Invoicing built for trades, not for spreadsheets
Mobile invoicing for contractors with a real parts catalogue, correct currency by default, and payouts that do not sit in limbo for two weeks.
The problem
Contractors invoice from a phone between jobs. The tools they use are generic invoice generators with a trades skin: currency and country defaults they cannot correct, payment links that dead-end, three-invoice caps on paid tiers, and payment processors that hold the first payout for a fortnight — which is the money that was meant to buy materials for the next job. When it breaks there is no support channel, and the review evidence shows people losing weeks chasing payments that were never collectable.
The solution
A trades-first invoicing app: a pre-priced parts and labour catalogue by trade so quotes take minutes, locale locked to the business's registered country so a payment link can never render in the wrong currency, photo and receipt attachment on every plan rather than as an upsell, and a payments path that surfaces the hold period up front with same-day options for verified repeat customers.
Who it's for
Solo and two-to-five person trades businesses — electricians, plumbers, HVAC, mobile repair — invoicing between 10 and 80 jobs a month from a phone.
Why now
Instant-payout rails are now available to small merchants, and the incumbent apps have moved to aggressive per-invoice metering, which is generating the specific complaints this idea is built from.
Why this wins
The incumbents are horizontal invoice generators. The gap their own reviewers describe is not features but fit: a parts catalogue, correct locale, and payouts timed to how trades cash flow actually works. None of that is a moat on its own, which is exactly why nobody serving everyone has bothered.
Scoring
How this score was built
A weighted composite of seven dimensions. Evidence strength is measured from the corpus, not judged by a model.
Tradespeople running invoicing from a phone hit country/currency defaults they cannot change, payment links that loop, hard caps on invoices per month, and payouts held for weeks — with no support channel when it breaks.
Execution
Build plan
From zero to a first paying customer.
- 1
Pick one trade and one country
Electricians in a single market. The catalogue and tax handling are only tractable when narrow.
- 2
Build quote-to-invoice with a seeded catalogue
200 standard line items with regional pricing beats a blank custom-item screen.
- 3
Wire payments with the hold period shown up front
Do not hide it. The complaints are about the surprise, not the delay itself.
- 4
Recruit 10 contractors from the incumbent's review threads
Reviewers who named the problem are the warmest possible list.
- 5
Charge from the first customer
Flat monthly, no invoice cap. Free users will not tell you whether the wedge works.
Landscape
Who already competes — and where they leave a gap
Knowing who competes matters less than knowing where their own users say they fall short.
| Product | Gap it leaves open |
|---|---|
| Invoice Simple | Reviewers report locale defaults that cannot be corrected, per-invoice caps on paid plans, and no working support channel. |
| Jobber | Priced and scoped for established crews; solo operators describe it as too heavy and too expensive for their volume. |
| Square Invoices | Generic across all business types — no trade-specific parts catalogue or job-photo workflow. |
Receipts
The evidence behind this opportunity
Tradespeople running invoicing from a phone hit country/currency defaults they cannot change, payment links that loop, hard caps on invoices per month, and payouts held for weeks — with no support channel when it breaks.
Invoices default to the wrong country, sending customers into a payment loop nobody notices.
“Invoices are STILL defaulting to another country. When customers try to pay the incorrect invoice, they end up in a never ending loop.”
Workaround today: Reinstalling the app, trying cards from three different banks
Payment processors hold a trades business's first payout for 14 business days, when that money was for materials.
“They partner up with stripe and they allow them to hold onto your first payment for 14 business days. As somebody that's in the trades usually the payment is for materials.”
Invoicing tools for trades have no functioning support channel when billing breaks.
“They don't have any back end support. Which means if you have a problem they have no way to fix it.”
Invoicing apps cap paid plans at a handful of invoices a month and charge extra to attach job photos.
“I'm already on the $6.99 a month plan which only allows me 3 invoices per month which is pretty bad.”
Estimating apps ship with no parts or repair catalogue, so every line item must be typed from scratch.
“There is no database available in this app that lists available repairs or products. It would ALL have to be custom created by the user of the app.”
Workaround today: Hand-building a custom item list before any quote is possible