Houston, TX · South
Payment processing for home services & trades in Houston
Houston home services & trades use Enterprise Pay Gateway to take booking deposits, sell prepaid packages, bill monthly memberships and email invoices. Card payments run through your own Stripe account, funds settle straight to your bank on America/Chicago reporting, and you pay a fixed monthly subscription plus a platform fee from 0.20% to 0.75% — Stripe's processing fee is billed separately by Stripe.
Last updated 9 September 2026
What Houston home services & trades are dealing with
Large home services and auto repair market where deposits and progress payments are standard.
Invoices sent after the van leaves
Every day between completion and payment lowers the chance of collecting in full. A link sent while the technician is still on site is paid at a far higher rate.
Materials funded out of cash flow
Large installs mean buying materials before any money arrives. A deposit at quote acceptance funds the job instead of the business.
Maintenance plans sold on paper
Annual agreements collected by cheque or not at all. Recurring card billing turns them into predictable revenue and a reason to visit.
No visibility across technicians
Who sold what, at what value, is spread across job sheets. Consolidated payment reporting shows real revenue per technician and per service type.
How the money moves in Houston
- 1
Quote deposit
Send a deposit checkout link the moment the quote is accepted, sized to cover materials.
- 2
Progress or completion payment
Send a balance link from site. The customer pays by phone before the technician leaves.
- 3
Maintenance plan
Bill monthly or annually with automatic retries so the agreement renews without a phone call.
- 4
Reporting
Track revenue by service type, technician and plan renewals in one dashboard.
Benchmarks
- Typical job value
- $180–$14,000
- Maintenance plan fit
- High
- Days to payment
- 0 vs 30+
A service call and a system replacement need different payment flows: one instant charge, one deposit-and-stages structure.
Annual or monthly maintenance agreements smooth seasonal revenue and dramatically raise repeat-call rates.
Card-on-site payment settles in days. Invoicing after the fact routinely runs past thirty days and generates chase work.
What it costs
Pricing is identical everywhere — no city or state surcharge. Plans start at $49.00 per month plus a 0.75% platform fee on card volume, and Stripe's own processing fees are charged separately so nothing is hidden inside a blended rate.
Your account defaults to the America/Chicago timezone, so daily takings and payout reports line up with your trading day in Houston.
Common questions
- Can a contractor take a deposit before starting work?
- Yes. Create a deposit product sized to cover materials and mobilisation, share the checkout link when the quote is accepted, and credit it against the final balance. Put the deposit terms on the quote and in the checkout description.
- Can technicians take payment on site?
- Yes. Send the customer a checkout link by text from the job. They pay on their own phone and you see the payment in the dashboard immediately.
- Can we bill annual maintenance agreements?
- Yes. Set the agreement up as a recurring product billed monthly or annually, with automatic retries on a declined card and a self-serve portal for updates.
- What does it cost?
- Stripe's card processing fee plus a platform fee. Enterprise Pay Gateway charges $49 to $199 a month plus 0.75% down to 0.40%, with negotiated 0.20%–0.35% pricing at higher volume.