The problem
If you bill 12 maintenance contracts by hand each month at 10 minutes each, that's 2 hours of invoicing. Customers also pay late when the invoice itself is late.
What the AI does
Accounting software can create and send a repeating invoice on the schedule you choose. You set it up once per contract, change it when the price or contract changes, and look only at the ones that go unpaid.
A worked example
A grounds maintenance business in Reading bills 12 contract clients monthly, mostly small businesses and housing managers. The owner sets up each as a repeating invoice in Xero Ignite and checks them on the first of the month.
Before
12 invoices written by hand every month, about 2 hours
After
12 invoices sent automatically; about 20 minutes a month checking
What it's worth
About 1.7 hours a month saved, worth around £58 if your time is worth £35 an hour.
How to set it up
- Choose a Xero plan; Ignite is £18 a month and covers 20 invoices, so 12 contracts fit.
- Add each contract client and their agreed monthly price.
- Create a repeating invoice for each, with the right start date and wording.
- Check the first month's invoices before trusting the schedule.
- Update repeating invoices whenever a price changes.
What goes wrong
- Ignite is limited to 20 invoices a month; a bigger round means a more expensive plan.
- Prices exclude VAT.
- Xero's pricing page doesn't mention repeating invoices per plan; check yours before you rely on it.