Overview
Sometimes a developer or home owner's association (HOA) hires you to maintain a large number of lots. In this situation, your customer is the developer or HOA - not the individual homeowners - and you send a single invoice to the developer or HOA for services rendered.
Neighborhoods often continue to grow with new homes being completed and sold every month. This means that the number of units you service can change from one month to the next, and the amount to be invoiced will also grow to suit the extra work.
This article describes two different methods to handle working with a growing community contract.
Things to know
Two approaches are available: T&M (Time and Materials) and Per Service. The right choice depends on how often the unit count changes and what the customer wants to see on the invoice.
A catalog service can only be added to a contract one time per contract. If the contract includes more than one type of growing community service, you'll need to add multiple services to your catalog to support it.
How you build the estimate depends on what the customer wants to see on their invoice. Before you commit to an option, ask your customer about what information they want to see on the invoice.
For background on the invoice types referenced here, read our article about Understanding Opportunity Types and Invoice Types.
Who uses this
This workflow is for account managers, estimators, and operations staff who set up and maintain contracts for HOAs, developers, or property managers responsible for multiple lots in a single community.
How it works
Option 1 — T&M: A T&M service on the opportunity bills for the number of units maintained each month. Contract changes aren't required every time the unit count grows because crews allocate the actual number of units serviced on the work ticket.
Option 2 — Per Service: A Per Service opportunity bills for the number of units or square feet maintained each month. Contract changes are required whenever the unit count grows.
Use the following rules to decide which option fits the contract:
When the unit count might change more than once per month, use Option 1 (T&M).
When the contract includes common areas (such as a clubhouse or pool area) that should be billed at a fixed monthly rate alongside the variable per-unit work, use Option 2 (Per Service).
The common areas estimated should be Fixed Payment services. Other services in the contract can be overridden to T&M or Per Service as needed. Keep reading to learn more.
When the invoice needs to show the exact number of units serviced each month, use Option 1 (T&M).
When the invoice needs to show the dates when services were performed, use Option 1 (T&M) with weekly or daily tickets.
Note
You can still add unit counts and service dates to the invoice when using Option 2 by using Opportunity Invoice Notes.
Option 1: T&M
This approach uses a T&M opportunity to bill for the number of units maintained each month. Regular contract changes aren't necessary when new units need to be serviced.
Setup
To get started, create unique catalog items for each type of unit you'll service and bill (for example, "Small Lot," "Medium Lot," "Large Lot"). You’ll add the items to the estimate with a single unit estimated and override the per-unit customer price, which initiates the first step in the T&M calculation hierarchy.
When setting up each item in the catalog:
Set each item up as a Material item with the Inventory box selected so field crews can allocate from Aspire Mobile.
The Purchase Unit and Allocation Unit should match, and should reflect what the customer expects to see in the monthly invoice. Example: "Ea," "Lots," "Units," or "Doors"
Set the Purchase Unit Cost to $0.00. The actual job costs comes from labor hours allocated to the ticket, not from these items.
Note
You can create item kits that calculate a price per unit. The number of units can be updated using a change order if it grows during the contract year.
When adding or editing services in the catalog:
Confirm that each service you’ll use in the T&M estimate has the Requires Approval checkbox selected. This ensures that work tickets are reviewed for a correct T&M calculation before they reach the Invoicing Assistant.
Estimating
Once you’ve configured items and services, you’re ready to build the estimate for the growing community.
When the contract includes common areas, select Fixed Payment as the opportunity’s Invoice Type.
Add common area maintenance services to the contract first. The estimated dollar value of these services is included in the Payment Schedule so it can be spread across monthly invoices. Set the Invoice on field to Last of the Month so the T&M services are combined into a single monthly invoice.
Caution
The property’s Separate Invoices checkbox must not be checked for this to work.
Make the following edits to service details:
For seasonal services (such as fertilization rounds, seasonal cleanups, and seasonal color), set their invoice type as Per Service.
Set the Labor Rate for these services to $0.00. Labor hours are job-costed to the work ticket from employee pay rates based on the hours logged. Your customer isn't billed for labor hours. You don’t need to estimate labor hours unless you want field crews to know roughly how long they'll be on-site.
Note
Markups aren't necessary in the pricing table, because the customer is billed based on the number of units serviced.
Regular maintenance services that you'll bill monthly per unit serviced should be assigned the T&M invoice type.
When the service is taxable, confirm that Material items are selected to collect sales tax in the pricing table.
For more on building T&M services within a blended contract, see Create a Contract with T&M Invoicing.
