the job — its payment method — and there are only two.

Credit Card The job charges its own card on file. No invoice — ever. → path 1

Invoice The job waits to be put on an invoice — that's where the money lives. → path 2

You pick one of these when you create the job. (A charge with no job behind it — a late fee, a deposit — is the exception: path 3 below.)

Payment method · Credit Card

A job can pay itself

Job

Weekly mow · $45

Credit Card

Card pre-authorized the night before — you charge the held card when you complete the visit (or charge it manually anytime).

Paid

Receipt emails automatically

No invoice is created — or allowed. A Credit Card job is self-contained.

Payment method · Invoice

Jobs get put on an invoice

Job

Mow · wk 1 · $45

Job

Mow · wk 2 · $45

Job

Mow · wk 3 · $45

Jobs set to Invoice, waiting to be billed

Invoice

3 mow jobs $135

+ mulch $40

Total $175

Customer pays the invoice — pay-link, check, or cash.

This is how most billing works. You attach the completed jobs yourself, or an automatic Invoice Schedule does it for you — either way the invoice carries the money and the jobs just reflect it. Hand-typed lines for materials, permits, or fees can ride along on the same bill.

Heads up: Invoice here is the job's payment method — it just means "bill this job on an invoice later." It isn't the invoice document itself. Same word, two different things.

No job — not a third payment method

An invoice can stand alone

No job

nothing to schedule

Invoice

Late fee $25

Total $25

Customer pays the invoice.

A late fee, a deposit, equipment damage, a returned-check fee — a hand-typed line on an invoice with no jobs attached. There's nothing to schedule, so there's no job and no payment method to pick.

Rule of Thumb

Scheduling work? Start with a job — then its payment method puts it on path 1 or path 2. Billing something with no scheduled work behind it (a late fee, a deposit, a damage charge)? That's path 3 — start with an invoice.

Interactive Guide

Two quick questions. Pick the option that best matches what you're trying to do — the recommendation appears below.

Start Here

Question 01 // What's this for?

What are you setting up?

Question 02 // How does the customer pay?

How does this customer pay for the work?

Question 02 // What's on the bill?

Besides the labor, is there anything else to bill?

Recommendation

Jobs only — Card on file

The simplest setup in LawnBeast. The job collects its own money — there's no invoice, and one can't be added.

Save the customer's card on the customer record
Create the job (recurring or one-time), payment method Credit Card
The night before each visit, the card is pre-authorized for the job amount
Complete the visit, then charge the held card — or charge it manually anytime
A receipt emails automatically; if the card declines or the hold expires (~7 days), the job flips to that state and the customer is notified

Requires: Stripe Connect with charges enabled.

Heads up: Card jobs can never go on an invoice — if you'll ever want to bundle or add materials, use Invoice instead.

See it in action → Weekly mow, card on file

Recommendation

Jobs + automatic invoicing

Schedule the work as Invoice-method jobs, set up an Invoice Schedule for the customer, and LawnBeast bundles the completed visits onto one invoice and emails it — daily, weekly, or monthly.

Create the jobs, payment method Invoice
Set up an Invoice Schedule for the customer (Settings → automatic invoices) — Daily, Weekly (a fixed weekday), or Monthly (a day from the 1st–25th), plus net terms (default 30)
On the scheduled day, completed-but-not-yet-invoiced Invoice-method jobs from the period are grouped into one invoice per customer, marked open, and emailed
Multi-property customers get one invoice grouped by property
Customer pays by pay-link, cash, or check; you record the payment → the invoice (and the jobs' "paid" state) flip to paid

Good to know: Monthly schedules fire only on the 1st–25th (no "26th" / "31st" / "last day of month"); weekly fires on the one weekday you pick; daily looks at yesterday. If a scheduled run is ever missed, jobs that fall outside the next window won't get swept automatically — you'd invoice those by hand. Card jobs are never swept.

Requires: Stripe Connect with charges enabled if you want the pay-link.

See it in action → Recurring, auto-invoiced

Recommendation

Jobs + one invoice you build

Schedule and complete the work as Invoice-method jobs, then create the invoice yourself when you're ready — attach the completed jobs and send it.

