Recurring invoices suit a cleaning arrangement when the customer, scope, price and billing timing repeat predictably. They are particularly useful for a fixed weekly clean or an agreed monthly service fee. They need more care when you charge only for completed visits, hours vary or customers regularly skip weeks.
In Free Invoice App, recurring invoices on Pro and Pro+ generate and send invoices on the schedule you set. They do not verify job completion or take money automatically from a customer’s bank account. Set them up around an agreement that you can maintain accurately.
Set up billing for a stable cleaning arrangement
Try the invoice format free, then use Pro for recurring billing when the customer, amount and schedule are settled. Keep a check on missed visits and changes before the next send.
PDF generator: no account needed. Paid plans are optional. Compare plans and allowances.
Decide whether you bill per visit or for a period
For a per-visit arrangement, each invoice represents a clean that happened or another charge specifically agreed with the customer. If you skip a visit, you need to consider whether an invoice is due at all. A fixed monthly arrangement instead follows a defined service agreement, including its treatment of holidays and missed access.
| Agreement | Billing example | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| $150 per weekly clean | 4 completed visits = $600; 5 = $750 | Actual service dates and any cancelled visits |
| $180 per fortnightly clean | One $180 invoice per completed visit | Fortnightly means every two weeks, not twice per calendar month |
| Fixed $700 monthly service fee | $700 for the agreed monthly scope | The contract’s scope and any agreed adjustments |
These are arithmetic examples, not suggested cleaning prices. Put the billing basis in your quote so both sides know what should happen in a five-visit month. Do not use four weekly visits as a permanent substitute for a calendar month.
Prepare the client and recurring template
- Save the correct billing customer and check the email address.
- Write line items that describe the agreed clean and identify the property.
- Check the rate, quantity, GST setting and payment terms.
- In Recurring, choose weekly, fortnightly or monthly as appropriate.
- Set the next invoice date, send time and the correct city timezone.
- Check for an existing schedule for the same customer and service before activating another.
Avoid putting a date such as “clean completed 20 September” in a template that will run indefinitely. Do not assume the app rewrites a date you typed into a description. If each invoice must list specific attendance dates, review the wording and choose a manual workflow when the dates cannot be maintained accurately.
The general recurring invoice guide covers setup in more detail. For commercial clients who require a monthly list of completed visits, use the commercial cleaning billing guide.
Plan for holidays, lockouts and changed jobs
Treat a recurring template as an active business instruction. When a customer cancels next week’s clean, check the billing agreement and pause or edit the schedule before the next invoice is generated. Pausing future generation does not withdraw an invoice already sent. Review any existing document separately.
For a one-off oven clean, issue the agreed extra as a separate invoice or use a reviewed one-off invoice for that visit. Do not accidentally leave the extra in the template so the customer is charged for it every week. When a permanent price changes, obtain agreement and update the template for the correct effective period.
Keep a simple exception list alongside your booking schedule: customer, affected date, agreed billing action and whether you updated the recurring instruction. This is often enough to catch holiday pauses and temporary changes without building a complicated system.
Check your sending allowance
Ten customers receiving four invoice emails each creates 40 sends before CC recipients and manual reminders. Starter includes seven sends per month and does not include recurring invoices. Pro includes 250 sends per month; Pro+ includes unlimited sends and automated chase sequences. See current plan prices.
Until the 1 October 2026 monthly reset, invoices with an available card payment option are exempt from the allowance. From that reset they count too. CC recipients and manual reminders also use sends. Allow room for normal follow-up when estimating your workload, and check the app’s usage indicator.
Review the first two cycles
After the first scheduled run, check the invoice history, customer, amount and timing. If you are unsure whether it sent, check its status before manually sending another copy. Review the second cycle too, especially if it crosses a month boundary or a holiday. Automation is most useful once those ordinary exceptions are understood.
Keep payments current so follow-up reflects the real balance. Use the cleaning payment reminder guide when a customer has not paid. The government payment-terms guidance is a useful reference for agreeing when payment is due.
Does a weekly invoice mean a weekly direct debit?
No. Sending a recurring invoice and collecting a recurring payment are separate actions. Explain the payment method to the customer rather than suggesting their card or bank account will be charged automatically.
Can I use this for irregular hours?
A reviewed manual invoice is usually clearer when hours change each visit. Reuse the saved customer and enter the completed work. The cleaning software guide helps compare that workflow with recurring billing.
Skip the copy and paste. Send a real invoice in 60 seconds.
Fill in the generator and download an ATO-ready PDF, no account needed. Or sign up and have it emailed, paid by card, and chased for you.
See pricing