Service Plans FAQ

  • Updated

In this article, you will learn about some of the most frequently asked questions related to Service Plans.

Service Plans is an add-on designed to help businesses create and manage recurring visits for general services or maintenance. With Service Plans, you can build reusable plan templates, enroll clients in just a few clicks, and automatically collect recurring payments — so you can keep your schedule full and get paid on time.

Getting started

  • Service Plans can be enabled directly from the Feature Center.

    1. From the sidebar menu, select Feature Center
    2. Select Service Plans
    3. Select Get started

    Once enabled, you will see a Service Plans option in your sidebar menu and a Service Plans Manager in your Settings.

    Don't see the Feature Center? Ask your account admin to enable the Account Settings permission for your role.

  • A plan template is a reusable plan created in the Service Plans Manager. Templates are ideal for the plans you offer regularly, since you can enroll as many clients as you'd like in the same template.

    A custom plan is a one-time plan created for a single client during enrollment. Custom plans cannot be saved or reused for other clients.

    To learn more about creating plan templates, please see this article.

  • Yes. When enrolling a client in a plan template, you can modify the plan's name, description, start date, service period, number of visits, billing option, and price for that client. These changes only apply to that client's plan — the original template is unaffected.

    To learn more about enrolling clients in service plans, please see this article.

  • No. Plan details can only be edited while you are setting up the plan during enrollment. To make changes to an active plan, you will need to cancel the plan and re-enroll the client with the updated details.

    Before canceling, keep in mind that canceling a plan permanently deletes all of its upcoming visits, jobs, and scheduled payments.

  • No. Plan templates cannot be deleted, but you can archive any template you no longer offer from Settings > Service Plans Manager.

    Archiving a template prevents any new clients from being enrolled in it. Any clients already subscribed to that template will keep their existing plans.

  • Yes. From the mobile app, you can enroll clients in service plans from a job or client profile, as well as send or cancel a client's plan.

    Creating plan templates and using the Service Plans dashboard (Client plans and My visits) are available on the web app only.

    To learn more about using Service Plans on the mobile app, please see this article.

Billing & payments

  • Yes. Service plans support automatic recurring billing. When enrolling a client, set the billing frequency for the plan (e.g., annual, quarterly, monthly, custom, or one-time) and select Recurring payment with credit card as the payment collection method.

    Your client's card will be saved to the plan and automatically charged each time a payment is due, so there's no need to collect payments manually.

  • Billing begins based on the billing schedule you choose when enrolling a client:
    • Bill now: Create and send the first invoice immediately. Depending on your payment collection method, your client may be charged right away.
    • Custom billing date: Choose a specific date for the first invoice to be sent.
    • No billing required: Create the plan without requiring payment.

  • If billing is required, you can choose from three payment collection methods:

    • Recurring payment with credit card: Your client receives a link to the client portal to review and pay for their plan. Their card is saved on file and automatically charged when future payments are due.
    • One-time payment with credit card or ACH: Your client receives a link to the client portal to pay. Payment details are not saved for future payments.
    • Manual payment: Accept the plan on behalf of your client and enter the payment yourself.

    Recurring credit card payments are powered by Workiz Pay.

    To learn more about collecting payments for service plans, please see this article.

  • Failed service plan payments are automatically retried. Both your business and your client will also receive an email notification.

    If your client needs to use a different card, you can update the payment method directly in their service plan.

  • Update a client's card if it has expired or a payment has failed.
    1. Open the client's profile and select the Service plans tab
    2. Select the plan you want to update
    3. Select the pencil icon
    4. Select Update payment method

  • No. Clients cannot update the card used for their service plan payments on their own. To change the card used for recurring billing, update the payment method within the client's service plan in Workiz.

    Updating the card on file in the client's profile will not change the card used for their service plan. Be sure to update the card in the plan itself so future payments are charged correctly.

  • Select Manual payment as the payment collection method when enrolling your client. You will be prompted to enter the initial payment upon enrollment.

    All future payments will need to be recorded individually on their corresponding invoices.

    1. Open the client's profile and select the Invoices tab
    2. Open the invoice for the billing cycle being paid
    3. Record the payment

  • Yes. You can set a retroactive start date of up to three months when enrolling a client in a service plan.

    Keep in mind that a retroactive start date may trigger billing for all accumulated cycles. For example, if your plan bills monthly and the start date is three months ago, your client may be charged for the first three months of the plan as soon as they pay.

    To avoid a potential dispute, be sure to set clear expectations with your client when using a retroactive start date.

  • When you add line items from your price book to a service plan, the plan price is automatically calculated based on the total of those items. The plan price itself can't be edited directly — instead, adjust the item prices or apply a billing frequency discount.

