Set up your account

Set up your Service Buddy account in seven steps — profile, business info, branding, date format, tax rates, and a quick check at the end. Most accounts take 10–15 minutes. The settings here shape how dates, money, and documents look everywhere else, so finish them before you add real clients or jobs.

Tip

If you’re in the US, change the date format to MM/DD/YYYY before sending your first quote or invoice — the default is DD/MM/YYYY. See step 5.

1. Log in for the first time

1. Open the welcome email from Service Buddy and click Activate your account.
2. Create a strong password when prompted.
3. You’ll be taken to the Service Buddy dashboard.

Tip

Save your login in a password manager. If your team’s spread across the showroom, warehouse, and the road, one source of truth saves a lot of “I forgot my password” pings during install week.

2. Complete your personal profile

Your profile shows up on quotes, invoices, and internal notes, so keep it accurate.

1. Click the gear icon in the top-right corner and choose Account And Profile.
2. Add your full name, job title, and a profile photo.
3. Confirm your email and add a mobile number for notifications.
4. Click Update to save your profile.

Note

The gear menu has five items, in this order: Settings, Live Help, Account And Profile, Manage Team, and Sign Out.

3. Enter your business information

This is what clients see at the top of your quotes and invoices.

1. Go to Settings → Company Settings (under Company Management) → General Settings tab.
2. Fill in the Company Information section:
   • Company Name — exactly how you want it on quotes and invoices.
   • Phone Number and Email Address.
   • Website URL.
   • Industry — pick Flooring Retailer, Flooring Installers, Flooring Design, Carpet & Rug Cleaning & Repair, or Home Service.
   • Address Line 1, Address Line 2, Address Line 3 (use as many as you need), City, State, Post Code, Country.
3. Click Update Settings at the bottom of the page.

4. Upload your branding

Your logo and brand colors appear at the top of every quote, invoice, and client-facing email.

1. Go to Settings → Company Branding (under Company Management).
2. Upload your logo. PNG or JPG; transparent backgrounds work best.
3. Set your brand color if you want quotes and invoices to match your store’s palette.
4. Save.

5. Set your date format

The default is DD/MM/YYYY. If you’re in the US — or anywhere that puts the month first — change this before you send your first quote or invoice. Available formats:

• DD/MM/YYYY (e.g. 19/05/2026)
• MM/DD/YYYY (e.g. 05/19/2026) — pick this if you’re in the US
• YYYY-MM-DD (e.g. 2026-05-19)
• Month DD, YYYY (e.g. May 19, 2026)

To change it:

1. Go to Settings → Company Settings → General Settings tab.
2. Scroll down to Default Date Format and pick the format you want. Today’s date previews in the dropdown so you can see exactly how it’ll look.
3. Click Update Settings at the bottom of the page.

6. Set up tax rates

If you charge sales tax, configure your rates here so they apply automatically to new client properties, quotes, invoices, and jobs.

Add a tax rate

1. Go to Settings → Company Settings → Tax Settings tab.
2. Click + Create Tax Rate.
3. Enter:
   • Name — for example, MA Sales Tax or State Tax. Names must be unique.
   • Rate (%) — the percentage as a number (e.g. 6.25 for 6.25%).
   • Description — optional. Useful when you have several similar rates.
4. Save.

Add a separate rate for each jurisdiction you bill in (state, county, city).

Combine rates with a tax group (optional)

If a single sale needs to charge more than one tax — for example, state + county — create a tax rate group:

1. From Tax Settings, click + Create Tax Group.
2. Give the group a name (e.g. NY State + Suffolk County).
3. Select the individual rates that make up the group. The group’s total is the sum of its members and cannot exceed 100% — Service Buddy will block the save if it does.
4. Save.

A tax rate name and a tax group name share the same namespace, so a group can’t reuse the name of an existing rate.

Set a default

Mark one rate or one group as default. The default auto-applies to new client properties, quotes, invoices, and jobs. Only one default is active across the whole account at a time — setting a new default automatically clears the previous one.

Note

How rates flow through. Tax rates live on the client property (the install address). When you create a quote, invoice, or job for that property, it inherits the property’s rate. You can override the rate on an individual quote or invoice if a specific line should use a different one. If a rate or group is later deleted, any properties using it automatically fall back to the current default.

Caution

Tax treatment for installed flooring varies by state — some tax materials only, others tax labor too, and rules differ for residential versus commercial work. Confirm the right setup with your accountant before going live with real invoices.

Lower down on the General Settings tab you’ll see an Enable commission settings toggle — leave it off for now and set commissions up later when you invite your team. See Set up a commission plan.

7. Double-check everything

Open Settings → Company Settings one more time and confirm:

• Your company name, phone, email, and address are right — this is what clients see at the top of every quote and invoice.
• Default Date Format is set to the format you want.
• On the Tax Settings tab, the right tax rate (or group) is marked as default.

Once a real client is added (next article), you’ll see your branding and tax rate flow through automatically on their first quote.

FAQ

I’m not the owner — should I be the one setting this up?

Ideally the owner sets the company info and tax rates, since those affect billing and what shows up on every client-facing document. Staff can be added after. If you’re an office admin doing setup, get the owner to sign off on the tax rates before you send real invoices.

What if I sell across multiple states?

Add a tax rate per state, plus county and city rates as needed. Use tax groups for jurisdictions that stack. Tax flows from the client property, so if a client has install addresses in two states, each property gets its own rate — the right one applies automatically when you build a quote or invoice for that address.

Do I need to set up BuddyPay before I can send invoices?

No. You can send invoices and record manual payments — cash, check, ACH, etc. — without BuddyPay. Set up BuddyPay when you’re ready to accept online card and ACH payments. See Set up BuddyPay.

What’s the difference between Company Settings and Company Branding?

Company Settings is your business facts — name, address, phone, tax. Company Branding is the visual — logo, color, email banner — that appears on quotes, invoices, and client-facing emails. They’re separate pages in the Settings sidebar.

My state taxes labor differently from materials — how do I handle that?

Set up two tax rates — one for material and one for labor. On a quote or invoice, apply the right rate per line item. If most of your work is taxed the same way, set one default and override per line where needed. Confirm the specifics with your accountant before invoicing real work.

Once your account is configured, you’re ready to invite your team.