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Invoice General — Bilingual User Guide
INVOICE GENERAL

User Guide

Invoicing & Estimating for Trade Contractors

Bilingual · English / Español

A product by Creationwebs

1. What Is Invoice General

Invoice General is a field-oriented invoicing and estimating application built specifically for trade contractors — plumbing, HVAC/mechanical, and related fields. It lives inside your WordPress admin area as a private business tool: your customers never log in or see the admin screens shown in this guide.

Unlike generic invoicing software, Invoice General is built around how trade work actually gets billed:

  • A Scope of Work library so you're not retyping the same line items job after job.
  • Separate pricing behavior for final property owners versus contractors/GCs you sub for.
  • Built-in markup handling that stays invisible to the customer.
  • Automatic payment reminders with tone that adjusts to the situation.
  • Bilingual English/Spanish interface for crews and office staff who work in both languages.
  • Direct Stripe payments and a Parts & Inventory system built for service vehicles.

2. Getting Around the App

Invoice General adds its own menu to the WordPress admin sidebar. On a desktop, it appears as a left-hand sidebar; on a phone or tablet, it collapses to a bottom navigation bar with the four most-used sections: Dashboard, New Doc, Customers, and Scope.

Main sections

Document statuses

Every invoice or estimate moves through a status as work progresses. Statuses are color-coded throughout the app:

  • Draft — being built, not yet sent.
  • Pending — an estimate awaiting customer decision.
  • Sent — emailed to the customer; reminder sequence begins for invoices.
  • Approved — an estimate the customer has accepted.
  • Paid — an invoice that's been paid in full; the PDF is automatically re-stamped "PAID."
  • Overdue — a sent invoice past its due date.

Searching documents

From the Dashboard, use the search bar above Recent Documents to find anything by document number, customer name, company, or service address. Checkboxes let you filter to just invoices or just estimates.

3. Customers

Every document is tied to a customer record. The Customers section is also where trade-specific pricing behavior is configured per account.

Adding a customer

  1. Go to Customers and fill in the Customer Name, address, email, and phone.
  2. Choose the Customer Type — this single setting controls how markup is applied on every document for that customer:
  3. Final Owner — the property owner paying out of pocket. Material markup and trip charges apply automatically using your global settings.
  4. Contractor / GC — a contractor or general contractor you're subbing for. No default markup is applied; pricing is set per contractor profile instead.
  5. Set Payment Terms (e.g., Net 30) — this becomes the default due date offset on invoices for this customer.
  6. Save. The customer now appears in the New Document customer picker.

Contacts — billing multiple people at one customer

Each customer can have several contacts attached — useful for property managers, HOAs, or GCs where the invoice needs to go to a specific person rather than the customer record itself.

  1. Open an existing customer and scroll to the Contacts panel.
  2. Add a name, title (e.g., "Property Manager"), email, and phone for each contact.
  3. Mark one contact as Primary if there's a default person invoices should go to.
  4. When building a document, use the Bill To dropdown to choose which contact the invoice is addressed to.

One-off customers

For a customer you'll likely never bill again, the Builder lets you switch to "New customer" mode and type their details directly on the document — they're saved to your customer list automatically so they're available later if needed.

Per-customer pricing overrides

Beyond the Owner/Contractor toggle, each customer record has fields to override material markup mode, labor adjustment, and trip charge handling individually — useful for a GC with a negotiated flat rate, or a repeat owner customer who gets a standing discount.

4. Projects

A Project groups multiple invoices or estimates under one job — handy for a renovation or new-construction property where you'll be billing in phases (rough-in, trim-out, final, change orders).

  1. Create a project under a customer and give it a name (e.g., "123 Oak St — Bathroom Remodel").
  2. When building a document, select the project so it's linked; the project filter narrows to that customer's projects automatically.
  3. The Projects list shows status and the customer/contractor type at a glance, and links straight back to related documents.

5. Creating Invoices & Estimates (the Builder)

The Builder is where every document is assembled. It works the same way for invoices and estimates — the only real differences are that estimates support signature lines and invoices support due dates, payment tracking, and reminders.