Scheduling
After you win the estimate, it’s time to schedule the work tickets.
Drag and drop monthly tickets onto the schedule board for your crew on the first day of service in each month. Use the month view to stretch the first occurrence across the month to schedule all monthly visits at once.
Set up weekly tickets on a recurring schedule. Drag and drop the first occurrence to the first day when the service will be performed on the responsible crews' routes. Edit the recurring schedule, select the first day of the week when services will be performed, and create visits for each successive service day within the week.
Set up daily tickets on a recurring schedule. Drag and drop the first occurrence to the first day or week when the service will be performed on the responsible crews' routes. Edit the recurring schedule and select the days of the week when services will be performed.
Aspire Mobile
Crew leaders in the field log their time against the relevant tickets. At the end of the day, before stopping ticket time, they go to the Materials section of the ticket and allocate the number of units serviced. If crews won't allocate units from Aspire Mobile, office staff can allocate them from the Purchasing Assistant.
Invoicing
When it’s time to bill the customer for completed work, keep these things in mind:
Confirm that daily, weekly, and monthly tickets are in Complete status before you invoice at the end of the month.
Sort the Invoicing Assistant by property name so Fixed Payment, Per Service, and T&M invoice lines can be batched and merged into a single monthly invoice for the customer.
Review your invoice layouts before sending. The customer-facing invoice should match what the customer has agreed to.
Option 2: Per Service
This approach uses a Per Service opportunity to bill for the number of units (or square footage) maintained each month. Monthly contract changes are required to account for growth.
Important
When the number of units serviced and billed will change more than once per month, use Option 1 instead.
Setup
Before you can estimate for a growing community using the per service method, there are some key setup steps to complete in your service and item catalogs:
A catalog service can only be added to a contract one time per contract. When the contract includes more than one type of growing community service, add multiple services to the catalog to support it.
When creating services, check the Multi-Visit checkbox. A single work ticket is used for multiple visits within a month.
Confirm that each service is set up to calculate sales tax accurately.
A 12-occurrence service schedule is recommended to generate monthly work tickets.
Create unique kits for each type of unit you'll service and bill per unit or per square foot (for example, "Small Lot," "Medium Lot," "Large Lot"). Each kit should include only the Labor - Maintenance item at the anticipated production factor per unit serviced.
Estimating
Once you’ve configured items and services, you’re ready to build the estimate for the growing community.
Add common area maintenance services to the contract first. The estimated dollar value of these services is included in the Payment Schedule so it can be spread across monthly invoices. Set the Invoice on field to Last of the Month so it merges with Per Service services into a single monthly invoice.
Caution
The property’s Separate Invoices checkbox must not be checked for this to work.
Estimate the relevant kits under each service with the anticipated starting quantity for each when the job begins. Monthly contract changes may be required as the community grows.
Make the following edits to service details:
For seasonal services (such as fertilization rounds, seasonal cleanups, and seasonal color), set their invoice type as Per Service.
For monthly maintenance services that you'll bill per unit or square foot, set their invoice type as Per Service.
Note
Because a monthly ticket is being used, confirm that the occurrences on the kit match the number of monthly occurrences. This keeps the estimate accurate.
Scheduling
After you win the estimate, it’s time to schedule the work tickets.
Drag and drop monthly tickets onto the schedule board for your crew on the first day of service in each month. Use the month view to stretch the first occurrence across the month to schedule all monthly visits at once. Delete visits on days when crews won't be working.
Change orders
When more units or square footage will be serviced and billed in the upcoming month, a contract change is required. For the full contract change workflow, read our article about How to Change Contracts. When you make a change for a growing community, follow these guidelines:
When you start the change, set the New Revision Start Date to the first day of the first month that hasn't been invoiced.
In the estimate, select the three-dot icon next to a service to be changed, and select Change. In the Change Service window, select the next available work ticket where the change take effect.
On the newest version line for the service being changed, update the quantity of units anticipated to be serviced and billed for each kit.
After all services and kits are updated, win the contract change. The new costs, revenue, and prices are reflected in the successive occurrence tickets.
Invoicing
When it’s time to bill the customer for completed work, keep these things in mind:
Confirm that monthly tickets are in Complete status before you invoice at the end of the month.
Sort the Invoicing Assistant by property name so Fixed Payment and Per Service invoice lines can be batched and merged into a single monthly invoice for the customer.
Review your invoice layouts before sending. The customer-facing invoice should match what the customer has agreed to.
Caution
Work tickets must be scheduled, job-costed, completed, and invoiced in proper sequence. Skipping or reordering these steps can cause invoicing issues at month-end.