Create the job(s), payment method Invoice
When the work is done, create a draft invoice for that customer
Attach the completed jobs as line items
Set due date / net terms, review, send
Customer pays by pay-link, cash, or check; record the payment → status flips to paid

Heads up: Once the invoice leaves draft (goes open / paid), the attached jobs become read-only — edit the invoice line instead, or void the invoice to release the jobs.

See it in action → Recurring, one manual monthly bill

Recommendation

Jobs + materials on one invoice

Put the labor on as job-backed lines and the extras — materials, permits, dump fees — on as hand-typed lines, all on one professional bill.

Create job(s) for the labor portion, payment method Invoice, using your catalog services so the work shows in reports
Create a draft invoice and attach the completed jobs
Add manual line items for materials / permits / fees — description, quantity, unit price, taxable flag; you can tag each to a property
Set due date / net terms, send
Customer pays by pay-link, cash, or check; record the payment → status flips to paid

Heads up: Manual lines count toward Collected when the invoice is paid, but not the Revenue, Jobs, or Services reports. Anything you want in those should be a catalog-service job line.

See it in action → Multi-day project + materials / permits

Recommendation

Invoice only — no job

There's nothing to schedule, just a charge. Build an invoice with one or more hand-typed lines and no jobs attached.

Create a draft invoice for the customer with no jobs attached
Add a manual line item — description, quantity, unit price, taxable flag (tag a property if relevant)
Set a due date or net terms
Send → customer pays by pay-link, cash, or check; record the payment → status flips to paid

Heads up: Once paid, this counts toward Collected — but not the Revenue, Jobs, or Services reports (those track service work). Expected for a non-service charge; it still shows in A/R aging and on the invoice.

See it in action → Pure charge (late fee / deposit)

Use Cases

Seven workflows pulled from real contractor accounts. Skim the verdict badges to find the closest match.

Case 01

Weekly mowing, card on file

Charge a card after each visit — no paperwork.

Profile

A residential customer wants to be charged after each weekly mow — no statements, no follow-up. Just a clean transaction each week.

Workflow

Save the card on the customer record
Create a weekly recurring job, payment method Credit Card
The card is pre-authorized the night before service
Complete the visit, then charge the held card (or charge it manually if you forgot)
A receipt auto-emails — no invoice ever

A decline or a 7-day hold expiry flips the job state and emails the customer; re-run the charge once it's fixed.

Jobs Only Uses: Jobs

Case 02

Recurring service, billed by an auto-invoice schedule

One bundled bill, generated and emailed for you.

Profile

A long-time customer wants one monthly bill covering every visit, paid by check or pay-link, hands-off. The same shape works for a commercial snow contract billed monthly, or weekly billing for a busy account.

Workflow

Set up weekly recurring jobs, payment method Invoice
Add a Monthly Invoice Schedule for the customer (day 1–25, net 30)
On that day, last month's completed not-yet-invoiced jobs bundle into one invoice, marked open, and email out
Review and resend it if you like
Record the payment → the invoice and its jobs show paid

The schedule fires on a fixed day, and monthly only on the 1st–25th; a missed run can strand jobs (invoice those by hand); card jobs are never swept — don't mix payment methods on jobs you want bundled.

Jobs + Invoices Uses: Jobs & Invoices

Case 03

Recurring service, one manual end-of-month bill

Same monthly bill — but you build it by hand.

Profile

Same "one bill a month" goal as Case 02, but you'd rather build it yourself — tweak the wording, add a memo, hold it for review — than run an automatic schedule.

Workflow

Set up recurring jobs, payment method Invoice
At month-end, create a draft invoice for the customer
Attach the completed jobs
Set due date / net terms, add a memo, send (or print and mail)
Record the payment → the invoice flips to paid

Attach completed jobs — a draft can't be finalized while it holds a cancelled or written-off job; once the invoice is open / paid, the attached jobs are read-only.

Jobs + Invoices Uses: Jobs & Invoices

Case 04

Landscaping project with materials

Labor as jobs, materials as manual lines, one bill.

