Invoicing nightmares after a big repipe job, anyone else?

Man, just wrapped up a whole house repipe on this 1950s ranch using Uponor PEX-A, took us three days of crawling under the house and dealing with that old galvanized crap. I'm up in Minnesota and the cold snaps make everything shrink, so we had to double-check all the SharkBite connections to avoid leaks come winter. Anyway, invoicing the client through Housecall Pro and theyre dragging their feet on the $4,200 balance, even after I sent the detailed breakdown with photos from the Ridgid SeeSnake. Saw a similar rant in Plumbers United group last week, guys saying clients always nitpick the material costs. Watched a Roger Wakefield video on handling payment disputes, but damn if it doesnt suck when youre waiting on that check to buy the next job's fittings. FML, thought solo plumbing would be easier than this.

Switch to requiring 50% upfront on jobs over $2k, saved my ass on a repipe last month.

Fuck these clients who think plumbers work for free, PE firms are buying up companies and screwing the little guys like us.

Haha, invoiced a guy for unclogging his main line, he paid with a check from his 'business' that bounced like a bad joke.

Same here brother, been chasing a $1,800 water heater swap payment for weeks now, its exhausting.

How do you structure your invoices for repipe jobs, like breakdown fittings vs labor?

Client calls at 3am because the toilet's 'whistling' from wind down the stack, bills em $250 diagnostic fee on the spot.

Insurance companies are in on it too, denying claims on burst pipes unless you use their approved plumbers.

This is why im union now, at least they handle the billing bullshit for big jobs.

Every damn time, clients see PEX and think its cheap, then balk at the total.

Use Jobber instead, their automated reminders got me paid 2 weeks faster on average.

Go with flat rate pricing sheets, no more arguing over hours on snake jobs.

FieldEdge has a good invoicing module, integrates with QuickBooks seamless.

Never invoice without a signed work order, learned that the hard way on a fixture install.

These deadbeat homeowners are killing the trade, time to start turning down residential altogether.

Goddamn frustrating, had a whole crew out for a sewer line camera and still no payment.

Clients pulling this crap more since covid, acting like we owe them free service.