Set up a commission plan

Commissions motivate your field team to close bigger jobs and follow through on collection. Service Buddy’s commission engine calculates what each employee earned the moment a job closes or an invoice is paid — no spreadsheets, no month-end scramble.

This article covers the one-time setup. Once it’s on, commissions run automatically in the background.

Before you start

Decide three things up front:

Default commission rate — the percentage most employees will earn. You can override it per person later.
When commission is earned — when the job is marked closed, or when the invoice is actually paid. Most businesses prefer “paid” so they don’t pay out on unpaid work.
Which items are exempt — for example, you may not want to pay commission on taxes, discounts, or pass-through equipment.

Turn on commissions

Click Settings in the left sidebar.
Under Company Management, click Company Settings → General Settings tab.
Scroll to the Enable commission settings toggle and turn it on.
Choose when commission is triggered:
- When invoice is paid (recommended)
- When job is closed
Enter the Default Commission Rate as a percentage, for example 5 for 5%.
(Optional) Check Exclude taxes and Exclude discounts so those amounts don’t inflate the commission base.
Click Update Settings at the bottom of the page.

Mark items as commission-exempt

Some line items — rental equipment, permit fees, third-party costs — shouldn’t earn commission. Use the Exclude taxes and Exclude discounts options in your commission settings (step 6 above) to keep those amounts out of the commission base. For product-specific exclusions, contact your Service Buddy account administrator to configure which items are excluded.

What happens next

Any job or invoice created from this point forward picks up your commission settings automatically.
As soon as the trigger event happens (invoice paid or job closed), Service Buddy calculates the commission for every assigned employee and records it.
You can see each employee’s running commission balance on the Commissions report (Reports → Commissions).

FAQ

Should I trigger commission when the job closes or when the invoice is paid?

Most flooring retailers trigger on invoice paid. The reason: a closed job that hasn’t been paid yet can still default, get refunded, or sit in collections — paying commission on revenue you haven’t actually collected creates clawback headaches. Trigger on close only if you want to pay sales associates faster and accept the risk.

Should taxes and discounts be excluded from the commission base?

Almost always yes. Sales tax is pass-through to the state — paying commission on it is paying out of your own margin. Discounts are negotiated price reductions — paying full commission on the pre-discount price erodes the margin you preserved by negotiating. Check both Exclude taxes and Exclude discounts.

How do you typically split commission between sales and install?

Common patterns in flooring:

Sales-only: 5–10% to the sales associate who closed the deal. Installers paid by piece-rate (per sq yd or per stair) outside the commission system.
Sales + install bonus: salesperson 5%, install crew shares a smaller pool (1–2%) only on completed installs.
Override structure: store manager gets a smaller % override on every sale in addition to individual commissions.

There’s no built-in split logic — set the default rate to your most common case, then use per-employee custom rates for exceptions.

Does commission apply retroactively to past jobs?

No. Turning on commissions only applies to jobs and invoices created from that point forward. For a one-time backfill of past work, contact support — they can run it on request.

Can different items have different commission rates?

The default rate applies to the whole invoice (minus excluded taxes/discounts). For product-specific exclusions or different rates, contact support — these need account-level configuration.

Where do I see what each person has earned?

The Commissions report under Reports → Commissions. It shows each employee’s running balance, what’s been paid out, and what’s pending.

Can I cap commissions at a certain dollar amount?

Not built-in. Most retailers handle caps externally (e.g., monthly or quarterly cap applied during payroll). Service Buddy will record the calculated commission either way.