Quote faster, invoice from the job,
plan without a date.

Quote a whole job's parts in one click.

If you fit the same set of parts again and again, such as everything for a consumer unit replacement or a boiler swap, you no longer need to add them one at a time. Group them into an Item Kit under Inventory, with the quantity of each, and add the lot to a quote or invoice with Add Kit.

Kit items go on as normal lines, so you can still change a quantity or remove something for this job. Stock is reserved and deducted exactly as if you'd added each item yourself. Already built the perfect quote? Save as Kit turns its stock lines into a new kit.

Changing or deleting a kit later never changes quotes or invoices it was already used on. HiveHire items can't go in a kit.

Bill what you actually did.

Not every job starts with a quote. Now any job can be invoiced from HivePlanner: use Raise invoice in the job panel, straight after completing it, or from the new Ready to invoice list in All Jobs, which shows completed jobs that haven't been invoiced yet.

The invoice is filled in from the job's customer, site, order number and title, with the lines from its quote if it has one. Under From the job, tick in the stock used, costs logged and hours clocked. Costs and labour need the price you're charging, so nothing goes on at cost by accident. A job can have more than one invoice, for example a deposit and the final bill.

Complete

Finish the job in HivePlanner or HiveCrew. Notes added when you complete it are saved on the job with the date.

Pick

Raise invoice opens with the job's details in place. Tick the parts, costs and hours you want to charge for.

Send

Check it, then send. The due date comes from the customer's payment terms.

Put a sent invoice right, properly.

A part came back, or hours were invoiced twice. Instead of editing an invoice the customer already has, open it and choose Credit Note. Credit each line in full or in part, or add a line for an amount, and give a reason that's printed on the credit note. VAT is credited at the invoice's rate.

Save it as a draft, then Issue it to give it its own number (CN-00001 by default, changed in Document Numbering). The invoice shows the new amount due, or Credited if it's cleared in full, and a customer paying online pays the lower amount. If the invoice was already paid, record whether the money was refunded or held as credit for the customer.

HiveSuite records refunds on the credit note. The refund itself is paid outside HiveSuite.

Invoices your commercial customers will actually pay.

Letting agents, facilities managers and main contractors often won't pay an invoice without the right paperwork. These changes make sure it's there.

• Payment terms. Set your usual terms in Invoice Settings and different terms for any customer: a number of days, days after the end of the month ("30 days end of month") or due on receipt. The due date is worked out for you and the terms are printed on the invoice.
• Order (PO) numbers. Add the customer's order number to a job and it's copied onto the invoice. A customer, or every invoice, can be set to need one before it can be sent. You can still save a draft while you wait for it.
• Site address. Pick one of the customer's saved addresses as the site or delivery address, or type one in, and it prints next to the invoice address. A job's address is filled in for you.
• Customer billing details. Keep a customer's VAT number, company number and payment terms on their record, with any credit held shown in a Billing section.
• Adjustment lines. A line that isn't a stock item can have a negative price, for things like a goodwill discount. You can turn this off.

Make your documents look like your business.

The Template Builder has been rebuilt as Template Studio: one place to design quote, invoice and purchase order templates, with three ways to work on the same template.

Design

Drag blocks onto the page and click into text to edit it. Click the line items table to rename, reorder or add columns, or the totals to hide any that are zero. No code needed.

Code

The full HTML and CSS with a live preview beside it. Code mode never rewrites anything you've written.

HiveAssist

Describe what you want, such as "use navy and gold" or "add our bank details under the totals", and HiveAssist suggests the change for you to apply or undo.

Your work is saved as a draft while you go, every save is kept in History so you can go back, and you're warned if someone else changed the template at the same time. The new Templates page previews every template, sets your default quote, invoice and purchase order template in one click, starts you from a ready-made design (Compact, Elegant and Trades join the starters), and lets you duplicate, import, export, or bring back a deleted template within 30 days.

Credit notes have templates too, starting from six ready-made designs. Invoice and credit note templates now check for your VAT number, an order number and a site address, with a one-click Add.

Template Studio is on every plan. HiveAssist requests and copying a PDF are included with paid plans, with a daily allowance shared across your workspace.

Trade under more than one name without more templates.

Each subsidiary now has its own Documents page, where you set its terms for quotes, invoices and purchase orders, payment terms, a footer note, company number and website, and which template its documents use. One template can show the right terms for whichever company a document comes from.

A subsidiary can also have its own Terms & Conditions for customers to accept when signing a quote. Every change is saved as a new version, so quotes already signed keep the exact T&Cs the customer agreed to. And you can now choose each customer's default subsidiary, so their quotes and invoices come from the right company automatically.

Plan the work you haven't dated yet.

"We'll do it sometime next month" used to mean a sticky note or a fake date. Now create the job with no date and how long it should take, and it waits in the Unscheduled tray beside the calendar, alongside accepted quotes not yet booked. Drag it onto the calendar, or onto someone's day in Crew View, and its length sets the end time. Move to Unscheduled takes a booked job back off the calendar, and crew see jobs with no date yet under No date yet in HiveCrew.

Turn on Show time off on the HivePlanner calendar in Time Off settings to see who is off at the top of each day, with bank holidays shaded.

Also in October.

• Profit on quotes adds up. Internal profit now compares your full revenue, including surcharges and less any discount, before VAT, with your costs, so it matches the quote's subtotal. You're told how many lines have no cost entered.
• Product photos on stock items, with a page for each item showing its images, prices and stock levels.
• Delete a job added by mistake. For a repeating job, choose this visit, this and future visits, or the whole series.
• Modules page. Switch HiveHire, Time Off, Documents and Site Log on or off in one place. Turning one off keeps its data.
• Tag imported customers so you can find that batch on your customer list afterwards.
• Upgrading your plan now changes your current plan straight away. You pay only the difference for the rest of the billing period.

Common questions about this release.

Are Item Kits, credit notes and Template Studio included in my plan?

Yes. They are included on every HiveSuite plan, from Solo at £34.99/month inc. VAT. HiveAssist in Template Studio (describing changes and copying a PDF) is included with paid plans rather than free trials.

If I change a kit, do my old quotes change too?

No. Adding a kit puts its items on the quote or invoice as normal lines. Changing or deleting the kit later never changes quotes or invoices it was already used on.

Do credit notes go to Xero and QuickBooks?

Yes. When Xero or QuickBooks is connected and invoices sync, issued credit notes are sent too, and voiding one voids it there. Record the refund itself in your accounts software, as it needs the bank account the money left from.

Will invoices still be sent automatically when a job is completed?

If you want them to be. HivePlanner can create the invoice when a job linked to a quote is completed. Turn on Send these invoices automatically to send it straight away, or leave it off to get a draft to check first. New workspaces start with drafts.

Will my existing quote and invoice templates change?

No. Your existing templates and PDFs look exactly as they did. Template Studio is simply where you change them now.

Can I create a job before I know the date?

Yes. Choose Unscheduled instead of a date and enter how long it should take. The job waits in the Unscheduled tray until you drag it onto the calendar, and its length sets the end time. Unscheduled jobs cannot repeat.