Crane Invoicing Software

The Real Cost of Manual Crane Invoicing

Manual invoicing in the crane industry means re-typing field ticket data into an invoice template, then hoping the hours and standby match what the GC signed in the field. When they do not match, the invoice is disputed. The dispatcher spends 30 to 60 minutes pulling the original ticket, reconciling the numbers, and reissuing the document. That dispute cycle delays payment by weeks, not days.

The average time-to-invoice in the heavy crane industry is measured in days. A crew finishes a job on Friday afternoon, the paper ticket rides in the truck until Monday, the office processes it Tuesday, and an invoice reaches the GC by Wednesday at best. That is five days of float on every job, multiplied by every crane in the fleet. For a company running 10 cranes across 30-day jobs, the difference between a 5-day and a same-day invoice cycle is tens of thousands of dollars in cash flow.

Manual invoicing also creates approval delays. If the GC needs to approve the ticket before paying, and that approval happens via email, each round trip adds another day or two. CraneOp eliminates every one of these delays by generating the invoice the moment the GC signs the field ticket, not when a dispatcher finds time to process it.

Field-to-Invoice in Seconds

The CraneOp invoice flow starts in the field. The crane operator creates a field ticket from the mobile PWA at the end of the shift: hours worked, standby time, materials used, and photos of the lift or site. The GC signs the field ticket on their phone while standing on the job site. That signature is timestamped and GPS-located.

When the GC signature lands, CraneOp reads the exact hours, standby, and materials from the signed ticket and generates an invoice. The invoice is emailed to the GC's billing contact within seconds of the signature. No re-entry by the dispatcher. No manual calculation of standby rates. The ticket data is the invoice data, and the GC already agreed to it when they signed. Disputes drop because there is no gap between what the GC signed and what the invoice says.

The invoice is also visible in the GC portal the moment it is generated, so the GC's accounts payable team can see it before the email even arrives.

ACH and Card Payments via Stripe Connect

CraneOp processes payments through Stripe Connect. Each crane company that signs up gets its own connected Stripe account. When a GC pays an invoice, the payment goes directly to the crane company's connected Stripe account and then to the company's bank. CraneOp does not hold or pool customer funds. The crane company owns its payment account and its relationship with Stripe.

GCs can pay via ACH bank transfer or card directly from the invoice email or from the GC portal. ACH is lower cost for large invoices. Card is available for GCs who need to float a payment on credit. CraneOp applies 3D Secure on all card transactions to reduce chargeback exposure. For new GC bank accounts, a first-payment hold is applied until the account clears, which protects the crane company from fraudulent bank account submissions.

Payment status updates the job record in CraneOp automatically when Stripe confirms the payment. The dispatcher sees paid status without checking a bank portal. Partial payments and payment plans are supported. All payment activity is logged against the invoice record for audit purposes.

Automated Dunning When Invoices Go Unpaid

CraneOp runs a 4-stage dunning sequence automatically when an invoice goes unpaid past the due date. At Day 7, a payment reminder email fires to the GC's billing contact. At Day 14, a second email is sent plus an SMS to the GC contact on file, assuming TCPA consent was captured at invitation time. At Day 21, CraneOp creates a dispatcher task to make a phone call, with the invoice amount and GC contact information pre-populated. At Day 30, CraneOp sends a certified mail final demand letter via Lob to the GC's billing address.

The entire sequence fires without dispatcher intervention after Day 21. CAN-SPAM and TCPA consent is tracked per GC contact, so CraneOp will not send SMS to a contact who has not opted in. At Day 45, unpaid invoices surface in the collections handoff queue with the full payment history attached. The Lob certified mail creates a delivery-confirmed paper trail for any collections or lien filing that follows. Internal links: see all CraneOp features or view pricing to see which plans include automated dunning.

Bill Faster and Get Paid

20-minute walkthrough. Custom quote inside one business day. Invoicing, ACH payments, and dunning included from day one.