Blog
Notes from the shop
Running commercial maintenance crews, written by someone who does it for a living. NTE limits, dispatch, invoicing, and getting paid on time.
Switching field service software without the pain
Switching field service software without losing your history or your techs. How to time the move, export your data, run parallel, and check before you commit.
July 7, 2026How to get commercial clients to pay invoices faster
Practical tactics to shorten net-30 and net-45 drift with commercial clients: completion docs up front, same-day invoicing, terms on the PO, systematic chasing.
July 5, 2026Flat rate vs time and materials, decided per job
Flat rate vs time and materials isn't an identity. Pick per job type: where flat pricing wins, where T&M wins, and how to protect margin either way.
July 3, 2026QuickBooks for service contractors
What QuickBooks Online does well for a service shop, where it stops, and how to pair it with a field system so you're not double-entering every job.
July 2, 2026When a work order tracking spreadsheet breaks down
The honest case for and against a work order tracking spreadsheet at a small shop, and the exact points where it starts costing you more than it saves.
July 2, 2026What is an NTE limit on a work order
What an NTE (not-to-exceed) limit is, why commercial clients set them, and where shops bleed money when a tech blows past one without approval.
July 2, 2026Work order management for contractors that scales
What real work order management does for a contractor that a whiteboard and a group text can't, and the exact points where it breaks as you add techs.
July 2, 2026