Understanding Minimum Pricing and Hourly Rates in Hire Contracts

Created by David Joyce

Overview

This guide explains how minimum pricing works for hire (rental) contracts when pricing equipment per hour. You’ll learn how to:

• Configure a rental product with per-hour pricing and a minimum rental price

• Use per-hour products alongside per-day/per-week/per-month items on the same hire contract

• Record time using the mobile app so the hire contract quantity increases beyond the minimum

• Understand how the system behaves for daily/weekly/monthly pricing vs per-hour minimum pricing

Key Rules (Must Read)

1) Minimum pricing only applies to Per Hour pricing

Minimum pricing on hire contracts requires the product to be priced per hour.

The system does not enforce minimum pricing for:

• Daily pricing

• Weekly pricing

• Monthly pricing

• Weekend pricing

Those are calculated in the normal way.

2) Unit of Measure must be set exactly

To qualify as per-hour pricing, the Unit of Measure must be set to:

Hour(s)

Important: Any other value will not count as per-hour pricing and minimum pricing will not be enforced.

Step 1 — Create (or Update) a Per-Hour Rental Product

1. Go to Products.

2. Click Add New.

3. (Optional) Generate/assign a barcode.

4. Enter a product name (e.g. Per Hour Rental).

5. Set the product Type to Rental / Hire.

6. Configure the minimum rental price:

   • Set Min Rental Price to the hourly rate you want to charge (e.g. €100 per hour).

7. Set Unit of Measure to Hour(s) (exact wording).

8. If you see a warning about the rate not being selected, select/confirm the appropriate rate.

9. Click Save.

Step 2 — Create a Hire Contract (With Mixed Pricing Allowed)

You can mix pricing types on the same hire contract:

• Per hour

• Per day

• Per week

• Per month

You are not restricted to only per-hour items.

To create a hire contract:

1. Go to Hire Contracts / Hires.

2. Click New Hire Contract.

3. Select your Customer.

4. Search and select your Per Hour rental product.

Stock warning

If there is no stock for the item, the system may prompt you to confirm. This is expected if the product has not been stocked yet.

Step 3 — Set the Minimum Hours on the Hire Contract

On the hire contract line:

1. Set the minimum rental duration as a quantity (e.g. 8 hours).

2. Note that customer pricing may reflect customer discounts (e.g. a 10% discount may show €90 instead of €100).

Optional: Change billing unit for the customer

Even if the product is configured as per-hour (to enforce minimum pricing), you can choose how to bill the customer:

• Per day

• Per week

• Per month

This lets you:

• Enforce minimum hours for control

• Still invoice using weekly/monthly cycles for other items

Step 4 — Post the Hire Contract

1. Review the contract.

2. Click Post.

Ongoing invoicing note

When using Invoice Ongoing, you may see warnings when a hire contract contains mixed billing units. This is normal.

You can continue using Invoice Ongoing for weekly/monthly items while also maintaining the per-hour rental logic.

Step 5 — Clock Hours Using the Mobile App

Additional hours above the minimum are recorded via the mobile app.

Recording time (mobile app)

1. Log into the mobile app.

2. Go to Hire Contracts.

3. Open the relevant contract and tap View Details.

4. Select the per-hour line item you want to clock time against.

Two ways to track time

You can:

• Clock on when you arrive and clock off when leaving, or

• Enter the time directly (e.g. “Worked 5 hours today”)

Recording a time entry

1. Tap Clock Time.

2. Enter your PIN.

3. Enter hours worked (e.g. 5 hours).

4. Add notes (e.g. “On site”).

5. Capture a customer signature if required.

6. Save.

Validation

If a PIN is incorrect or doesn’t exist, the system provides immediate validation.

Step 6 — How Minimum Hours Affect Quantity and Price

If hours recorded are below the minimum

Example:

• Contract minimum: 8 hours

• Clocked hours so far: 5 hours

Result:

• Contract remains at 8 hours

• Pricing does not drop below the minimum

If hours recorded exceed the minimum

Example:

• Contract minimum: 8 hours

• Total clocked hours: 10 hours

Result:

• Contract quantity automatically increases to 10 hours

• The hire cost increases accordingly

This provides:

• A guaranteed minimum rental value

• Automatic uplift once usage exceeds the minimum

Viewing Clocked Hours and Reporting

Clocked time can be reviewed in the hire contract:

• Open the hire contract and view Clocked Hours

• Notes (and signatures, if captured) are stored and can flow through to invoicing

Reporting:

• Clocked hours can be viewed in the Clocked Hours Report

Important Notes and Best Practices

• Use per-hour pricing only when you need minimum rental enforcement

• Ensure Unit of Measure is exactly Hour(s)

• You can still clock time for per-day/per-week/per-month items for operational tracking, even though it won’t change rental cost

• Signature capture during time entries provides stronger audit and customer confirmation

• Clocked hours can support payroll exports (time tracking) even when not cost-driving

Summary

To enforce minimum pricing on hire contracts:

1. Create/update a rental product with Min Rental Price and UOM = Hour(s)

2. Create a hire contract and set a minimum hours quantity

3. Post the hire contract

4. Use the mobile app to clock hours

5. The contract stays at the minimum until clocked hours exceed it, then quantity/pricing increases automatically