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The essentials
How to Write an Invoice for Trade Work
What goes on an invoice, in what order, with a filled-in example from a real deck repair. Plus the details that get invoices paid late.
Estimate vs Quote vs Bid: What Each One Commits You To
An estimate can move, a quote usually can't, and a bid competes against others. What each one commits you to, and how to word yours so it holds up.
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Invoice vs Receipt: Which One Do You Send, and When?
An invoice asks to be paid. A receipt proves you were. When each one is sent, what goes on it, and which one the IRS wants for your own expenses.
What Is an Invoice Number, and How Should You Number Yours?
An invoice number is the unique ID for one invoice. Here are formats that stay tidy for years, whether you can start at 1001, and what to do about gaps.
AI Estimating for Contractors: What It Gets Right, and What You Still Check
AI estimating turns a voice note or photos into priced line items in under a minute. What it's good at, where it guesses, and the four things to check before you send.
Markup vs Margin: The Difference That Costs Contractors Thousands
A 30% markup is only a 23% margin. The two formulas, a conversion chart, and what the mix-up costs a trade business over a year.
How to Price Electrical Work: Flat Rate, Hourly, and When to Use Each
Price known electrical tasks flat and troubleshooting by the hour. A worked flat-rate price for a new 20A circuit, and the adjustments that keep it honest.
How to Price Plumbing Jobs: Building a Flat Rate That Holds
A worked flat-rate price for a water heater swap, what the trip charge and after-hours rate should cover, and when plumbing work belongs on the clock.
Free on the App Store
Estimate it. Invoice it. Get paid.
Cloud AI drafts the estimate from a photo or a voice note, and one tap turns it into an invoice your client pays by card. Free to download.
Scan with your iPhone camera to get the app
How to Price Handyman Jobs So the Small Ones Pay Too
A minimum charge, a task price list and an hourly rate that covers the drive. How to price handyman work, with the numbers behind each.
How to Price Landscaping Jobs: Visits, Installs and Seasons
Price mowing by crew minutes and drive time, installs by the unit, and seasons by the visit count. The math for each, with a worked mowing price.
How to Bid a Painting Job: Measure, Time, Then Price
A painting bid worked from a real 12 by 14 room: square footage, gallons, production hours, materials and the price, plus where bids usually go wrong.
A Jobber Alternative for Solo Contractors: An Honest Comparison
Jobber is built for crews with dispatch. If you work alone or with a helper, here's what you'd give up and what you'd save, with current prices for both.
A Housecall Pro Alternative When You Don't Need Dispatch
Housecall Pro is built around dispatch and a crew. If you work solo, compare what you'd keep, what you'd lose, and the price difference, as listed today.
A Joist Alternative That Also Tracks What the Job Made
Joist is a fast, low-cost estimate and invoice app. Where it stops, and where VanReceipts keeps going, with both apps' current prices side by side.
What Is Job Costing? A Plain-English Guide for Solo Tradespeople
Job costing means tracking what one job actually costs you, then comparing it to what you charged. Here's how it works, in plain English, for solo tradespeople.
How to Track Job Costs From Receipts (Without a Spreadsheet)
Every job cost comes with a receipt. Here's how to turn that pile of slips into real profit per job, without a spreadsheet and without typing anything up at night.
The Best Receipt Scanner App for Tradespeople (and Why Rewards Apps Are Not It)
Most receipt scanner apps are built for reward points or corporate expense reports. Here's what a tradesperson actually needs: every receipt logged against the job.
Free tool
What did that job really make?
Plug in what you billed and what you spent. The calculator shows profit and margin in seconds, no sign-up.
Open the calculator →
How to Itemize a Receipt for Job Costing (Line by Line)
Itemizing a receipt means breaking it into its individual line items, not just the total. Here's why that matters for accurate job costs, and how to do it fast.