Step by step

  1. Click New Document from the Dashboard or sidebar.
  2. Choose Document Type — Invoice or Estimate.
  3. Choose the Customer (existing, or "+ New customer" to type one in on the spot). If the customer has multiple contacts, pick who the document is billed to.
  4. Optionally attach a Project.
  5. Fill in the Service Address (where the work happens — this can differ from the billing address, and it drives which county tax rate applies).
  6. Add line items using the three-step Scope of Work picker: Trade Group → Work Type → Scope of Work. Selecting an item auto-fills its description, category, unit, quantity, cost, and markup. Use "+ Custom line" for anything not in the library.
  7. Adjust quantity, unit cost, or markup per line as needed for the actual job.
  8. Set the Tax County (if the job is taxable) and mark Tax Exempt if applicable — tax is calculated automatically on materials and repair categories only.
  9. Add Notes and, if needed, override the Terms & Conditions text for this specific document (a "Reset to default" link restores your company's standard terms).
  10. For estimates, toggle whether to include Customer/Technician signature lines.
  11. Attach before/after job photos if relevant.
  12. Click Save, then Generate PDF, then Send when you're ready to email it to the customer.

How line items and markup work

Every line item has a Category — Labor, Material, Logistics, or Permit — and this category determines two things automatically:

  • Markup: material line items on a Final Owner document get the markup percentage added on top of unit cost; this markup is never shown on the printed document, only the marked-up total.
  • Tax: sales tax (based on the selected county) is calculated only on Material and Repair categories, using the marked-up total when markup applies.

Miscellaneous / internal-only notes

There's a dedicated Miscellaneous field for costs or notes you want to track internally (e.g., for your own expense reporting) that should never appear on the document the customer receives — useful when a line item is billed as a flat fee but you still want to record the underlying material cost.

6. The Scope of Work Library

The Scope Library is the reusable catalog that powers the fast line-item picker in the Builder. It's organized in three levels: Trade Group → Work Type → Scope of Work item.

Adding a scope item

  1. Go to Scope Library and click New Item.
  2. Enter the Description in English (this is what prints on the invoice).
  3. Optionally enter a Spanish description — this is used only to help Spanish-speaking staff find the item when selecting it; the printed document always uses the English description.
  4. Type or pick a Trade Group (e.g., Plumbing, AC/HVAC) and a Work Type (e.g., New Installation, Service Repair) — these are free-text fields with autocomplete from what you've already used, so your own taxonomy grows naturally.
  5. Choose a Category (Labor, Material, Logistics, or Permit), a default unit (ea, ft, hr, day, run, fixture, lot), and default quantity, cost, and markup.
  6. Save. The item is now available in the Builder's cascading picker under its trade and work type.

Importing and exporting

  • Import CSV — bulk-load scope items from a spreadsheet. Use the Sample CSV download to see the expected column layout before building your own file.
  • Export current list — download everything currently in your library, useful as a backup before a big edit or before sharing your pricing setup with another location.
  • Bulk delete — remove selected items, an entire trade group, or reset the whole library if you're starting fresh with an imported set.

7. Parts & Inventory

The Parts & Inventory module tracks the physical parts your technicians carry and use, separately from the pricing catalog in the Scope Library.

What it covers

  • Parts Catalog — a master list of parts with SKU, description, cost, and category.
  • Supplier Management — track which supplier each part comes from, for reordering and price comparison.
  • Vehicle Inventory — track what's stocked on each service vehicle, with reorder alerts when a part on a truck runs low.
  • CSV Import/Export — bulk-load or back up your parts catalog and vehicle inventory the same way you would the Scope Library.
  • Supplier Invoice Photo Capture — snap a photo of a supplier invoice or receipt and the built-in AI reads it and helps populate parts and costs automatically, cutting down on manual data entry after a supply run.
  • Builder Integration — parts from the catalog can be added directly to an invoice or estimate as line items, alongside Scope Library items.

8. Sending Documents & Email Tracking

Once a document is saved and its PDF generated, use Send to email it to the customer directly from the Builder.

What happens when you send

The system fills in a time-of-day greeting, the document number, the total amount, and — for invoices — the due date.

If Stripe is configured, a secure Pay Now link is automatically included in the email so the customer can pay by card or ACH.

The document's status updates to Sent, and for invoices, the automatic reminder sequence begins.

Delivery tracking

Outbound email delivery runs through a dedicated email bridge, which reports back delivery status for each message: Sent, Delivered, and Opened. This lets you confirm a customer actually received — and opened — an invoice before following up by phone, without leaving the app.

9. Getting Paid Online (Stripe)

Invoice General connects directly to your own Stripe account — payments go straight to you, with no platform fee taken by the app.

Setting it up

  1. Go to Stripe / Pay in Settings.
  2. Enter your Stripe API keys (test keys and live keys are stored separately, so you can switch modes without losing either set).
  3. Set a Statement Descriptor (up to 22 characters) — this is what shows on the customer's bank/card statement.
  4. Enable ACH bank transfer if you'd like to offer it — many contractors and GCs prefer ACH over card for larger invoices since it carries a flat, lower fee.
  5. Save. The status badge at the top of the page confirms whether Stripe is connected and which mode (test or live) is active.

