Clear Estimates offers the ability to add a payment schedule to your estimate. This is an important aspect to add, as you want to be transparent about when payment is due!
For a Video Walkthrough, click here!
To set up a payment schedule, head to Options > Payment Schedule Editor:
Now, click ‘New Schedule’. Once you do, a blank payment schedule will display. Go ahead and name it in the ‘Title’ field. Then, scroll down and click save. Next, you’ll want to start adding lines to the payment schedule. To do this, click ‘Add Item’.
Begin adding lines to your payment schedule. Once you add a Description, use the ‘D’ to paste that description on other lines. You can do the exact same thing with ‘V’ (value). You can also select whether this line is to be a Fixed Amount, Percentage of, or Balance Due.
Do this for each line you would like to include in the payment schedule. In the example below, I have three lines. Once for a deposit of $1,000, a ‘2 week check-in’ of 50% and a balance due. You can also select the option to ‘Default for Projects’ from this page, making this payment schedule the default.
Now that the payment schedule has been created, it’s ready to be added to your proposals. To add the payment schedule, just head to your Reports > Formal > Payment Schedule Dropdown. Select the schedule you’d like to add. In the image below you’ll see the (active) payment schedule versus all the others as (template). This is so you know the difference.
You can ALSO quickly create or edit a payment schedule right from your Reports > Formal page. Do this by clicking ‘Schedule Editor’. This is a great way to CUSTOMIZE any of the payment schedules that already exist in your database. This customization is specific to the estimate. Customizing by the customer, payment schedule (templates) make it easy to not repeat work and options for ‘fixed’ / ‘balance due’ make it more flexible. Plus, you can now apply this to invoicing!
That’s it! Please let us know if you have any questions.
Pre December 2019 Instructions
If you are editing payment schedules from prior to December of 2019, please use the below instructions.
Click Here for Pre-December 2019 Instructions
For Customers with payment schedules created before December 2019, most of your payment schedules were automatically converted to this new format. For the schedules that were not, you’ll need to update them to the new format. You can do so by selecting them via the Options > Payment Schedule Editor page.
Here, select the payment schedule in question. You should see the contents of that schedule in the ‘Description’. This is to be used as a reference as you build the same schedule using the new format. The new format allows you to create lines for: Fixed Amount, Percentage of, and Balance Due.
Build the new schedule by clicking ‘Add Item’. Once you add a Description, use the ‘D’ to paste that description on other lines. You can do the exact same thing with ‘V’ (value). You can also select whether this line is to be a Fixed Amount, Percentage of, or Balance Due.
Do this for each line you would like to include in the payment schedule. In the example below, I have three lines. Once for a deposit of $1,000, a ‘2 week check in’ of 50% and a balance due. You can also select the option to ‘Default for Projects’ from this page, making this payment schedule the default.
Head back to your Reports > Formal to view and include your payment schedule on the proposal.
Thanks for reading!
