Understanding service contacts and billing contacts

Many businesses maintain properties where one person coordinates the work while another person or organisation is responsible for paying the invoice.

In SortScape, this is handled with two fields on each property:

• Service contact: who coordinates the work at the property.
• Billing contact: who appears on invoices and receives invoice messages.

Getting this right can save time, reduce confusion, and help ensure invoices are paid promptly.

Quick rules

• Each property has one Service contact and one default Billing contact.
• By default, billing contact is Same as service contact.
• You can change the billing contact on the property at any time. See Changing a property billing contact.
• You can also choose a different billing contact while creating a specific invoice, without permanently changing the property default. See Invoicing customers.

What messages go where

SortScape supports multiple message types. The destination depends on the message type:

• Visit messages (manual SMS/email from a visit and automatic visit reminders) are sent to the Service contact.
• Invoice messages (new invoice messages and invoice reminders where available) are sent to the Billing contact.

Multi-unit terminology (same setup, different names)

The payer entity for common-area work is named differently by region:

• Strata / Body Corporate / Owners Corporation (AU/NZ)
• Homeowners Association (HOA) / Condominium Association / Co-op (US/CA)
• Residents’ Management Company (UK)

In SortScape, the setup pattern is the same: service operations go to the Service contact, and invoice ownership goes to the Billing contact.

Scenario 1: Rental property

Tenant lives at the property, while either a real estate agency or the owner handles billing.

Recommended setup

Field	Example value
Property	123 Smith Street
Service contact	John Smith (Tenant)
Billing contact	ABC Real Estate or Sarah Brown (Owner)

Message and invoice outcome

Item	Recipient
Visit reminders/messages	Tenant (service contact)
Invoice messages	Billing contact
Invoice “Bill to”	Billing contact

If the property is self-managed, use the owner as the billing contact instead of a real estate agency.

Scenario 2: Multi-unit property managed by a third party

A management company coordinates maintenance on behalf of a body corporate, owners association, or HOA that is responsible for paying invoices.

Recommended setup

Field	Example value
Property	100 Example Avenue
Service contact	Jane Wilson (Example Property Management)
Billing contact	Example Gardens Owners Association

Message and invoice outcome

Item	Recipient
Visit reminders/messages	Property manager (service contact)
Invoice messages	Billing contact
Invoice “Bill to”	Example Gardens Owners Association

Tip: The billing contact name and billing contact email do not need to represent the same organisation. For example, you may invoice a body corporate or HOA while sending invoice messages to the management company’s accounts team.

Common setup patterns

Owner-occupied residential (simple case)

Use the same person as both service contact and billing contact.

Landlord/agency usually pays, tenant sometimes pays

Keep the landlord/agency as the property’s default billing contact, then select a different billing contact when creating one-off tenant-paid invoices.

Two regular payers for the same address

If you often switch who pays, create two property records for the same address with different default billing contacts so invoice defaults are predictable.

Important limitations and notes

• Automatic invoice reminders apply to SortScape’s built-in invoices (not Xero or QuickBooks Online invoices). See Automatic invoice reminders.
• For Xero or QuickBooks Online workflows, SortScape can create the invoice using the selected billing contact, but invoice delivery timing/rules may depend on your integration settings. See Invoicing customers.