How payment works for the customer

When Stripe is configured, every invoice email includes a Pay Now button. The customer pays by card or ACH; once payment clears, the invoice is automatically marked Paid, the PDF is re-stamped "PAID," the reminder sequence stops, and a thank-you email goes out — no manual follow-up required.

Payment activity log

The Stripe / Pay page also shows a running log of recent payments — invoice number, customer, amount, and method (card or ACH) — so you can reconcile at a glance.

10. Payment Reminders

Once an invoice is sent, Invoice General automatically follows up on unpaid balances on a schedule you control, with a tone that escalates the longer it goes unpaid.

Default schedule

Each step can be turned on or off, and its tone can be changed, from the Reminders page. Tone and reminder count automatically adjust based on whether the customer is a Final Owner or a Contractor/GC.

How it runs

Reminders fire automatically once a day; you receive a notification email each time one goes out.

The sequence stops immediately and a thank-you email is sent the moment an invoice is marked Paid.

Individual invoices can be Paused (e.g., if you've made a personal arrangement with the customer) and Resumed later from the Active Sequences list.

The Active Sequences panel shows every unpaid invoice currently being followed up on, how many days old it is, and how many reminders have gone out.

11. Reports & Dashboard Metrics

The Dashboard gives an at-a-glance view of business health:

  • Active projects — count of projects currently marked active.
  • Total billed — sum of all invoiced amounts.
  • Collected — total actually paid.
  • Outstanding — billed minus collected.

The Reports section builds on this with deeper breakdowns for reviewing performance over time, by trade, or by customer type — use it when you need more than the dashboard snapshot, such as preparing figures for your accountant or reviewing a specific date range.

12. Settings

Settings is where the company-wide defaults live. Most of these values feed directly into every new document, so they're worth reviewing before heavy day-to-day use.

Company Logo

Upload a PNG, JPG, or SVG (max 2MB; a transparent PNG is recommended) — it appears on the sidebar and on generated PDFs.

Company Details

Company name and contact info used throughout the app and on printed documents.

Email (SMTP)

Configure the outbound email account used to send invoices and estimates, and use Test Connection to confirm it's working before relying on it.

Pricing Rules

  • Default material markup — the percentage applied automatically to material line items on Final Owner invoices. Never shown on the document itself.
  • Default trip charge — the flat per-visit rate added when a trip charge is included on a document.

Default Terms & Conditions

The standard terms text that appears at the bottom of every invoice and estimate unless overridden for a specific document. A signature section (Customer / Technician) is added automatically below it.

Legal Disclaimer

County Tax Rates

Upload or maintain a list of counties and their material tax rates. Tax is applied automatically on a document based on the county selected for the service address — you never have to look up a rate manually.

13. Exporting to QuickBooks

If your bookkeeping runs through QuickBooks Online, a dedicated export tool produces Customers and Invoices CSV files formatted for QuickBooks' import process.

Files are generated with UTF-8 BOM encoding so special characters and accents (from Spanish names or addresses) import cleanly.

Date range and status filters let you export just what you need — e.g., only paid invoices from the last quarter.

14. Working Bilingually (English / Español)

Invoice General's admin interface can be toggled between English and Spanish using the language switch in the top bar — useful for office staff who are more comfortable working in Spanish day to day.

Scope of Work items can carry a Spanish description used only to help staff find the right item quickly.

Printed documents (invoices, estimates, PDFs) always use the English description, regardless of which language the interface is set to — this keeps customer-facing paperwork consistent.

Customer contact names, notes, and terms can be typed in whichever language fits the job.

15. Tips, Shortcuts & Best Practices

  • Build out your Scope Library early. The more of your standard pricing lives there, the faster every future invoice or estimate goes together.
  • Set Customer Type correctly the first time. It's what silently drives markup and tax behavior on every document for that account — getting it right up front avoids re-checking totals later.
  • Use Contacts for anyone who isn't the property owner. Property managers, HOA boards, and GCs often need the invoice addressed to a specific person, not the account itself.
  • Use the Miscellaneous field for costs you want to track but never want the customer to see — it keeps flat-fee jobs honest for your own internal reporting.
  • Check delivery status before calling a customer about an unpaid invoice. If the tracking shows it was never opened, a quick resend may solve it faster than a reminder call.
  • Review your Default Terms & Conditions with your CPA or attorney at least once. It's easy to set and forget, but it's the text that protects you on every job.
  • Export the Scope Library and Customer list periodically as a backup, especially before a major pricing overhaul.
Invoice General · User Guide · Creationwebs