Credit Card Processing for Contractors

Taking the payment where the work is

The single biggest saving available to a contractor is not a rate. It is getting paid on the day the work finishes, standing in front of the customer, instead of sending an invoice and chasing it for six weeks.

• A mobile card reader that works away from your building. A handheld on cellular, or a small reader paired to a phone, works at a customer address where there is no wifi you can use. If you are ever in a basement, a new build with no service, or out past the edge of coverage, ask what the device does when it cannot connect and what the limits are.
• Card present beats keyed. A card read by a device costs less than a number typed in, because the risk is lower. Tapping a card at the job is cheaper than taking the same card over the phone that evening, every time.
• A receipt in their hand. A device that prints, or emails a receipt on the spot, closes the job properly and gives you a dated record of the payment against the work.
• One system, not two. If the field reader and the office are on separate systems, someone reconciles them by hand every week. Worth avoiding at the point you choose, not afterwards.

Deposits, progress payments and the final bill

Most contract work is paid in pieces, and each piece is a separate transaction with its own timing. That is normal, and there are two things worth getting right.

• Take the deposit as a sale, not a hold. An authorization is not money and it does not sit there indefinitely. If the deposit is yours on signing, run it as a payment on the day, on the agreed amount, against a written estimate.
• Never keep the card on the work order. Writing a card number on paper so you can charge the balance later is the most common bad habit in the trade, and it is a PCI problem as well as a theft risk. Use a system that stores the card securely as a token, or send a payment link when the balance is due.

Large tickets and what they do to your account

This is the part that surprises contractors, and it is worth understanding before it happens rather than on the day a payment is held.

When you are underwritten, you give an expected average ticket and monthly volume, and your account is set up around those figures. A transaction far above your stated average can be flagged for review, and the funds can be held while it is checked. Nothing has gone wrong when that happens. The system is doing what it was told. But a held payment on a job where you have already paid for materials is a genuinely bad week.

Taking a card over the phone

Every service business ends up keying a card in at some point: the customer was not home, the job was signed off remotely, the invoice went out and they want to settle it now.

• It costs more, and for a reason. A keyed transaction carries more risk than a card read by a device, and it is priced accordingly. Worth knowing so it does not look like a mistake on the statement.
• Use the address and security code checks. Entering the billing zip code and the three digits from the back is not paperwork. It lowers the risk on the transaction and gives you something to point at if it is ever disputed.
• A payment link is usually better. Sending a link the customer pays themselves keeps the card number out of your hands entirely, which is better for them, cheaper to be compliant with, and leaves a cleaner record than a number read out over a phone.

Invoices and recurring service plans

• Invoices that can be paid in one tap. An emailed invoice with a pay button gets settled faster than one with your bank details at the bottom. That is most of what invoicing needs to do.
• Service plans and maintenance contracts. Anything billed monthly or seasonally, a maintenance plan, a lawn contract, a service agreement, can run on a stored card so nobody chases it. Storing a card for repeat billing needs the customer to have agreed to it clearly, in writing, and the agreement is worth keeping with the contract.
• Cards expire mid-contract. Ask whether the system updates a stored card automatically when the customer is reissued one. Without it, a plan quietly stops paying and nobody notices until the quarter ends.

Disputes on job work

Contract work gets disputed differently from retail. Nobody claims they never received a driveway. What gets claimed is that the work was not what was agreed, or that a change was never authorized.

That makes your paperwork the defence. A signed estimate, change orders agreed in writing rather than by memory, dated photographs before and after, and a receipt issued at the time of payment are what answer a dispute. Keep them with the transaction rather than in a folder in the van, and be aware there is a deadline for responding, so a dispute letter is not something to leave on the dashboard.

What to ask before you sign

1. Does the reader work on cellular at a customer address, and what happens when it cannot connect?
2. What is my average ticket and monthly volume set at, and what happens to a job well above it?
3. Can I store a card securely for a balance or a service plan without writing it down anywhere?
4. What does a keyed phone payment cost against a card read at the job?
5. How long do I have to respond to a dispute, and what do you need from me?
6. What am I actually paying, line by line, including the charges that are not processing at all?

We go through that last one on a call, using your current statement, before recommending anything.