Best Payment Processing for Contractors: 8 Compared

A residential concrete contractor posted a simple question on r/Contractor: how do you usually handle payments? His jobs run $4,000 to $20,000, most customers pay by cheque or cash, and a few want to use a card. It drew 72 comments and almost none of them named a processor. They named a payment method, a fee and a workaround.

That is the right instinct, and it is exactly what the ranking articles miss. Nearly every page for this keyword is written by a processor ranking itself, and they compare card rates on a $100 sale. A contractor does not have a card rate problem on a $100 sale. The problem shows up on a $12,000 job, and most of the time the thing that decides it is not the card rate at all. It is whether the processor caps its ACH fee.

What is the best payment processing for contractors?

The best setup for most contractors is two rails: a capped ACH option for anything over a few thousand dollars, and a card option for deposits, service calls and customers who insist. The shortlist:

1. Stripe: best for large residential tickets paid by bank transfer, thanks to the $5 ACH cap.
2. Helcim: best for contractors with steady card volume who want interchange-plus pricing and a $6 ACH cap.
3. Square: best for small-ticket field collection, and its paid plans cap ACH at $10.
4. QuickBooks Payments: best when reconciliation time costs more than the fee difference.
5. Jobber Payments or Housecall Pro: best when you already run the job in that software and your tickets are mostly small.

If you are still deciding whether cards belong in your business at all, start with our breakdown of whether to accept credit cards, which covers the profit math and surcharge law in depth. This post assumes you will take both, and asks which provider costs least at contractor ticket sizes.

Quick comparison table

Rates are each vendor's own published US pricing, checked September 2026.

What a $4,000, $12,000 and $20,000 job actually costs

This is the table no processor publishes, because it is unflattering to most of them. It uses the concrete contractor's own range from that r/Contractor thread.

Two honest caveats. First, Housecall Pro's 2.59 percent is a "starting" rate and its ACH page notes the fee "may vary based on your specific plan," so treat that row as a floor. Second, the capped processors are not free of friction: Stripe's own ACH page says standard settlement takes 4 business days, and a bank payment that bounces costs Helcim merchants $5 per rejected transaction.

How we ranked these

We scored each processor on five things that matter to a 1 to 30 person trade business, weighted toward large tickets.

1. Cost on a $10,000-plus ticket. Contractor revenue concentrates in a few large payments, so the fee on those payments matters more than the rate on a $50 sale.
2. ACH cap. A capped bank payment is the single cheapest way to collect a large invoice electronically, and caps vary from $5 to none.
3. Where the payment lands. A payment that posts against the right job and invoice saves office time every week, which is why built-in software payments stay popular despite higher fees.
4. Hold and limit risk on large, irregular transactions. A frozen $20,000 payment in the week you make payroll costs more than a year of fee savings.
5. Pricing transparency. We only used rates the vendor publishes. Where a vendor publishes nothing, we say so rather than repeat a third-party guess.

The 8 processors, ranked

1. Stripe

Best for: Residential and light commercial contractors whose large payments can move by bank transfer.

Pricing: 2.9% plus 30¢ per domestic card transaction and ACH Direct Debit at 0.8% capped at $5, per Stripe's pricing and its ACH Direct Debit page.

Stripe is a payments engine more than a contractor app. Most contractors meet it through software that sits on top, such as JobTread, which one r/Contractor commenter said they use with Stripe for ACH. It also offers custom interchange-plus pricing for larger volume.

Pros: The $5 ACH cap is the lowest on this list. Transparent published pricing. Integrates with most modern trade software and website checkouts.

Cons: Standalone invoicing is not built for estimates, deposits and progress draws. Default ACH settlement is 4 business days. You need a tool on top to make it feel like contractor software.

Our verdict: If your jobs regularly run over $5,000 and your software can route bank payments through Stripe, this is the cheapest way to collect them.

2. Helcim

Best for: Contractors with steady monthly card volume, and commercial contractors paid by corporate cards.

Pricing: Interchange plus 0.50% plus 25¢ for keyed and online transactions at the lowest volume tier ($0 to $50K), falling to interchange plus 0.15% plus 15¢ at the top tier. In person starts at interchange plus 0.40% plus 8¢. ACH is 0.5% plus 25¢ capped at $6, with an additional 0.05% on amounts over $25,000. Source: Helcim pricing.

Helcim is the most transparent interchange-plus option small businesses can sign up for without a sales call. It passes through what the card networks and banks charge, adds a published margin, and charges no monthly fee.

Pros: Near-lowest ACH cost for large invoices. No monthly, statement or cancellation fees. $0 chargeback fee when you win the dispute, $15 when you lose. Next-business-morning deposits on card transactions.

Cons: Your card cost changes with the customer's card, which makes quoting a fixed "card price" harder. On premium rewards cards, interchange plus margin can exceed a flat 2.9 percent (see the deeper answer below). The $6 cap grows slightly above $25,000.

Our verdict: The best pick for a contractor processing enough card volume to care about basis points, and the obvious one for commercial work paid by purchasing cards.

3. Square

Best for: Service calls, small repairs and anything collected in the driveway.

