Guides
Appliance repair cash flow basics for owners who hate spreadsheets
Owners researching 'appliance repair bookkeeping' need more than a generic checklist. They need to separate service goals from operating assumptions. This guide.
What to take away
- Three numbers run the weekbusiness cash, money owed split at 30 days, and what leaves in seven days.
- Open three accountsbusiness checking, savings for tax and fixed costs, and personal checking you draw into on a set day.
- Wave invoices for free. QuickBooks Online Simple Start runs about $35 a month. Square's POS app costs nothing to install.
- Take a deposit on special-order parts above $150. A control board often costs $80 to $400 and can sit for weeks.
- Close each month by reconciling, moving tax money aside, and chasing anything unpaid past 45 days.
Run the week from three numbers
Write the figures on a whiteboard every Friday. Software is not the problem. Looking at them is. The weekly check takes about 20 minutes, and the monthly close takes about an hour.
- Total business checking and savings balances.
- List money owed, split at 30 days.
- List what leaves next weekparts invoices, payroll, card fees, tax.
- Subtract outgoing from cash plus receivables. A negative result means holding parts orders for unbooked jobs.
- Move sales tax collected this week into savings.
Friday board: cash [ ] | owed under 30 [ ] | owed over 30 [ ] | due next week [ ] | tax moved [ ]
Most repair work collects at completion, so labor and parts turn into cash within days. Warranty administrators such as Asurion and Allstate Protection Plans, property managers and insurers often pay 30 to 60 days. That gap, not the margin, empties the account.
The monthly appliance repair KPIs put average invoice and days-to-collect beside job counts, so a poor week becomes a number instead of a feeling.
Set the books up once
Do this in one afternoon. It stays done.
- Open business checking and savings at your personal bank, so transfers clear instantly.
- Get an EIN for suppliers and processors instead of your Social Security number.
- Pick one cloud tool and connect the bank feed.
- Photograph every parts receipt at the job and attach it to the invoice the same day.
- Set a payday and move a fixed owner draw to personal checking on that date.
- Keep four to eight weeks of fixed costs in savings, untouched by parts spending.
The IRS accepts any system that clearly shows income and expenses, as long as you keep documents for purchases, sales, payroll and assets (IRS recordkeeping guidance). The SBA guidance on managing business finances covers inventory and cash planning for shops that stock parts.
Verify before acting
- Compare field-service software by operational requirements
- Use NIST quick-start guides for cyber risk
- Keep IRS-supporting records for income and expenses
What the tools cost
Pick the tool your technician will finish a job in. The review of twelve appliance repair software tools compares what the phone app can complete before the van leaves.
Rates below are typical published prices, checked in January 2027. Confirm them before you commit, because entry tiers move.
Typical rate
- Wave
- Free, card fees apply
- QuickBooks Online Simple Start
- About $35 a month
- Square POS
- App free, about 2.6% plus 10 cents in person
- FreshBooks Lite
- From about $20 a month
- Jobber or Housecall Pro
- Typically $29 to $99 per user, per month
What it handles
- Wave
- Invoicing, bank import
- QuickBooks Online Simple Start
- Bank feed, invoices, sales tax
- Square POS
- Payment at the door
- FreshBooks Lite
- Invoices, expenses
- Jobber or Housecall Pro
- Scheduling, invoicing from the van
A free tier that misses sales tax tracking costs more in March than it saves in January. Moving invoices between systems mid-quarter is how receipts go missing. Start with the cheapest tier that reports sales tax correctly, then upgrade when payroll starts.
Deposits, sales tax and owner pay
Special-order parts tie up cash until the customer pays. Set a deposit threshold, often $150, and take a deposit above it before you order.
A typical diagnostic fee runs $75 to $150 in most US markets, and the quote template with sample prices shows how to word a deposit line so the customer knows the total before you commit.
Sales tax is not your money. Move it to savings the week you collect it.
In Canada, GST/HST on repair work follows the same rule, and CRA guidance on GST/HST registration explains when a service business must register and charge it. Keep that money separate from operating cash.
Owner pay is where most shops slip. Pay a fixed draw on a fixed day, whether the month was strong or thin. When the draw is optional, parts money and household money share one account, and parts lose.
Monthly close checklist
Run this on the first working day of the month; it should take under an hour.
- Reconcile bank and card statements against the month's invoices.
- Match every parts invoice to a job, or write off the difference.
- Move sales tax and GST/HST collected into the savings account.
- Call customers with invoices past 45 days and log the promise date.
- Compare the month's revenue with the break-even figure.
- Log equipment and tool purchases for the year's deduction.
Common questions
Do I need accounting software at all?
For the weekly numbers, no. A whiteboard and a bank app cover it. For sales tax, payroll and year-end, a $35 a month tool saves a Saturday.
How much cash should sit in savings?
Four to eight weeks of fixed costs, plus every dollar of tax collected and not yet remitted. Treat both as untouchable.
How do I know the month was actually profitable?
The appliance repair margins and break-even article turns cost lines into the revenue figure a month must clear. Read it on the same day you close the books.
When should invoicing and customer messages be automated?
When each message matches a real job status. Automate the confirmation and the invoice at job close, and keep a human path for exceptions.
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