The Insurance Job Setup SOP in QuickBooks Online (From First Call to First Invoice)

This SOP covers the exact, repeatable procedure for setting up a single insurance restoration job in QuickBooks Online — from the moment the phone rings to the first ACV invoice going out the door. It is written so a new office manager or bookkeeper can execute it without supervision. Every restoration job that flows through your books should be built the same way, every time.

It is used by office managers, project coordinators, and bookkeepers at water, fire, and mold restoration companies. The accounting structure here follows accrual-basis revenue recognition and the ACV / RCV / holdback model used across the insurance industry; the service-line classifications align with IICRC scopes (S500 water, S520 mold, S700 fire/smoke). For deeper background, see the complete guide to insurance billing accounting for restoration and the restoration insurance glossary.

The output of this SOP is a fully configured QBO job: a Project tagged with carrier, claim number, and service-line class; the approved estimate entered; the first ACV invoice posted; documentation attached; and a follow-up cadence scheduled.

Prerequisites

• QBO access — admin access, or standard access on a Plus/Advanced plan that includes Projects and Class tracking.
• A completed first-call intake form — homeowner details, carrier, claim number, adjuster contact, and TPA program if applicable.
• The signed work authorization and direction-to-pay — the documents that make the receivable enforceable.
• The approved estimate — Xactimate or Symbility PDF plus a line-item export.
• Knowledge of your service-item list and class structure — see QBO class tracking for restoration.
• Familiarity with ACV / RCV / holdback terms — see the restoration accounting terminology reference.

Materials & Tools Required

Phase 1 — First-Call Intake (Steps 1–4)

Phase 2 — Customer Setup in QuickBooks Online (Steps 5–8)

Phase 3 — Service Item Selection (Steps 9–12)

Phase 4 — Xactimate Estimate Reference (Steps 13–16)

Phase 5 — First Invoice Generation (Steps 17–20)

Phase 6 — Documentation Handoff (Steps 21–24)

Phase 7 — AR Setup & Follow-up Cadence (Steps 25–28)

Common Mistakes

• Flat customer, no Project. Setting the job up as a plain customer with no Project (or sub-customer) layer means no job-level P&L and no clean job costing. Always build the job container.
• Posting the ACV invoice at cash receipt instead of scope approval. This understates AR, hides collection delays, and distorts revenue timing. Post when the carrier approves, dated to the approval.
• Blending the deductible into the carrier receivable. The deductible is the homeowner's. Blending them corrupts AR aging and produces phantom write-offs.
• Netting the TPA fee against revenue. Hides the fee, overstates job margin, and makes profitability impossible to read. Always post it as a separate direct cost.
• Inconsistent claim-number naming. If every coordinator names Projects differently, the claim number stops being searchable and the audit trail breaks.
• Creating one-off 'Miscellaneous' service items. Destroys reporting by service line. Build a standard item library once and reuse it.
• Skipping class tracking. Without a service-line class, you can never see revenue or margin by Water vs Fire vs Mold across jobs.
• No attached documentation. An invoice with no approved estimate, photos, or drying logs is hard to collect and impossible to defend in a carrier audit.
• No follow-up clock. A receivable with no scheduled follow-up ages silently until it is uncollectible.
• Billing equipment-days that do not match the drying logs. A fast path to a carrier clawback. Reconcile billed days to logged days at setup.

How to Adapt This SOP for Your Company

Universal (do not change): posting the ACV at scope approval; separating the deductible from the carrier receivable; treating the TPA fee as a job cost; attaching the approved estimate and authorization; and tagging the claim number consistently. These follow accrual accounting and the ACV/RCV model and apply to every restoration company.

Company-specific (adapt these):

• Project vs sub-customer rule — depends on your QBO plan and whether you serve commercial clients with many properties.
• Service-item list and account mapping — your chart of accounts and the perils you handle.
• Class structure — the exact service lines you want to report on.
• Naming convention — pick one (e.g. LastName — Claim# — Service) and enforce it.
• Follow-up timing — tune the 7–10 day and 45/90-day cadences to your carriers' actual payment behavior.

Steps 5, 7, 10–12, and 25–27 are the ones most likely to need tailoring. The intake (1–4), estimate reference (13–16), and invoicing logic (17–20) are largely universal.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I set up an insurance restoration job in QuickBooks Online?

Set it up in seven phases: capture the first-call intake (homeowner, carrier, claim #, adjuster, TPA), create the customer and a QBO Project, select the right service items by peril, reference the approved Xactimate estimate, generate the first ACV invoice, attach the documentation, and set the AR aging and follow-up cadence. The whole setup takes about two hours if your intake form is complete.

Should I use a QBO Project or a sub-customer for an insurance job?

Use a QBO Project for almost every insurance restoration job — it gives you a job-level P&L, progress invoicing from the estimate, and clean job costing. Use a sub-customer only when your QBO plan does not include Projects, or when a single property owner has multiple unrelated jobs you want grouped under one parent. Never set up an insurance job as a flat customer with no project layer.

