Guide index

VanReceipts at a glance

Checked against the app, version 1.2.12, October 2026. See pricing

Comparisons and app facts

All guides by topic

Invoices

• 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.
• Invoice vs Receipt: Which One Do You Send, and When?: An invoice asks to be paid.
• What Is an Invoice Number, and How Should You Number Yours?: An invoice number is the unique ID for one invoice.

Estimates

• 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.
• 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.

Pricing

• Markup vs Margin: The Difference That Costs Contractors Thousands: A 30% markup is only a 23% margin.
• How to Price Electrical Work: Flat Rate, Hourly, and When to Use Each: Price known electrical tasks flat and troubleshooting by the hour.
• 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.
• 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 Landscaping Jobs: Visits, Installs and Seasons: Price mowing by crew minutes and drive time, installs by the unit, and seasons by the visit count.
• 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.

Job costing

• What Is Job Costing? A Plain-English Guide for Solo Tradespeople: Track four things against every job: materials, your own hours at a rate you would pay someone else, anyone you paid, and mileage.
• How to Track Job Costs From Receipts (Without a Spreadsheet): Capture each receipt at the moment you get it and tag it to the job it belongs to.
• Job Cost Accounting Explained (in Plain English for Trades): No ledger and no accounting software required.
• The HVAC Pricing Guide: Diagnostic Fee, Hourly Rate, and Flat Rate From Real Cost: Build your diagnostic fee from six real costs, and build your hourly rate from overhead plus billable hours, not a number copied off a competitor.

Trade guides

• Job Costing for Contractors: A Simple System for Solo and Small Operators: Start with the next job, not the last fifty.
• Job Costing for Electricians: How to Know What Each Job Actually Made You: Knowing your hourly rate and your materials markup is not the same as knowing what a job made.
• Job Costing for Plumbers: Track What Each Job Actually Costs You: Two costs decide plumbing margins and neither one arrives with a receipt on the day: van stock bought weeks ago, and the make-good hours when a bathroom turns out to have lead pipe behind the wall.
• Job Costing for HVAC Techs: Know What Each Install and Service Call Really Made: Cost the equipment precisely, because it can exceed the labor, then keep the job open after the invoice is paid.
• Job Costing for Painters: What Each Job Actually Made You: For a painter, profit lives in coverage and hours, not the quote.
• Job Costing for Roofers: What Each Job Actually Made You: Roofing margin is set after the tear-off, not in the quote.
• Job Costing for Carpenters: What Each Job Actually Made You: For a carpenter, profit leaks through offcuts, hardware, unbilled shop time and finish-work scope creep.
• Job Costing for Landscapers: What Each Job Actually Made You: Landscaping profit is set by materials bought in bulk, crew hours, equipment burn and disposal, not the quote.

Receipts

• The Best Receipt Scanner App for Tradespeople (and Why Rewards Apps Are Not It): The test is not how well an app reads a receipt.
• How to Itemize a Receipt for Job Costing (Line by Line): Capture each line on the receipt, not just the total, and tag those lines to the job they belong to.
• OCR Receipt Scanner: Why Reading Every Line Item Is the Hard Part: A basic OCR receipt scanner reads a total.

Tax and mileage

• IRS Mileage Rate for Self-Employed Contractors in 2026: The 2026 standard mileage rate is 72.5 cents per business mile, effective January 1, 2026.
• What Can a Self-Employed Contractor Deduct?: A write off is a legitimate cost of running your business, subtracted from your income before tax.
• Schedule C Deductions for Self-Employed Contractors: Schedule C has a numbered line for each type of business expense.

Software

• A Jobber Alternative for Solo Contractors: An Honest Comparison: Jobber is built for crews with dispatch.
• A Housecall Pro Alternative When You Don't Need Dispatch: Housecall Pro is built around dispatch and a crew.
• A Joist Alternative That Also Tracks What the Job Made: Joist is a fast, low-cost estimate and invoice app.
• Bookkeeping Software for the Self-Employed Trades: What It Does and Where It Stops: Keep the bookkeeping software for the tax return and put job costing alongside it.
• 9 Best Apps for Electricians in 2026 (Estimating, Invoicing, and Job Profit): Nine apps, what each one is genuinely good at, and where it fits in a one van stack.
• 9 Best Apps for Plumbers in 2026 (Estimating, Invoicing, and Job Profit): Nine apps, what each one is genuinely good at, and where it fits in a one van stack.
• QuickBooks Job Costing for Contractors: Setup, Limits, and the Receipt Problem: Projects sits on the Plus and Advanced plans and does report profit per job, once every transaction has been assigned to one.
• QuickBooks Job Costing: Why It Falls Short for Solo Contractors (And What Works Instead): QuickBooks can do job costing through Projects or Classes, but the setup assumes an office and someone to keep it current.