Profile

A one-off install — sod, irrigation, cleanup over a few days — plus billed plants, mulch, and a city permit. The customer wants everything on one bill.

Workflow

Create a job per labor day / service using catalog services, payment method Invoice
When the work's done, create a draft invoice and attach the completed jobs
Add manual lines for plants / mulch / permit (description, qty, unit price, taxable flag)
Send → customer pays via pay-link
The invoice flips to paid

The material/permit lines count toward Collected but not Revenue / Jobs / Services — only the catalog-service job lines reach those. If "materials" needs to land in those reports, make it a catalog service + job line.

Jobs + Invoices Uses: Jobs & Invoices

Case 05

Late fee / deposit / damage charge

A charge with no scheduled work behind it.

Profile

You need to bill something with no scheduled work behind it — a late fee on an overdue invoice, a project deposit, equipment damage, a returned-check fee.

Workflow

Create a draft invoice with no jobs attached
Add a manual line item (description, qty, unit price, taxable flag; tag a property if relevant)
Set a due date or net terms
Send → customer pays via pay-link, cash, or check
Record the payment

Once paid it counts toward Collected, but not Revenue / Jobs / Services — correct, it isn't service work. It does show in A/R aging and on the invoice.

Invoices Only Uses: Invoices

Case 06

Quote → accepted → invoiced

What to do after a quote is accepted.

Profile

You sent a quote, the customer accepted it; now you need the work scheduled and the bill set up.

Workflow

The quote sits in customer-accepted — accepting a quote creates nothing automatically; it logs the acceptance and emails you
Manually create the jobs (Invoice if it'll be billed, Credit Card if card-on-file)
When the work's done, build the invoice (or let an Invoice Schedule do it) and attach the completed jobs; add manual lines for any quoted materials
Reference the quote number in the invoice memo for a paper trail

There is zero auto-conversion from quote to jobs or invoices — quotes get their own guide; this card just covers "what next" after acceptance.

Jobs + Invoices (and Quotes) Uses: Jobs, Invoices & Quotes

Case 07

Property management, multi-property monthly

One customer, many properties, one monthly invoice.

Profile

One customer record — a property management company — with several rental properties. They want one invoice per month covering all the work, grouped by property for internal charge-back.

Workflow

One customer, multiple service properties
Recurring jobs across the properties (each on the right property), payment method Invoice
Add a Monthly Invoice Schedule for the customer (or build the invoice by hand)
The generated invoice auto-groups job lines by property
Customer pays via pay-link or check → record the payment

One invoice can group jobs across many properties of one customer (and manual lines can be property-tagged), but each job is still one property on one date.

Jobs + Invoices Uses: Jobs & Invoices

Reference

Comparison, rules, common mistakes, and glossary. Click any section to expand.

Side-by-side comparison Quick look at what each entity does

	Jobs	Invoices
What it represents	One visit of scheduled service work — one property, one date, one or more catalog services, a crew, a price. (Recurring services are repeating jobs.)	A formal bill — what's owed, when it's due, how to pay. Lists jobs, hand-typed lines, both, or neither.
Required for	Scheduling, crew assignment, routing, time tracking, per-visit card charges.	Bundled bills, multi-property bills, pay-links, manual line items, accounts receivable.
Payment methods	Payment method `Credit Card` (the job's card on file is pre-authorized the night before; you charge it on completion) or `Invoice` (the job waits to go on an invoice).	Recorded on the invoice — Stripe pay-link (card), cash, or check. Recording it changes nothing stored on attached jobs; their "paid" state is derived from the invoice.
States	Derived, not a column: `scheduled` → `completed` (all service lines done) → optionally `cancelled` (soft delete) or `written off` (bad debt). Card jobs also have a payment state (`on hold`, `charged`, `declined`, `hold expired`, `refunded`, `disputed`).	`draft` → `open` → `partially_paid` → `paid`; plus `void` and `written_off`. Terminal: `paid` / `void` / `written_off`.
Recurring support	Yes — built-in service frequencies (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly).	No — an invoice doesn't recur. (An Invoice Schedule can generate invoices on a cadence from completed jobs, but that's a per-customer rule about jobs — the invoice itself isn't a recurring object.)
Multi-property	One job → one property.	One invoice can group jobs across many properties on a single customer (grouped automatically); manual lines can be property-tagged too.
Auto-invoicing eligible	Yes if payment method is `Invoice`. `Credit Card` jobs are excluded.	Invoices are the output of auto-invoicing, not the input.
Edit window	Editable until attached to a non-draft, non-void invoice (and not written off).	Editable & deletable only while `draft`.
Cancel / void	Can cancel a job unless it's on a finalized invoice, its card payment is captured / partially refunded / disputed, or its invoice is paid. (A fully refunded card job can still be cancelled.)	Can void only if zero payment has been received — not even a partial. Otherwise refund first, or write it off.

