invoice help

[southcoastboile]

I currently work for a company but am doing work in evenings and weekends, i have just secured some work with an estate agents and would like some professional looking invoices that i can put my company logo onto as the header, does anyone know were i can find them?

I tried downloading some of the internet but couldn't seem to get it to print once they had been filled out, it just printed the example invoice. Have been trying a couple of sites and spent about 40 mins doing so, still no better off.

Idealy i would like a form that i can save to my email address that i can put the relevant info onto and then print off, if thats possible?

Any help with how you do your invoicing would realy help, thanks alot!!!

 

[wnjswozo]

hope you registred for tax,and if you doing any gas work hope you,ve your own gsr,and got public liabity,or it will end in tears

 

[southcoastboile]

got gas safe, got public liability and from what i understand i dont need to register for tax up to 3 months after trading

 

[markfxy]

You don't need to be registered for tax or be gas safe to download an invoice template.

 

[wnjswozo]

good luck to you,be careful,a lot of these estate agents ,are sharks ,they want the jobs doing at a drop of a hat,and make you wait at least a month,if not longer,make sure you set terms of payment,and at certain levels of costing,ensure they will agree to proforma invoice,otherwise cashflow ,will soon become strained,welcome to my world

 

[AWheating]

i use sliq invoiceing software, save/print it to pdf and email. You make very professional invoices on there templates and add logos, gas safe reg etc.... you can download a free trial i think.

 

[southcoastboile]

thanks thats good advice, yeah i no what you mean by they want it done yesterday, we have a few on our books at the company i work for. At the risk of sounding stupid, what is a performa invoice? i googled it and its like a quote in the respect that you send them the invoice before you start work, if you are doing a breakdown i would think this would make it worse from an engineers point of view, ie if the boiler needed more than 1 part? what are the advantages of doing a performa invioce? thanks

 

[southcoastboile]

cheers aw, ill give that a go, thanks alot

 

[gasmarc]

its the latest potterton boiler :17:I have worked for all my local estate agents for over 10 years and come to the conclusion that they are a bunch of Toxxers , I have just spent the last week calling the agent everyday trying to get paid for a job I did before christmas , I could work for them all day long if I dropped my prices

 

[grahamgas]

Hope your not using the estate agents round my area.
ALL are sharks.
Whereabouts are you southcoastboile?
BTW I use microsoft publisher for my invoices etc.

 

[southcoastboile]

no no, furthur south then portsmouth, don't realy want to say exactly were as im not fully on my own yet. I would never steal the companys work although i get asked all the time if i can do it privately but im not sure theyd be to happy. I took a/w's advice and opted for the sliq invoicing free download for 30 days, i also then brought some software to create your own from ebay so ill compare the 2 and stick with that i think, sounds like estate agents are alot of hassel to do work for and i realy dont have much capital atm as im just starting, hope all will go ok

 

[quality]

its a proforma a bit like an invoice you issue and get paid before a service that's agreed is provided

ps. Don't get hung upon invoice appearance as the work is already done and the only thing of most companies concerned about is the total amount plus contact and payment details

 

[wnjswozo]

example of a proforma invoice(we have a limit to which we will buy materails for a job of £250,anything above we will issue a proforma invoice,). Your called out to a boiler,which may be beyond economical repair,you suggest a new boiler,they say great,
go ahead ,so you spend over a £1000+ on fitting boiler,estate agent over the moon,with you.Then the fun starts ,they will keep you waiting,cheque inthe post,ect,ect.They have to chase the owner of property whom they are managing,so you are not at the top of pecking order,but you have the stress of waiting to be paid.
With a proforma invoice you have agreed terms as stated ,above ie you get monies before you do the job,so the onus of trust ,is not just on your toes!
Dont forget you can spend a small fortune on boiler parts,and if you,ve no accounts at merchents,its straight out of your pocket,then you waiting for payment,its really important you speak to owner/manager and tell them ,your terms,dont be intimerdated,and always go on gut instinct,ie if they promise you the earth,walk.Wish someone told me this many moons ago,
been stung once for £2500,never again

 

[southcoastboile]

ahh right see what you mean now, i was planning on getting customer to pay for parts if i have to pick them up after fault is diagnosed and then labour when the job is done so im not out of pocket, not sure how people will react to that but well see.