How to read a commercial maintenance invoice

Approving contractor invoices is one of the least discussed parts of managing commercial property, and one of the easiest places to lose money quietly. The problem is rarely fraud. It is invoices written for the contractor's accounting system rather than for the person paying, so a charge that is entirely legitimate looks arbitrary and a charge that is not looks the same.

Knowing what the standard lines mean makes both easier to spot.

The call-out or trip charge

Most commercial contractors charge something for attending, separately from the labour once on site. It covers travel, vehicle and the fact that a booked visit occupies a slot whether or not the job turns out to be five minutes' work.

It is a normal line. What is worth checking is whether it was disclosed before dispatch, whether it is charged once per visit rather than per trade or per work order, and whether a second visit to finish the same job attracts a second one. Reasonable contractors waive the second call-out when the return is to fit a part they had to order. Ask about that specifically, because it is rarely written down.

Labour, and how the clock is counted

Labour is normally billed hourly against a minimum, commonly one or two hours. Three things determine whether the number is fair.

The rate, and which rate applied. Standard, after-hours and emergency rates differ substantially. An invoice should say which one was used and the time should support it. Work starting at four in the afternoon and running to seven may legitimately cross two rates.

The number of technicians. Two technicians for two hours is four labour hours. That is often correct, since a great deal of commercial work genuinely needs two people for access or safety, but it should be stated rather than buried in a total.

Whether travel is inside the hours. If travel is covered by the call-out charge it should not also appear as labour.

Parts and materials

Contractors mark up parts. That is standard across the industry and covers sourcing, stocking, warranty handling and the cash tied up in van stock. What matters is that the line identifies what was actually fitted.

"Parts" as a single line with a number beside it tells you nothing and cannot be checked against anything later. A part number, a description and a quantity can be. On larger items it is entirely reasonable to ask for the supplier invoice, and a contractor who will not show it on a significant part is telling you something.

Watch for consumables billed twice, once in a materials line and again inside a labour rate that is supposed to include them, and for a part appearing on an invoice when the work order says the technician diagnosed but did not repair.

The description line, which is the one that matters

Everything above is arithmetic. The description is where an invoice either earns approval or does not. It should name the equipment, state what was wrong, state what was done and state whether the problem is resolved or still open.

"Service call, AC unit" is not a description. "Rooftop unit 3, no cooling. Found failed run capacitor on compressor circuit, replaced, system running and holding setpoint. Condenser coil heavily fouled, cleaning quoted separately" is. The second version can be filed against the asset, used to spot a repeat failure, handed to an insurer and compared against next year's invoice. The first cannot.

This is the same argument as the one for a proper closeout report, and it is why we write invoices that name the equipment and the fault rather than the trade and the hours.

Questions worth asking before approving

• Does the equipment named match the work order that was raised?
• Does the time on the invoice match when anyone was actually on site?
• Was the rate applied the one that was quoted when the job was booked?
• If a part was fitted, is it identified well enough to look up?
• Does the description say whether the fault is fixed or still open?
• Is anything here the second visit for a problem already billed once?

That last question is worth asking properly. Repeat visits for the same fault on the same equipment are the clearest signal in the whole file that something is being cleared rather than fixed, whether that is a drain being rodded instead of a grease line being jetted or a breaker being reset instead of a load being measured.

In multi-tenant property, the invoice is also an allocation document

Where a cost is being passed through to a tenant or split under a service charge, the invoice becomes the evidence for that split, and it needs to survive being read by somebody who was not there. Location, equipment and cause all have to be specific enough for the allocation to hold up. There is more on that in our note on splitting repair responsibility in a multi-tenant building.