Recurring invoices and automatic payments in Jobber: how billing works

The two settings that decide how a recurring job bills

Every recurring job in Jobber has a billing section with two choices: how you charge, and when Jobber invoices. Get these right and most billing problems go away.

Without automatic payments: reminders, then batch invoicing

Without automatic payments, the invoicing schedule doesn't create invoices. It creates invoice reminders. When one falls due, the job moves to “Requires Invoicing” and Jobber prompts you to invoice. Owners on Jobber's community forum have asked for monthly invoices that go out on their own without card payments (thread ↗), so it's worth knowing this before you set up a lot of monthly clients.

1. 1

   Pick one invoicing day

   Put every monthly client on the same option, for example the last day of the month, so their reminders fall due together.

2. 2

   Batch create the invoices

   From the invoices list, choose More Actions, then Batch Create Invoices, and tick the clients. Jobber makes one draft invoice per client and combines a client's jobs onto it, unless their properties have different tax rates. It only picks up jobs with an invoice reminder that's due.

3. 3

   Leave incomplete visits out unless you mean it

   Batch invoicing skips incomplete visits by default. If you tick them, Jobber marks them complete.

4. 4

   Check a few, then batch deliver

   The new invoices are drafts. Open a few to check them, then send them all with batch deliver.

If clients pay by bank transfer or cheque and don't want a payment method saved, this monthly routine is the way to do it. If they're happy to save one, automatic payments remove the step.

Setting up automatic payments

Which plans. Jobber's help centre says automatic payments are for Jobber Payments users “on select plans”. Its pricing page lists “Collect payments automatically” as part of the Connect plan, and the Grow and Plus plans include every Connect feature (both checked 3 November 2026). If you're not sure what you're on, look under Account and Billing in Jobber. The pricing page describes automatic payments as available in the US and Canada.

1. 1

   Set up Jobber Payments

   Automatic payments only run through Jobber Payments, not through another card processor.

2. 2

   Get a payment method saved for the client

   A card, or a US bank account (ACH). You can add a card by hand from the client's profile, or send an email or text asking the client to save one in the Wallet in client hub. Clients can also choose to keep a card on file when they pay, and the “Require payment method to be saved on file” setting saves it when they pay a quote deposit. Only the client can add bank details. In the UK, clients must save their own card because of Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) rules.

3. 3

   Turn it on in the job

   Edit the recurring job, go to the Invoicing & automatic payments section and switch “Get paid automatically” on. If the client hasn't saved a payment method yet, tick “Request a payment method on file”; automatic payments start once they add one.

4. 4

   Check the first invoice

   Jobber creates and charges each invoice on the job's schedule, and the client gets an emailed receipt. A deposit paid on the quote comes off the first automatic invoice. Referral credits aren't applied to invoices created this way.

To see which recurring jobs are on automatic payments, open the recurring jobs report ↗ (Insights, then Reports, then Recurring jobs) and add the Automatic invoicing column.

Which setup suits which kind of work

These are starting points, not industry standards. Use whatever your agreement with the client says.

Lawn owners on r/LawnCarePros describe both approaches: a card on file charged after each visit, and monthly billing for long-standing customers. One points out that with monthly billing, a customer who doesn't pay may have had several services before you stop (thread ↗). Per-visit charging keeps that exposure to one visit.

When an automatic payment fails

Cards. Jobber attempts each automatic payment once. If it fails, for example because the card has expired or been declined, admin users get an email and an activity feed notification, the invoice shows a banner, and the invoice stays unpaid. Jobber doesn't try again.

Bank payments (ACH). A bank payment can look successful and then fail within Jobber's 4-business-day payout window, mostly because of insufficient funds or debits being blocked on the account. The account owner and the client both get an email, and the activity feed shows “Jobber could not collect a payment”.

1. 1

   Look for failures once a week

   Check the activity feed and your email for failed-payment notices. In the Jobber Payments transactions report, a failed payment shows as “Payment (incomplete)”.

2. 2

   Contact the client before the next visit

   A short, friendly message with the date, the amount and a request to update their card in client hub. Sort it out before the next charge is due.

3. 3

   Collect the invoice

   Use Collect Payment on the unpaid invoice. If the client gives you a new payment method, Jobber uses it for this payment and for future charges.

4. 4

   Decide your rule for the next visit

   Write down what happens if an invoice is still unpaid when the next visit comes round (for example: one unpaid invoice gets a call, two means the crew doesn't go out until it's settled), and apply it to everyone.

What Jobber Payments costs

Whether you build the fee into your price is up to you. The plan price calculator includes card fees when it works out a monthly and yearly price.

Tell clients before you charge them automatically

Get the client's clear agreement before you turn on automatic payments, and put the amount, how often they'll be charged and how to stop in writing. Jobber itself suggests telling clients in advance that a saved payment method will be charged for future work, to cut down on disputes. For bank payments there's an extra reason: Jobber says ACH disputes can't be contested, and the money goes back to the client automatically once the bank formalises the dispute.

Some places have specific rules. In California, a business making an automatic renewal or continuous service offer to a consumer can't charge their card or account without first getting their affirmative consent to the terms, must send an acknowledgement they can keep that explains how to cancel, and, for contracts made, amended or extended from 1 July 2025, must give 7 to 30 days' notice of a fee change, with how to cancel (Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code §17602 ↗). Other US states and Canadian provinces have their own rules; the free notice checker gives price-change notice dates for the ones we cover.

To see what a steady base of monthly clients adds up to once cancellations are counted, try the free membership revenue forecast.