TreeBossPro Blog — Billing & Payments

Tree Service Billing Reports Every Owner Should Review Weekly

Owners of tree companies spend most of their week in the field or on the phone. Billing is something that happens in the background, until cash gets tight and suddenly it is the only thing that matters. A short weekly review of a few reports keeps that from happening.

Why a Weekly Review Matters

In Tree Service Invoice Template: What Every Invoice Should Include we looked at what goes on each invoice. Reports show what happens to all of those invoices together.

A weekly review catches problems while they are small: an invoice that slipped past 30 days, a job completed but never billed, a category of work that is not paying as well as you thought. Waiting until the end of the month, or the end of the season, lets those problems grow.

A weekly review also gives you a sense of rhythm. You learn what normal looks like for your company in each season, and you notice quickly when something is off.

Invoiced vs. Collected

The first number to check is how much you invoiced this week compared with how much you collected. If invoicing is high and collections are low, payments are lagging and you need to look at follow-ups. If both are low, the problem is upstream — jobs are not being completed or invoiced.

Watch the trend over several weeks rather than any single week. Storm weeks and slow weeks will swing the numbers.

Compare invoiced amounts with completed jobs, too. If the crew completed more work than was invoiced, there is unbilled work somewhere.

Also compare against the same time last year, if you have the data. Seasonal patterns in tree work are strong, and comparing a busy spring against a quiet winter can be misleading.

Outstanding Invoices by Age

Next, look at what is still unpaid and how old it is. Invoices under two weeks old are normal. Invoices past 30 days need attention. Anything past 60 needs a personal conversation.

Sorting by age helps you decide where to spend time. Automated payment follow-ups handle the recent ones, and you focus on the few that need a call.

Look at who the oldest invoices belong to. If they are mostly new customers, consider deposits. If they are commercial accounts, check whether their terms and contacts are correct.

Keep a short list of the invoices you are watching. When an invoice appears on the list for two weeks in a row, it needs a personal call rather than another automated reminder.

Completed but Not Invoiced

This is the report that finds lost money. Look for jobs marked complete that do not have an invoice yet. Each one is revenue you earned and have not asked for.

Common causes: stump grinding done on a separate day, storm work in a hurry, add-on work that was never written up. A weekly check catches them while the customer still remembers the job.

Make this report part of the daily routine during busy times. In storm season especially, a daily check of completed but unbilled work prevents a big backlog.

Ask the foremen about anything that looks unfinished. Sometimes a job is not marked complete because the crew left a small item for later, and a quick question clears it up.

Revenue by Job Category

Look at revenue across your job categories: Removals, Trimming & Pruning, Stump Grinding, Plant Health Care, Storm & Emergency and Consults. Over time, this tells you where your money really comes from and which parts of the business are growing.

It also helps with planning. If PHC is growing and mostly on card on file, it is a stable base. If removals carry most of the revenue but have the slowest collections, that is a place to add deposits or tighten terms.

Also look at how each category gets paid. If PHC customers are mostly on card on file and removals mostly pay online, you can tailor your follow-up efforts.

Turning Reports Into Action

Reports are only useful if they lead to action. Pick one or two things to fix each week: call the three oldest invoices, invoice the completed jobs that slipped, ask the slowest payers about card on file.

Share relevant numbers with your team. Office staff and foremen who see how billing is going are more likely to help improve it.

A fifteen-minute review every Monday is enough for most tree companies. To see the reports alongside invoicing and payments, explore reports in TreeBossPro tree service billing software.