View and apply Application for Payment recommendations

Overview

Use Application for Payment recommendations to decide how much to bill for a period. ServiceTitan recommends a total amount for the project and explains the reasoning behind it. Review the amount, adjust it, then allocate it across your continuation sheet.

ServiceTitan draws each recommendation from your costs to date, labor hours, and prior applications. Project managers spend less time estimating progress, and bill closer to the work completed.

Things to know

• ServiceTitan recommends one total amount for the billing period. You allocate that total across the line items on your continuation sheet.

• Each project has a monthly billing due date and a lead time. By default the due date is the 15th, and the recommendation appears five days before it.

• Each recommendation includes a short explanation of the reasoning. It also shows the actual, projected, and budgeted figures for cost and labor hours behind it.

• The recommendation is a starting point. You can bill a different amount, and ServiceTitan tells you when your figure is above the recommended one.

• Recommendations are calculated at a point in time. The banner shows when figures were last refreshed. ServiceTitan offers an updated recommendation when they change.

• You still create, review, and submit Applications for Payment. ServiceTitan does not submit an application on your behalf.

• The line items on your continuation sheet need budget codes bound to their estimate items. Without cost data behind a project, ServiceTitan has nothing to base a recommendation on.

Best practices

• Set the billing due date to match the date your general contractor expects, so recommendations arrive in time to review.

• Build your schedule of values from your sold estimate so continuation sheet lines match the items your costs are tracked against.

• Bind a budget code to each estimate item. The more complete your cost code structure, the more reliable the recommendation.

• Keep timesheets and job costs current on the project. Labor hours and costs to date drive the calculation.

• Open the labor and cost breakdown before you accept a figure, so you can see whether labor and cost are tracking together.

• Review the recommendation against your own read of site progress. You know things the cost data does not.

• Refresh the recommendation if time has passed since it was calculated, so you bill on current figures.

Use cases

• A commercial mechanical contractor bills a general contractor on the 20th each month. The project manager sets the due date to the 20th and reviews a recommendation on the 15th.

• A project manager sees that billing is ahead of cost, but costs are forecast to catch up by month end. They bill now rather than waiting.

• A project manager wants to bill slightly above the recommended amount. ServiceTitan shows how far above the recommendation the figure is before they commit.

• A controller opens the labor and cost breakdown to check whether labor hours support the billing position. They do this before the application goes to the general contractor.

Set up recommended billing for a project

The billing schedule controls two things: the day an Application for Payment is due, and how far ahead of that day its recommendation appears. Set it once for each project.

What the two settings control

ServiceTitan works out the recommendation date by counting back from the due date. A due date of the 15th with a lead time of five days puts the recommendation on the 10th.

Set the due date to match the day your general contractor expects. Set the lead time to give yourself enough room to review before you submit.

These settings apply for the life of the project. You can change them at any time from the Financials prompt, the Edit Project panel, or the Add Application for Payment window.

Confirm the schedule from the prompt

Until a billing schedule is set, the Financials page shows a prompt in place of a recommendation.

1. Search for and go to the project you want.

2. In the project menu, click Financials.

3. Review the prompt at the top of the page. It names the default due date and the date your recommendation appears.

   

4. Do one of the following:

   • Click Confirm 15th to accept the default.

   • Click Change Due Date to set a different day, then follow the steps in Set the schedule in project details.

A message confirms the due date and names the date your recommendation arrives.

Set the schedule in project details

Use this route to change a schedule you have already set, or to set a due date other than the default.

1. Search for and go to the project you want.

2. On the project dashboard, click the Edit icon in the project header. The Edit Project panel opens.

3. Scroll to AFP Due date each month.

4. Click the field and choose a day. Commonly selected days appear at the top of the list.

5. In Surface recommendation, set how many days before the due date you want the recommendation to appear. Use the plus and minus controls, or enter a number.

6. When finished, click Save.

A message confirms the change and names the date your recommendation arrives.

Review a recommended billing amount

1. Search for and go to the project you want.

2. In the project menu, click Financials.

3. Review the recommendation at the top of the Financials page. It shows the application number, the recommended amount, the billing period, and the due date.

   

4. Read the explanation beneath the heading. It describes how billing compares to cost, and what is expected to change by the end of the period.

5. Review the figures under Cost and labor to date, used in this recommendation. These show actual, projected, and budgeted values for both cost and labor hours.

6. Check the last refreshed time on the right. To recalculate from current data, click Refresh.

Update a recommendation when new figures are available

When costs or hours change after a recommendation is calculated, ServiceTitan offers a revised figure rather than overwriting the original.

1. Look for the note on the recommendation that says a new recommendation is available. It shows the revised amount and the difference from the current one.

2. Click Update Recommendation to move to the revised figure.

Start an Application for Payment from a recommendation

1. On the recommendation, click Start AFP.

2. In Add Application for Payment, choose how the description of work is generated: Use budget code, Use project label, or Use estimate description.

3. If the billing schedule has not been set for this project, set Due date each month and Surface recommendation in the same window.

4. Click Continue. The Application for Payments window opens on the Continuation Sheet tab, with a new application tab added.

5. In the header, set Period To, Application Date, and Retainage Rate.

6. Review the recommendation panel. To Be Billed is set to the recommended amount, and Current Allocation starts at zero.

Note: If an application is already underway, the Financials page shows how much is allocated and how much remains. The button reads Continue AFP.

Adjust the amount to be billed

1. Click the Edit icon next to To Be Billed.

2. Enter the amount you want to bill.

   

3. Click the Confirm icon to keep the change, or the Cancel icon to discard it.

If your figure is above the recommended amount, ServiceTitan shows the difference beneath the field.

View the labor and cost breakdown

The breakdown shows the evidence behind a recommendation. You can open it from the Financials page or from the continuation sheet.

1. Click View labor and cost breakdown. The AFP Billing Period Context panel opens.

2. Review Project Progress for labor hours: actual, projected, budgeted, and progress completion percentage, with a variance against plan.

3. Review Project Costs for costs to date, projected costs through period end, and budgeted costs, with a variance against plan.

4. Review Costs by Cost Type for a breakdown by cost type, showing actual, projected, and budgeted values.

5. To see the same breakdown by cost code, click Cost Code.

Want to learn more?

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