Pricing: In person 2.6% plus 15¢ on Square Free, 2.5% plus 15¢ on Plus and 2.4% plus 15¢ on Premium. Online and invoice payments are 3.3% plus 30¢ on all plans. Keyed and card-on-file payments are 3.5% plus 15¢. ACH on invoices is 1% with a $1 minimum, capped at $10 on Plus and Premium. Source: Square's fee guide.

Square is the default recommendation in almost every contractor thread for one reason: it costs nothing until you use it. In an r/Contractor thread titled credit card processing alternatives, from a contractor who had dropped their processor because they used it once or twice a year, the first answer was simply "Square..you only pay fees when you use it."

Pros: Free reader, no monthly fee on the Free plan, fast setup. The paid plans' $10 ACH cap is competitive. Square Checking deposits pay $0 on ACH.

Cons: 3.3 percent on invoices is high for large jobs. ACH is uncapped on the Free plan. Contractors on r/Contractor report holds on payments Square flags as suspicious.

Our verdict: Keep it for field collection and small tickets. Do not let it become the rail for your $20,000 final payments unless you are on a plan with the ACH cap.

4. QuickBooks Payments

Best for: Contractors whose books already live in QuickBooks Online and who value auto-reconciliation over the last dollar of fees.

Pricing: 2.99% for invoiced cards and digital wallets, 2.5% swiped or tapped, 3.5% keyed, and 1% for ACH bank transfers with a $1 minimum. Instant deposit is 1.75%. Rates stated as accurate as of September 18, 2026 on Intuit's rates page.

The pitch is real: the invoice goes out from QuickBooks, the customer pays, and the deposit matches itself. The catch is the ACH fee. In a QuickBooks Community thread, Intuit confirmed that accounts adding Payments on or after September 5, 2023 are on a 1 percent ACH plan with no cap, replacing the old $10 cap.

Pros: Automatic matching to invoices and deposits. Customers can pay from the invoice on any device. One less system to reconcile.

Cons: Uncapped ACH makes a $50,000 draw cost $500 to collect electronically. One r/Contractor GC with jobs over $100,000 noted QuickBooks does not let you automate a "client pays the card fee" option, and a remodeler in the same thread mentioned occasional lengthy holds on bank transfers.

Our verdict: Worth it if your average invoice is modest and reconciliation is your real pain. If you already fight the sync, our guide to reconciling CRM invoices with QuickBooks covers that side. For large tickets, route bank payments elsewhere.

5. Jobber Payments

Best for: Service contractors already running quotes, jobs and invoices in Jobber.

Pricing: 2.9% plus 30¢ for online card payments, 2.7% plus 30¢ for tap to pay in the mobile app, and 1% for bank payments (US only), per Jobber's pricing page.

Payments post straight to the job and the client hub, and automatic invoice reminders include a one-click pay link. For crews doing many small and mid-size jobs, that workflow is the value.

Pros: Tap to pay with no extra hardware. Payment status visible to the office the moment it lands. QuickBooks Online and Xero sync.

Cons: No published ACH cap, so a $20,000 bank payment costs $200. The card rate is standard, not discounted.

Our verdict: Fine for service work. If you are comparing the two big field service platforms on more than payments, our Jobber vs Housecall Pro comparison goes through plans and limits.

6. Housecall Pro

Best for: Home service companies already on Housecall Pro who want Instapay for fast payouts.

Pricing: Card processing from 2.59%, published on Housecall Pro's pricing page. ACH is a "standard 1% fee" that "may vary based on your specific plan," per its ACH payments FAQ.

Instapay now covers ACH, with payouts "within minutes" on card and bank payments. The trade-off is that Housecall Pro can set monthly processing limits on new businesses, new users, accounts with high dispute rates or erratic processing activity. A transaction over the limit is blocked.

Pros: Lowest published starting card rate among the flat-rate options here. Fast payouts. Consumer financing through Wisetack built in.

Cons: Processing limits bite exactly when a small shop lands its first big job. ACH is not available in Canada. ACH refunds must be issued within 90 days.

Our verdict: Good for recurring service work. If you are outgrowing it, our list of Housecall Pro alternatives covers where shops usually go next.

7. Joist Payments

Joist charges 3.49% plus 49¢ for cards, PayPal and Venmo, and 1% for ACH capped at $15 (US only), per Joist's own comparison. That $15 cap makes it surprisingly cheap for bank-paid large jobs and the most expensive card option here.

8. ServiceTitan Payments

ServiceTitan does not publish rates. Its payments FAQ says it offers "custom pricing for our merchants" and that it has no feature to enable a card surcharge. If you are a small shop weighing it, read our look at ServiceTitan alternatives for small shops first.

What contractors actually chose, and why

The owner threads are more useful than the processor guides, because the owners are paying the fees. Across the r/Contractor threads we read, four patterns repeat.

Price the fee in, discount the cheque. The top reply in the payments thread, from oyecomovaca: "Credit card fee is baked into the cost of the job. If they want to pay by check, it's a 3 percent discount. Adding an extra fee just adds friction at contract signing." Another contractor, NutzNBoltz369, keeps a Square terminal that is rarely used because "the mention of the fee tends to magically produce cash or checks."