    Adding line items to service plans is currently in beta. To learn more, please see this article.

  • A member discount is a percentage-based discount automatically applied to all future line items on jobs, estimates, and invoices for the enrolled client. Member discounts are not applied retroactively to past work.

    Because the discount applies to the client, it will be applied to any new job created for that client — not only jobs created from their service plan visits.

    To learn more about member discounts, please see this article.

  • Unlike standard estimates and invoices, the service plan invoice template does not display the member discount automatically. To show it, add the member discount short code to your service plan invoice template from Settings > Documents > Service plan invoice.

    To learn more about customizing your service plan invoices, please see this article.

  • On the Invoices page, use the filters to filter your invoices by service plan.

Visits & jobs

  • Visits are placeholders on your schedule that represent the work included in a client's service plan. Workiz automatically creates all visits for a plan once your client has paid.

    Visits appear semi-transparent on your schedule and cannot be modified until they are converted into jobs. By default, visits are scheduled as unassigned events at 9 a.m. on weekdays, unless you set specific dates during enrollment.

  • Visits can be converted into jobs from any of the following:

    • Client profile: In the Visits tab, select the quick action next to the visit
    • Service Plans: In the My visits tab, select the quick action next to the visit
    • Schedule: Select the visit and choose the option to convert it

    To learn more about converting visits into jobs, please see this article.

  • Yes. You can set visit dates when enrolling a client (e.g., specific dates, a specific date each month, or a specific weekday each month), or edit visit dates after enrollment from your schedule or the Service Plans dashboard.

    Need to shift the entire schedule? When enrolling a client, change the date of the first visit and every visit after it will shift by the same number of days automatically.

  • Yes. Jobs created from service plan visits start with no line items, but you can add items to the job at any time — for example, to capture an upsell during the visit.

    Items added to the job only apply to that job and will not change the service plan or its price.

  • All jobs converted from service plan visits automatically receive a Service Plan job tag, making them easy to filter and use in automation rules. A service plan badge also appears next to the client's name on these jobs.

    The plan's description will also fill in the job description when a visit is converted into a job.

  • We recommend canceling the job instead of deleting it. Deleted jobs cannot be recovered, and new jobs cannot be reconnected to an existing service plan.

Reminders & client communication

  • Yes. After creating your first service plan, Workiz automatically adds an automation rule that sends your clients a reminder 14 days before their upcoming visit. This rule does not count toward your plan's automation limit.

    This reminder stops applying once a visit is converted into a job. From that point, the job follows your standard job automation rules.

  • Yes. With the Workiz Automations add-on, you can use pre-built templates to send reminders before service plan visits, before a plan expires, before a plan automatically renews, and after a plan offer is sent. You can customize the message type, timing, and content of each reminder.

    To learn more about sending automated reminders for service plans, please see this article.

  • Your clients will receive an email or text message with a link to the client portal. From there, they can review and approve the plan, and — if you chose to collect payment online — pay for it.
  • Your service plan invoice template can be customized to include details like the plan's description. For example, add the {{servicePlan.description}} short code to display the plan description on the invoice.
    1. Go to Settings > Documents
    2. Select Service plan invoice
    3. Add the short codes you'd like to include and save your changes

  • Yes. You can attach PDF, JPEG, and PNG files when creating or editing a plan template, creating a custom plan, or enrolling a client. Files cannot be attached after a client has been enrolled.

    Your clients can view and download attachments from the client portal.

    To learn more about attaching files to service plans, please see this article.

Managing subscriptions

  • View every subscription across your business from the Service Plans dashboard.

    1. From the sidebar menu, select Service Plans
    2. Select the Client plans tab
    3. Filter by plan or status (e.g., Pending approval, Active, Expires soon, Expired)

    To learn more about managing service plan subscriptions, please see this article.

  • Clients enrolled in a service plan display a badge next to their name throughout Workiz. You can also:
    • Filter the Clients page by whether a client has a service plan and by plan status
    • Add the service plan name and status as columns on the client report
    • View all of a client's plans directly from any of their jobs

  • Only if auto-renewal is enabled. You can turn auto-renewal on or off when creating a plan template, and adjust it for each client during enrollment.

    Plans that will expire within 30 days are marked as Expires soon in the Service Plans dashboard.

  • Canceling a plan permanently deletes all upcoming visits, jobs, and scheduled payments for that plan. This action cannot be undone.
    1. Open the client's profile and select the Service plans tab
    2. Next to the plan you want to cancel, select the cancel icon
    3. Confirm the cancellation

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