Service business software from first enquiry to paid invoice
Service business software follows the work a service, repair or contracting business sells: the enquiry, the quote, the job, who does it when, and the invoice. Cash Flow Inventory runs lead → quotation → job → schedule → invoice → payment on the same live ledger as its stock and accounts, with subscriptions for recurring work and progress claims for contracts.
The problems it solves
Enquiries that go cold
Calls and e-mails that are never followed up are work lost before a quote is sent. Without a list of open leads, nobody knows who is waiting.
Jobs without a plan
When the schedule lives on a whiteboard, two jobs land on one person and materials used on site never reach the invoice.
Customers who pay late
About half of B2B invoices in the US are paid late (Atradius, Payment Practices Barometer, 2024). Deposits, clear invoices and reminders keep the cash coming in.
How service work runs in Cash Flow Inventory
Capture the lead
Each enquiry is a lead: new, contacted, qualified, then converted into a quotation — or marked unqualified, and reopened if it comes back.
Quote from a template
Start a quotation from a ready-made service template, send it by e-mail or SMS, and follow it through sent, negotiating, accepted, rejected or expired.
Turn it into a job
An accepted quotation becomes a job, a sales order or work orders. You decide whether walk-in jobs may start without an accepted quotation.
Book it on the schedule
The job schedule is a board of who does which job when: book a job for a resource with its start and duration, and move it as the day changes.
Finish and invoice
The job records its items, materials, time and costs, goes from started to on hold to finished, and is invoiced — with any deposit taken applied to the invoice.
What you can do
Leads
Enquiries you follow up before quoting, with their status, notes and conversion into a quotation.
Quotations and templates
Priced offers from ready-made service bundles, sent by e-mail, SMS, or e-mail with SMS if the e-mail fails; sent quotations past their valid-until date can be expired automatically.
Online quotations
Customers open a quotation online, add optional items, sign it and pay a deposit.
Jobs with deposits
Service work with its own steps, materials, time and costs. Deposits can be off, optional or required — as a % of the job total or a fixed amount — and taken, applied, released or voided.
Job schedule board
A board of who does which job when; book a job against a resource with its start and duration, and move it between columns.
Subscriptions
Recurring billing and service agreements: what a customer is billed for, how often and until when, with pause, resume and cancel. Revenue can be recognised at once or spread over the period, with optional daily proration and grace days.
Construction progress claims
The construction pack adds contracts with a retention % and cap, monthly claims with variations and materials on site, retention held as Retention receivable, and release of half at practical completion and the rest after the defects period.
A service catalogue
Services and non-inventory items sit in the product list as their own types, so they carry no stock and are never part of a stock push to an online store.
Accounts behind every job
Invoices, deposits and payments post to the books as they happen, and rights per page, field and amount decide who sees costs and who may approve.
Where it is not the right fit
- A business with no stock and no invoicing — only time-sheets, for example — may not need most of it.
- Restaurants and cafés: table service, kitchen display and recipe costing are not its focus.
- Very large enterprises that need a global multi-company ERP rollout with on-premise hosting — this is a cloud product per business.
Questions and answers
Software that runs the work a service business sells: leads, quotations, jobs, scheduling, invoicing and getting paid. In Cash Flow Inventory these run on the same ledger as stock and accounts, so a finished job becomes an invoice that posts to the books.
You decide. The Starting a job setting either allows walk-in and service jobs without a quotation, or requires an accepted quotation first.
Yes. Job deposits can be off, optional or required, as a percentage of the job total or a fixed amount. When required, the job cannot start until the deposit is paid; the deposit is applied to the invoice when the job is finished.
Yes. Subscriptions record what a customer is billed for, how often and until when, and can be paused, resumed or cancelled. Revenue can be recognised immediately or spread over the period.
The job schedule is a board of who does which job when. A job is booked against a resource with a start time and duration, and can be moved as plans change.
Yes, with the construction pack. Each claim works out the gross valuation, the retention held (never above the cap) and the amount due; retention moves to Retention receivable and is released in two parts.
Yes, with online quotations switched on: the customer opens the quotation, adds optional items, signs it and pays a deposit.
Learn more
Step-by-step guides
Articles
Terms and calculators
Related
Start with the free plan
Create a business in a few minutes. The free plan has no time limit and needs no card; move to a paid plan when you need more users, locations or orders.