Automatic Recurring Billing

If a property is on the Monthly roll-up billing model, someone still has to remember to open Finance → Ready to Bill each month and click to draft the invoice. Recurring Billing removes that last manual step: turn on a schedule once, and HomeWatcher drafts the invoice for you automatically, every month or quarter, at your chosen billing day. It can send it for you too.

---

Step 1: Put the Property on the Monthly Roll-up Billing Model

Recurring Billing is built directly on top of the existing Monthly roll-up billing model (see How Billing Works: Per-Visit, Monthly, and Manual if you haven't set that up yet). It only unlocks once the property is billed monthly.

1. Open Properties, and click the $ billing icon on the property's row.

2. On the Billing Settings page, set Billing model to Monthly roll-up, the option that bills the period from Finance → Ready to bill.

3. If the model is left on Per-visit or Manual, the Recurring Billing card below stays visible but locked, with a hint pointing you back to the Billing Model field above:

---

Step 2: Turn On the Schedule

Once the property is on Monthly roll-up, the Recurring Billing card unlocks:

1. Check Enable recurring billing.
2. Choose a Frequency: Monthly or Quarterly.
3. Set the Billing day of month (1–28).
4. Optionally check "Auto-send the invoice to the client when it's generated." Leave it unchecked if you'd rather review every draft yourself before it goes out.
5. Click Save recurring billing. The card confirms with the date of the next invoice.

---

Step 3: What Happens Automatically

Every morning, HomeWatcher checks for properties whose next billing date has arrived and drafts their invoice:

• One line per completed, uninvoiced visit at the property's base rate, plus any billable concierge work completed and not yet invoiced during the period.
• If the period had no visits at all, a single flat retainer line is added instead (labeled "Monthly retainer" or "Quarterly retainer" for the period), so a quiet month still gets billed if that's how the property is priced.
• Nothing already invoiced is ever billed again. Visits and concierge tasks that already landed on an earlier invoice are excluded automatically.

If auto-send is on, the invoice is emailed immediately with the PDF attached and, once Stripe is connected and approved, a Pay now link for card or ACH payment. If auto-send is off, the invoice is simply created as a draft waiting in your Invoices list for you to review and send.

Invoices past their due date still flip to Overdue automatically, the same as any invoice, and recurring-billed invoices sync to QuickBooks the same way any other invoice and payment does. No special setup required.

Don't have Stripe connected? Recurring billing works fine without it. The invoice still drafts (and sends, if auto-send is on). It just won't carry a Pay now link, and you record any payment manually the way you would for any other invoice.

---

Step 4: Spot Auto-Billed Properties at a Glance

Properties with an active recurring schedule are marked in Finance → Ready to Bill with an "Auto-billed monthly" or "Auto-billed quarterly" badge, so you always know which properties you don't need to draft by hand:

---

Step 5: Review and Send the Draft

An auto-drafted invoice behaves exactly like any other invoice once it exists. Open it from Invoices, review the line items, edit if needed, and click Send to client (skip this if auto-send already did it for you):

---

Frequently Asked Questions

Does recurring billing work for Per-visit or Manual properties? No. It's specifically for properties on the Monthly roll-up billing model. Switch the property to Monthly roll-up first and the Recurring Billing card unlocks.

Can a visit or concierge task ever end up billed twice? No. The drafting job excludes anything already referenced by an existing invoice, whether that invoice was created by this schedule, from Ready to Bill manually, or by hand.

What if a property has zero visits in a billing period? As long as it has a base rate set, a flat retainer line is added for the period instead of an empty invoice.

Can I switch a property from Monthly to Quarterly later? Yes. Update the Frequency dropdown and save. The change takes effect for the next billing cycle.

What if I turn off recurring billing? Uncheck Enable recurring billing and save. The property stays on the Monthly roll-up billing model, but you're back to creating its invoice by hand from Ready to Bill.

Do I need to do anything for QuickBooks? No. Recurring-billed invoices and their payments flow into your connected QuickBooks Online account the same way any invoice does.