Job Cost Accounting Explained (in Plain English for Trades)
Job cost accounting sounds like something only a bookkeeper needs. In plain English, it's just knowing what each job costs you. Here's what it means for a trade.
Bookkeeping Software for the Self-Employed Trades: What It Does and Where It Stops
Bookkeeping software keeps the IRS happy, but it cannot tell you what a job made. Here's what a self-employed tradesperson actually needs, and how the pieces fit.
Job Costing for Contractors: A Simple System for Solo and Small Operators
Most job costing advice is written for contractors with an office and a crew. Here's a simple, receipt-first system for the solo and small operator running from one van.
Job Costing for Electricians: How to Know What Each Job Actually Made You
Most electricians price by instinct and find out their margins at year end. Here's what real job costing looks like for a self-employed electrician.
Job Costing for Plumbers: Track What Each Job Actually Costs You
Plumbers often price jobs well but still find margins are thin at year end. Job costing shows you why, job by job, without a spreadsheet or accounting software.
Job Costing for HVAC Techs: Know What Each Install and Service Call Really Made
HVAC jobs swing from quick service calls to multi-day installs. Here's how job costing shows what each one actually made, without a spreadsheet or accounting software.
Job Costing for Painters: What Each Job Actually Made You
Painting is labor-heavy and material estimates slip a gallon at a time. Here's what real job costing looks like for a self-employed painter.
Job Costing for Roofers: What Each Job Actually Made You
Tear-off surprises, dumpster fees and crew hours decide a roofing job's margin, not the estimate. Here's job costing for a self-employed roofer.
Job Costing for Carpenters: What Each Job Actually Made You
Lumber waste, scope creep on finish work and unbilled shop time decide a carpenter's margin. Here's job costing for a self-employed carpenter.
Job Costing for Landscapers: What Each Job Actually Made You
Material by the yard, crew hours, equipment fuel and dead-plant replacements decide a landscaper's margin. Here's job costing for a self-employed landscaper.
The HVAC Pricing Guide: Diagnostic Fee, Hourly Rate, and Flat Rate From Real Cost
A diagnostic fee, hourly rate, or flat-rate book that was never costed is a guess. Here's how to build all three from the real costs underneath them.
9 Best Apps for Electricians in 2026 (Estimating, Invoicing, and Job Profit)
The best apps for electricians in 2026, led by VanReceipts for estimates, invoices, expenses, mileage, and job profit, plus the scheduling and reference tools that fill the gaps.
9 Best Apps for Plumbers in 2026 (Estimating, Invoicing, and Job Profit)
The best apps for plumbers in 2026, led by VanReceipts for estimates, invoices, expenses, mileage, and job profit, plus the scheduling and reference tools that fill the gaps.
QuickBooks Job Costing for Contractors: Setup, Limits, and the Receipt Problem
Yes, QuickBooks can do job costing. Here's how to set it up with Projects, where it breaks down for solo trades, and how to fix the receipt-to-job gap it leaves.
QuickBooks Job Costing: Why It Falls Short for Solo Contractors (And What Works Instead)
QuickBooks job costing needs the Plus plan and manual tagging. What it can and cannot do for solo trades, and an alternative that works from the van seat.
OCR Receipt Scanner: Why Reading Every Line Item Is the Hard Part
Most OCR receipt scanners are good enough to read a total. Reading every line item on a faded, columnar trade receipt is the hard part, and the part that actually matters for job costing.
IRS Mileage Rate for Self-Employed Contractors in 2026
The 2026 IRS standard mileage rate is 72.5 cents a mile. Here is how a self-employed contractor turns that into a real deduction, and what a mileage log actually needs to hold up.
What Can a Self-Employed Contractor Deduct?
A tax write off is just a business cost the IRS lets you subtract from your income before you're taxed on it. Here's the real list for a self-employed contractor.
Schedule C Deductions for Self-Employed Contractors
Schedule C is the form that turns your contracting income into taxable profit. Here is where your real trade expenses actually go, line by line.