What is the difference between ACV and RCV when I create the first invoice?

RCV (Replacement Cost Value) is the full cost to restore without depreciation. ACV (Actual Cash Value) is RCV minus recoverable depreciation — the amount the carrier pays first. Your first invoice is for the ACV amount. The depreciation (the holdback) becomes a second invoice you create when repairs are complete and documentation is submitted.

Where do I record the claim number in QuickBooks Online?

Record the claim number in two places: in the customer or Project name (using a consistent convention like LastName-Claim#) and in a custom field or the Notes section of the customer record. Putting it in the name makes it searchable and visible on invoices; putting it in a field keeps it queryable for reporting. Never rely on memory or a separate spreadsheet alone.

How do I handle the homeowner deductible in QuickBooks?

The deductible is the homeowner's responsibility, not the carrier's, so it must be tracked separately. Show it either as a separate invoice to the homeowner or as a clearly labeled line on the job so the carrier portion and homeowner portion never blend in AR aging. Blending them is the single most common cause of restoration AR confusion.

How do I record a TPA program fee in QuickBooks Online?

Post the TPA program fee to a cost-of-revenue account (for example 'TPA Program Fees') and allocate it to the specific Project, using the program's percentage of the job revenue. Never net the fee against revenue — show gross revenue and the fee as a separate direct cost so your job-level margin is accurate.

Do I need class tracking turned on to set up an insurance job?

Yes. Turn on Class tracking in Account and Settings > Advanced > Categories before you set up the job, and assign a class for the service line (Water, Fire, Mold, Contents, Reconstruction). Class tracking lets you see revenue and margin by service line across all jobs — something Projects alone cannot give you.

When should I post the ACV invoice — at scope approval or at cash receipt?

Post the ACV invoice when the carrier approves the scope, not when the check arrives. Accrual-basis accounting requires recognizing the receivable when it is earned. Waiting for cash understates your AR, hides collection delays, and distorts the timing of your revenue. Date the invoice the day the adjuster signed off on the estimate.

How do I enter the Xactimate estimate into QuickBooks Online?

Enter the approved scope as a QBO Estimate on the Project. Group the Xactimate line items by service line, map each group to a QBO service item, and capture equipment-days as their own line. Entering it as an Estimate lets you progress-invoice the ACV and holdback from the same document and track variance against actuals.

What documents should I attach to the QBO job at setup?

Attach the approved estimate PDF, the carrier approval email, the signed work authorization and direction-to-pay, dated loss and pre-existing-condition photos, and the moisture and drying logs. These build the audit trail that supports your invoice and any future supplement. Attach them to the customer/Project and to the invoice itself.

How do I age insurance AR by job stage in QuickBooks?

Tag each receivable by stage — ACV, RCV holdback, or supplement — using separate invoices or memo labels, then run AR aging filtered by stage and TPA program. ACV over 45 days, holdback over 90 days post-completion, and supplements over 45 days each need different follow-up. Calendar-only aging cannot tell you which clock a receivable is on.

What is the fastest way to set up a new insurance job correctly?

Use a complete first-call intake form so you are not chasing missing fields later. With a complete intake, the QBO setup is mechanical: customer, Project, class, service items, estimate, ACV invoice, documents, follow-up. The bottleneck is almost always incomplete intake, not the QuickBooks steps themselves.

Can I set up the job before the carrier approves the scope?

Yes — create the customer, Project, class, and service items immediately so mitigation costs are captured from day one, but do not post the ACV invoice until the scope is approved. Setting up the cost side early and the revenue side at approval keeps both your job costing and your revenue recognition correct.

How long should setting up an insurance job in QuickBooks take?

About two hours per job with a complete intake form: roughly 20 minutes for intake review, 30 minutes for customer/Project/item setup, 30 minutes for estimate entry and the ACV invoice, and 30 minutes for documentation and follow-up scheduling. If it is taking far longer, your intake form is incomplete or your service-item list is not standardized.

Key Takeaways

• Setting up an insurance job in QBO is a 28-step, 7-phase, ~2-hour procedure that should run identically on every job.
• Build a QBO Project for nearly every job; use a sub-customer only when Projects are unavailable or for grouping multiple losses under one parent.
• Tag every job with three things: carrier, claim number, and service-line class.
• The first invoice is the ACV (RCV minus recoverable depreciation), posted at scope approval — never at cash receipt.
• Keep the deductible (homeowner's) and the TPA fee (a job cost) out of the carrier receivable.
• Enter the approved estimate as a QBO Estimate so ACV and holdback can be progress-invoiced from one document.
• Documentation and a follow-up clock are not optional — they make the receivable collectible and defensible.

Related reading: Complete Guide to Insurance Billing Accounting · Supplement Filing & Tracking SOP · Job Close-Out & Final AR SOP · QBO Class Tracking for Restoration · How Restoration Companies Make Money · Restoration Insurance Glossary