PlumbingBossPro Blog — Billing & Payments

Restaurant Plumbing Accounts: Billing Grease-Line Jetting Monthly

Restaurant kitchens send a lot of grease down their drains, and grease lines need regular jetting to keep flowing. For a plumbing company, that makes restaurants a steady source of recurring work. A restaurant on a 14-day or 30-day jetting schedule is a visit you can count on. Billing it well is what keeps the account.

A Business Account, Not a Homeowner

Restaurants are billed much like the landlords in Billing Landlords With Several Rentals: Keeping Each Address Clear on the Plumbing Statement: many visits, often more than one location, and an owner or office manager who wants one bill. The difference is how often the work happens.

Setting Up the Jetting Schedule

Recurring work in PlumbingBossPro is set by minimum days between visits. A restaurant on biweekly jetting gets 14. A lighter kitchen gets 30. After each visit, the next one comes due on the Waiting List on its own, a live map and list of every visit that is due, with pins showing not due yet, due now or overdue.

Many restaurants want jetting done when the kitchen is closed: late at night or early in the morning before prep. Put that in the access notes on the address — “Jet after 10pm only, back door, ask for the closing manager” — so the tech sees it on the job card every time.

The equipment list on the address is useful too. Note the sewer cleanout location and any access details so a new tech is not hunting for it in the dark.

Why Monthly Statements Fit Restaurants

A restaurant on a 14-day schedule could get two or three separate invoices a month for jetting alone, plus more for any service calls. Restaurant owners and managers do not want that. They want to see the month's plumbing in one place.

Set the restaurant client to Monthly. They get one statement each month covering every address, each line labeled with where the work was done. A statement for a small restaurant group might show:

• Main Street location — Grease line jetting (1st visit)
• Main Street location — Grease line jetting (2nd visit)
• Westside location — Grease line jetting
• Westside location — Service call, clear floor drain by dish station

One statement, every location, every visit.

Writing Restaurant Lines

Restaurant owners look at costs closely. Clear lines help:

• Separate scheduled jetting from service calls. “Scheduled grease line jetting” is planned maintenance. “Emergency call — floor drain backing up during dinner service” is something else, and should look different.
• Name the location. Even with one location, name the drain or line: “Kitchen main line from rear cleanout.”
• Keep after-hours charges visible. If you charge more for overnight emergency calls, put that on its own line, as covered in Emergency and After-Hours Charges as Plumbing Invoice Line Items.

Photos and Notes Protect the Account

Restaurants are often busy or closed when the work is done. Nobody watches the jetter run. That makes before-and-after photos and tech notes valuable. The tech can photograph the cleanout and note what came out of the line: “Heavy grease buildup, line flowing clear after jetting.”

If an owner ever asks whether the visits actually happened, the job history shows every visit with its photos and notes. That ends the conversation quickly and keeps the account.

Talk to the Account About Frequency

The tech's notes also tell you when the schedule needs changing. If every 30-day visit shows heavy buildup, the restaurant may need jetting every 14 days. If every 14-day visit finds a clean line, they may be fine at 30. Raise it with the owner, show them the notes, and change the minimum days between visits. Honest advice on frequency builds trust, and the monthly statement reflects the change automatically.

Restaurants also change managers often. When a new manager starts, a quick text from the office introducing your company, the jetting schedule and who to call in an emergency keeps the account from drifting. A new manager who does not know you exist may call someone else the first time a floor drain backs up during a busy dinner. Recording the new contact on the client keeps your techs and office up to date, too.

Who Pays

As with property managers, the kitchen staff are not the billing contact. Confirm who receives and pays the statement — the owner, a bookkeeper or a corporate office — and note it on the client with tags or custom fields. Never ask a line cook to sign for or pay a bill.

For how monthly restaurant billing fits with the rest of PlumbingBossPro, see the plumbing invoicing software page.