Rules & Constraints The hard rules the system enforces

// Jobs

A Credit Card job cannot be attached to an invoice (every "attach a job" action filters for Invoice-method jobs; enforced in the views, not the model, but it's the real behavior).
An Invoice job is attachable when it's not cancelled and not already on another (non-void) invoice — in practice, attach completed jobs.
A draft invoice will let you attach a not-yet-completed job, but it can't be finalized (draft → open) while it holds a cancelled or written-off job — fix or detach first.
A job becomes read-only once attached to a non-draft, non-void invoice — edit the invoice line instead, or void the invoice to release the job.
A card job can't be cancelled if its payment is captured, partially refunded, or disputed — refund first (a fully refunded card job can be cancelled); an invoiced job can't be cancelled if its invoice is paid.
A job's "states" aren't a status column — they're derived: completed (time_completed stamps when every service line is marked done), cancelled (soft delete), written off (bad debt); an Invoice-method job's paid / overdue / etc. state is read off its invoice.

// Invoices

Can hold any mix of job-backed lines, manual lines, or both — including zero of either.
Lifecycle draft → open → partially_paid → paid, plus void and written_off; paid / void / written_off are terminal.
Editable and deletable only while draft.
Voidable only if zero payment received — a single partial blocks the void; then refund-then-void, or write off as bad debt.
Recording a payment on an invoice changes nothing stored on the attached jobs — their paid state is derived.
Voiding an invoice with job lines snapshots each into a frozen voided_job record and detaches the live jobs back to the pool (payment status resets, re-attachable — a job can appear on more than one invoice over its life, sequentially, after a void); writing off an invoice does not detach its jobs.
written_off = bad debt; it's touched on lightly here, with a full walkthrough in its own guide.

// Stripe Connect

Stripe Connect with charges enabled is required for any card payment — at the job level (card on file) or the invoice level (pay-link). Without it, you're on cash / check workflows.

// Reports & Automation

Revenue = work performed: the billed amount of completed, non-cancelled jobs, dated by scheduled date. Collected = cash actually received on paid invoices, dated by paid date. They're different on purpose — don't expect them to match.
Services sums only catalog-linked job line items (completed, non-cancelled, by scheduled date) — a job with no catalog-service line contributes zero.
Jobs report counts completed jobs and uses the same billed-amount basis as Revenue.
Manual invoice lines count toward Collected, not Revenue / Jobs / Services. When an invoice is paid, its manual lines are part of the cash received — but those three reports are the job-based view of work performed, so a manual line never lands in them (it does show in A/R aging and on the invoice). Heavy manual-line use widens the Revenue ↔ Collected gap.
Auto-invoicing only pulls completed Invoice-method jobs; manual lines are never auto-generated.

// Quotes

Accepting a quote creates nothing — no jobs, no invoice; it flips the quote to customer-accepted, logs the event, and emails you. Build the jobs and/or invoice by hand. (Quotes get their own guide.)

Common Mistakes Six gotchas that catch contractors off-guard

1. Trying to attach a credit-card job to an invoice

✕ Don'tSet a job's payment method to Credit Card and try to attach it to an invoice — it won't be offered.

✓ DoSet the payment method to Invoice from the start if you'll ever bundle it, add materials, or send a pay-link. Card jobs are self-contained.

