In this article, we will explore various features related to invoices and payments, including creating and managing invoices, accepting online and offline payments, and handling anonymous payments. Let's dive in!
Adding an Invoice While Creating an Appointment
One of the convenient features of HomeGauge is the ability to create an invoice and request payment while scheduling an appointment. Here's how you can do it:
Need to Add or change your Inspection Services? Inspection Services are needed to generate an invoice while scheduling an Appointment. This article covers setting up, adding, and editing Inspection Services: Inspector Dashboard: Setup and Manage Inspection Services.
Creating an invoice while scheduling an appointment is covered in this article: Inspector Dashboard: Creating and Managing Appointments
An invoice in HomeGauge is created only when the "Request Payment" option is chosen during appointment scheduling.
Note: If "Request Payment" is not selected during scheduling, the invoice will not be required or visible by the customer.
Deleting an Invoice from an Appointment
If you need to remove an invoice that was generated for an appointment, follow these simple steps:
If the invoice has been paid via HG Payments, you can refund the payment from your dashboard. For instructions on refunding a payment, visit Inspector Dashboard: Refunding Online Payments.
On your Dashboard, under My Reports, you can find the report you need to remove the invoice from
Click the Amount Due to access the Payment Information screen
Click the 3 dots to the right of the invoice. From the Dropdown menu, then select Delete.
Click Edit Appointment Services
Uncheck Request Payment box
Click Save Changes Only on the bottom of the appointment page..
Creating an Invoice From All Reports
You can create invoices outside of the Appointment feature as well. Here's how you can do it:
Start on your HomeGauge dashboard under My Reports > All Reports
Find the report address you would like to add an invoice to
Click Request Payment to access the Create Invoice page.
Enter the "Amount Due" and add a brief customer invoice description.
You can also use the Require Payment to View Documents option to restrict document viewing until payment is received
Choose between Request Payment to send notification emails to the customer or Create Invoice Only to skip sending notifications
Once created, the invoice will appear under that Report ID and Address page as a red exclamation point and the amount due.
If an invoice does not currently exist, it must be created by selecting the "Request Payment" option, entering the amount due, and saving the invoice.
Create an Additional/ Multiple Invoice(s)
You may need to create an additional invoice. Follow these steps to do so:
From your Inspector Dashboard, locate the report address with the invoice you want to view.
Find the report address you would like to add an invoice to
Click on the payment link, which may appear as Request Payment, Amount Due, Paid, or Partially Paid, depending on the status
Click the New Invoice button and proceed to add the new invoice details as explained earlier
The new invoice will appear under the respective report on your dashboard, and if there are multiple unpaid invoices, their amounts will be totaled together
Viewing an Invoice
To view an invoice, follow these steps:
From your HomeGauge Dashboard, locate the report address with the invoice you want to view
The invoice status will be displayed either in red text with an exclamation mark and the amount due or with a green check mark showing the amount paid. Click on the red or green link with the invoice amount.
From here, you can:
Edit the Appointment
Send Invoice Emails
Take Payment
Add a New Invoice
Edit / Delete the invoice
From this Information Page, you can also see:
When the invoice was created
If the invoice has been paid
If documents can or can't be viewed before payment
Resending an Invoice to Your Client
If you need to resend an invoice for payment purposes, follow these steps:
Navigate to the job or invoice in the HomeGauge dashboard.
Locate the option labeled "Send invoice notifications."
Click this option to resend a payment request to your client.
This ensures your client receives the most updated payment information and remains informed.
Note: If you booked an appointment without an agreement, the property will not display in All Reports. You can view all invoices by:
From the left-side menu, click My Reports > Payment Status.
Locate the address containing the invoice you want to print and click on the address in blue. Use the Date Range drop-down to filter invoices depending on how far the job was done in the past.
Edit / Delete an Invoice
View the invoice using the steps mentioned earlier
Click the 3 dots to the right of the invoice. From the Dropdown menu, you can choose to Edit the Invoice or Delete it.
If you would like to lock your documents from being viewed until the customer pays, Click Require Payment to View Documents. You can also choose to Request Payment which will take you to send out notification emails to your customer or Update Invoice Only which will not send out a notification to your customer.
If you created the invoice with an appointment, you will be redirected to the appointment page instead where you can edit the inspection services currently assigned.
Printing/Emailing a Invoice
If you need to print an invoice for your records or send it to the payer, follow these steps:
View the invoice using the steps mentioned earlier
Click the 3 dots to the right of the invoice
Click Print Invoice to access a copy of the invoice for your records. Click Email Invoice to send a copy to the payer of the invoice.
Printing/Emailing a Receipt
If you need to print a receipt for your records or send it to the payer, follow these steps:
View the invoice using the steps mentioned earlier
Click the 3 Dots next to the payment, then click View Receipt.
Click Print to access a copy of the invoice for your records. Click Email to send a copy to the payer of the invoice.
Disable/ Enable REPS to pay for inspections
By default, any Real Estate Professional (REP) associated with the appointment can view and complete invoice payments. However, you can disable this feature under Company Settings. Here's how:
Log onto your Dashboard and click Settings (on the left) > Customer Payments.
Move the slider next to Allow REPS to Pay for Inspections to either enable or disable the ability for agents to pay for your inspections.
Anonymous Payments
Anonymous Payments allow any one to pay you without logging in. This works by having the user enter their card and choosing an amount to pay.
WARNING! Anonymous payments are not linked to reports. If you receive payment for an inspection anonymously, it's important to manually mark that inspection as paid as soon as you can. Doing so will help keep records straight so that you can know what is and is not paid for, avoiding a situation where you later ask for payment from a customer who has already sent you money.
Log onto your Dashboard and click Settings (on the left) > Customer Payments.
Move the slider next to Allow Anonymous Payments to allow or disallow anonymous payments.
If a customer is making an anonymous payment to you:
Verify that your profile is listed in search results. Click Settings (on the left) -> Inspector Profile. Under Public Information, Move the slider for Show Profile in Search Results.
Have the customer find your HG profile by clicking this link for our inspector finder.
Click on your company name to go into your profile.
Click on the button Pay Online Now.
Here, they can log in to make a payment or click Make Other Payment to make an anonymous payment.
They will then fill out their card info and click Make a Secure Payment.
FAQs
Why is the invoice I created not connected to the report I uploaded?
If a recently created invoice doesn’t appear on your dashboard as expected, you can resolve this by correcting the links between the report and the invoice. Use these steps:
Check that the invoice is tied to the correct appointment and report ID.
If required, re-publish the invoice as follows:
Create a new appointment on the calendar rather than modifying the existing one.
Assign a distinctive report ID for the specific report (e.g., add a suffix like "_re" or a new date).
Align the report ID with the corresponding field in your HG5 software.
Publish the report again to apply the changes.
Delete any duplicate reports to avoid potential confusion.
Use Request Payment on the corrected invoice to enter the appropriate amount owed.
This process ensures the invoice appears correctly and prevents errors in linking or duplication.
How do I take payment manually?
If you need to take a payment from a Buyer or REP in person or over the phone, follow the instructions listed in Inspector Dashboard: Processing Payments Manually