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How to set up recurring invoices for maintenance plans

Build the line items once, set the frequency, and let the schedule run. Clients get a fresh invoice on each due date and pay online by card or ACH.

By Homefront Pro·5 min read·Updated September 7, 2026

Lawn care. HVAC tune-ups. Pest control. Pool service. These are the accounts worth keeping: clients who pay on a schedule, month after month, without you re-selling them the service each time. The problem isn't the work. It's the billing. You finish the service, plan to send the invoice, forget by Thursday, send it the following Tuesday, and the client pays two weeks later. You're running three weeks behind on cash from a project you finished and left clean. That gap compounds across ten maintenance clients.

Recurring invoices break that cycle. Build the line items once, pick a frequency, and Homefront sends a fresh invoice each time one is due. Your client gets a notification with a link to the portal and pays by card or ACH. No copy-pasting from last month's invoice. No forgetting to bill the fertilization account you serviced on a Tuesday. The billing runs on schedule whether or not you think about it.

Here's how to pick which maintenance contracts belong on a recurring schedule, how to set them up in Homefront, and how to handle add-ons without breaking the billing cycle.

Homefront sends each invoice on schedule and clients pay each one separately. The schedule never charges a saved payment method automatically.

Step by step

  1. 1

    Identify which service contracts fit a recurring invoice

    A recurring invoice works when the service, price, and billing interval stay the same from one period to the next. Monthly lawn maintenance at a fixed rate. Quarterly HVAC tune-ups. Pest control every 90 days. Weekly pool service. The line items don't change between invoices, so the same template sends every time without editing. That's the right use case. Where it doesn't fit: projects where the scope shifts each visit. If a client sometimes needs extra mulch and sometimes doesn't, the invoice total moves around and a fixed template will over-charge or under-charge. For variable scopes, create a one-time invoice after each visit based on what you did.

  2. 2

    Build the line items and pick a billing schedule

    Go to Account, open Recurring, and tap New schedule. Pick the client, or add one with a name and email address. Add line items for the maintenance service: description, quantity, and unit price. Set these up the same way you'd write a standard invoice. Then choose the billing frequency: weekly, every two weeks, monthly, quarterly, or yearly. Set a start date. Homefront issues the first invoice on that date and sends it to the client. After that, each invoice goes out automatically on the next scheduled date. You don't need to do anything between sends. The schedule runs until you pause it or end it. [screenshot: recurring-invoice-setup.png]

  3. 3

    Check the client's contact info before the first send

    Before the schedule starts, open the client record and confirm the email address. If the address is wrong, the first invoice goes out and the client never sees it. When Homefront sends each invoice, your client gets a notification with a link to your portal at your-name.homefront.pro. They see your business name, logo, and the invoice. No app download required. No account to create. They pay by card or ACH in a few taps. After the first invoice sends, open the recurring invoice and check that the status shows active and the next send date looks right. [screenshot: recurring-invoice-first-send.png]

  4. 4

    Bill for one-time add-ons with a separate invoice

    Your client on monthly lawn care asks for a one-time aeration. Don't add it to the recurring invoice template. If you change the template, that line item carries into every invoice going forward until you remember to take it out, and you may not catch it before the next send. Create a standard one-time invoice for the add-on instead. Send it on its own. The recurring schedule keeps running unchanged. The add-on gets paid independently. At year-end, or during any billing question, the recurring invoices show only what the contract covers, and the one-time invoices show what the client requested on top of that.

  5. 5

    Update pricing or line items when the plan changes

    If your rate goes up at the start of the year, open the recurring invoice template and edit the line item prices. The next invoice Homefront generates picks up the new rate. Past invoices stay as-is, which is the right behavior: the records from earlier in the contract stay accurate and match what the client paid at the time. Let the client know before the next invoice goes out. A short message a few days ahead helps. Something like: 'Starting next month, the rate goes up from $150 to $175. The new invoice goes out on the 15th.' That's the whole conversation. No surprises on the payment link.

  6. 6

    Pause the schedule for seasonal work

    Some maintenance clients don't need service year-round. A landscaping client takes a four-month break for winter. A pool client closes after Labor Day. When you need to pause billing, open the recurring invoice and pause the schedule. You can set a resume date if you know it, or leave it paused until the client is ready. When you resume, Homefront picks up with the next future date on the schedule. It won't back-fill missed dates. Past invoices stay in the record unchanged, and the client's payment history stays intact when they return.

  7. 7

    End the schedule when a client cancels

    If a client cancels their maintenance contract, end the recurring invoice schedule from the recurring invoice page. Once you end it, no more invoices go out. The client's portal still shows their past invoices, so they can pull up a payment record if they need it. If the last invoice before cancellation is still unpaid, follow up on that separately. Ending the schedule doesn't collect or write off an outstanding balance. Keep the client record in Homefront after the plan ends. If a billing question comes up later, you can pull up every invoice issued without digging through email.

Common questions

Can clients set up autopay for recurring invoices?

No. Homefront sends each invoice on the scheduled date and the client pays it separately by card or ACH. They get a payment link each time, not a subscription charge to a saved card. The client approves each payment. This matters for larger invoices where ACH timing can vary, and for clients who want to review the invoice before paying. If a client wants fully automatic payment collection, that's outside what Homefront currently handles.

What billing frequencies are available for recurring invoices?

Weekly, every two weeks, monthly, quarterly, and yearly. Monthly is the most common for maintenance plans. HVAC tune-up plans often run quarterly or yearly. Lawn care and pest control typically use monthly or every-two-weeks. If your client wants a specific interval not on the list, use the closest frequency and create a manual one-time invoice on the dates that fall between scheduled sends. The client's billing history will show both.

Can one client have two different maintenance plans running at the same time?

Yes. Set up a separate recurring invoice for each plan. A client who gets monthly lawn care and a twice-yearly gutter cleaning gets two separate recurring invoice schedules. Each runs on its own date and gets paid independently. The client sees both in their portal. You can pause, edit, or end each schedule without affecting the other. Keep the service scope for each plan in a signed estimate in the client record.

What happens to past invoices when I edit the recurring template?

Past invoices stay exactly as they were issued. Editing the template only affects invoices generated after you save the change, starting with the next scheduled one. If you need to correct a specific past invoice, open that invoice and edit it directly. The template change doesn't touch anything already sent. This keeps your payment history accurate for tax records and for any client billing questions that come up later.

Do recurring invoices use the same client portal as estimates and one-time invoices?

Yes. Your client sees every open and past invoice in their portal at your-name.homefront.pro. Whether the invoice came from a recurring schedule or you created it manually, it shows up in the same place. The client pays using the same card or ACH flow. If they missed a notification, they can find the open invoice in the portal without you resending anything. Past paid invoices stay in the portal history as a payment record.

Should I use a signed estimate before starting a maintenance plan?

Yes. Send an estimate that describes the maintenance service, the price, and the billing terms, and get it signed before you start the plan. That record documents what both sides agreed to. If a client later says the price should be lower or the service should include something extra, the signed estimate is what settles it. Set up the recurring invoice for the ongoing billing and keep both records in the client record in Homefront.

Related

  • Recurring invoices
  • Online payments
  • Client portal
  • Built for landscapers
  • Built for HVAC pros
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