2. Using a manual line for a service in your catalog

✕ Don'tType "Mowing — $50" as a manual invoice line when "Mowing" is in your catalog.

✓ DoCreate a job with the catalog service — it shows in the Services report, the catalog price applies, and your reports stay consistent. Manual lines are for things that aren't services — materials, permits, fees.

3. Editing a job after the invoice has been opened

✕ Don'tTry to change a job's price or service after attaching it to an open invoice.

✓ DoEdit the invoice line directly, or void the invoice (which releases the job) and rebuild.

4. Voiding a partially or fully paid invoice

✕ Don'tTry to void an invoice that already has a payment recorded — even a partial one.

✓ DoRefund first and then void, or write it off as bad debt. Void is only for invoices with zero payment received.

5. Mixing payment methods on jobs you plan to bundle

✕ Don'tSet some recurring jobs to Credit Card and others to Invoice if you want them on one bill — card jobs charge separately and never appear on the bundle.

✓ DoPick one payment method per customer / contract and stick with it.

6. Expecting Revenue, Collected, and Services to be the same number

✕ Don'tTreat the totals as cross-checks; they use different sources.

✓ DoRead them for what they are: Revenue = billed amount of completed work (by scheduled date); Collected = cash received (by paid date); Services = catalog-service breakdown of that work. Manual invoice lines count toward Collected but not the other three, so heavy manual-line use widens the gap — expected, not a bug.

Glossary Quick definitions for the terms used in this guide

Attached: A job is attached to an invoice when the invoice carries a line item pointing back to that job. Only Invoice-method jobs can be attached; a job can appear on more than one invoice over its life, but only one at a time.
Auto-invoicing / Invoice Schedule: A per-customer rule that bundles completed Invoice-method jobs into one invoice on a daily, weekly, or monthly cadence and emails it. Monthly schedules can only target the 1st–25th; a missed run isn't caught up automatically.
Card on file: A customer's saved card. With payment method Credit Card, it's pre-authorized the night before service and charged when you complete the visit (or manually anytime).
Completed (job): A job whose service line items are all marked done; time_completed is stamped. Completed jobs are what you attach to invoices and what the reports count.
Draft: The initial, editable state of an invoice — lines can be added, removed, and edited freely, and the invoice can be deleted. It can't go open while it holds a cancelled or written-off job.
Invoice: A formal bill with a status workflow: draft → open → partially_paid → paid, plus void and written_off. Holds job-backed lines, hand-typed manual lines, both, or neither.
Job (a.k.a. booking, visit): One visit of scheduled service work at a customer property — one date, one or more catalog services, a crew, a price. Recurring services are repeating jobs.
Line item — manual: A free-text line on an invoice — description, quantity, unit price, taxable flag, optional property tag — not linked to any job or catalog service. It counts toward Collected when the invoice is paid, but not toward the Revenue / Jobs / Services reports (those are job-based).
Open: An invoice that's been finalized and sent. Its attached jobs become read-only; you record payments against it, or void it (only if nothing's been paid).
Pay-link: A Stripe-hosted page linked from the invoice where the customer pays by card. Requires Stripe Connect with charges enabled.
Payment method (on a job): Either Credit Card (the job charges its own card on file and never goes on an invoice) or Invoice (the job waits to be attached to an invoice, which carries the money).
Property: A customer's service location. One customer can have many properties; each job is one property on one date; invoices can group jobs by property.
Service (catalog): An entry in your services catalog. Jobs reference catalog services as line items — that's what makes the work count in the Services report.
Stripe Connect: Your connected Stripe account on the LawnBeast platform. Required for any card payment — a card on file at the job level or a pay-link on an invoice.
Void: Cancelling an invoice before any payment — not even a partial — was received. Voiding an invoice with job lines snapshots each into a frozen record and detaches the live jobs back to the editable pool.
Voided job (snapshot): When you void an invoice that has job lines, each job line is frozen into an immutable record on that invoice and the live job is detached back to the pool, re-attachable to a future invoice.
Write-off / written off: Marking a job or invoice as bad debt. Writing off an invoice does not detach its jobs. Gets a full walkthrough in its own guide.