Push large payments off the card. An excavation contractor whose projects mostly run over $10,000 takes "bank drafts, cheque, cash, in that order of preference." A GC with jobs over $100,000 wrote that he does not take cards unless asked, and prefers "check or ACH payment through QBO." In a separate poll thread, one contractor said they take cards at a 3 percent fee and cap card payments at $20,000.

Chargebacks drive people away from cards entirely. Long-Elephant3782: "After 2 people 'fighting a fraud charge' after paying me was enough to stop using it." In another thread a contractor who split a job into three Square payments had the final $4,000 reversed a week after completion. If it happens to you, our guide to handling a customer chargeback walks through the response.

Holds are the fear nobody quotes a price for. Evanisnotmyname: Square "has been fine for me," but "many have had issues with them literally locking their accounts and taking 'suspicious' payments for long amounts of time."

The best line in the whole thread came from the GC with six-figure jobs, describing what he actually wants: "a digital invoice where they see the payment options and what they cost so they can make that decision without even talking to me about it." That is not a processor feature. It is an invoicing design choice, and it is the single change that makes the ACH cap pay off.

Interchange-plus vs flat rate vs built-in payments

There are three pricing models on this list, and they behave differently on contractor tickets.

Flat rate (Stripe standard, Square, QuickBooks, Jobber, Housecall Pro, Joist) charges one percentage on every card. You overpay on basic cards and are protected on premium ones.

Interchange-plus (Helcim, and Stripe on custom pricing) passes through the network's actual interchange and adds a fixed margin. Visa's published interchange schedule, effective April 18, 2026, is the source of truth for what that pass-through is.

Built-in software payments are flat rate with a workflow attached: a fair trade on a $400 service call, an expensive one on a $40,000 draw.

Here is the interchange-plus math on a $12,000 online payment at Helcim's lowest tier, using Visa's standard card-not-present consumer rates:

Network assessment fees pass through on top and are not shown. Interchange-plus wins on ordinary cards and loses on the premium rewards cards affluent homeowners use for big remodels, so ask any provider to price last month's actual statement before you switch.

Surcharging: the short version

If you add a card fee rather than pricing it in, Visa's own surcharging requirements apply: credit only, never debit, a 3 percent maximum, and 30 days' notice to your acquirer. Visa lists Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and Oklahoma as prohibiting or limiting it. Canada has allowed surcharges up to 2.4 percent since October 6, 2022, outside Quebec, as CBC reported. Some platforms, ServiceTitan included, have no surcharge feature at all.

Deeper answers

Why is ACH cheaper than a card on a big job?

Because card fees are a percentage paid largely to the issuing bank, and ACH is a bank-to-bank transfer with no interchange. A processor charging 1 percent on ACH is choosing to price it like a card. Stripe's 0.8 percent capped at $5 and Helcim's $6 cap show what ACH costs when the processor does not. On a $20,000 invoice the difference between a $5 cap and 1 percent uncapped is $195, and between a $5 ACH and a 2.9 percent card it is $575.30. The trade-off is speed and certainty: Stripe's standard ACH settlement is 4 business days, Housecall Pro says some ACH payments take 6 to 7 business days, and a bank payment can be returned. Take the deposit before starting work by card, where speed matters, and collect the large final by ACH.

What should a commercial contractor paid by corporate cards do?

Get on interchange-plus and send line-item data. Visa's April 2026 schedule lists Commercial Card Not Present at 2.70 percent plus 10 cents, Commercial Product 3 at 1.75 percent plus 10 cents, and Commercial Product Large Ticket at 1.30 percent plus $35. On a $20,000 purchasing-card payment that is $540.10 versus $350.10 before the processor's margin. Stripe's support documentation on Visa's Commercial Enhanced Data Program says it replaced the old Level 3 program in October 2025, requires real line items with product codes, tax and units, carries a scheme fee, and only benefits merchants on interchange-plus pricing. On a flat 2.9 percent plan you pay $580.30 either way. Note that business credit cards sit in a higher band: Visa lists Business Product 3 from 2.40 percent plus 10 cents.

How do I avoid a processor freezing a large payment?

Treat the first big ticket as an event. Housecall Pro's help center is candid that limits are applied to new businesses, new users and "erratic" processing activity, and a transaction over the limit is simply blocked. That describes a contractor who takes $800 service calls for three months and then runs a $25,000 final. Call your processor before the payment and ask about your limit. Keep a signed contract, change orders and photos ready, because a review asks for them. Better still, run large payments through ACH, split big jobs into a progress payment schedule so no single charge looks anomalous, and keep enough of a buffer that one held payment does not wreck contractor cash flow.

Is it worth switching processors to save 0.3 percent?

On card volume alone, often not. At $300,000 a year of card payments, 0.3 percent is $900, and switching costs you a new setup, new customer-facing links and new reconciliation habits. Switching the ACH rail is a different calculation: on $600,000 of bank-paid jobs, moving from 1 percent uncapped to a $5 cap saves about $5,750. So fix the ACH routing first, then decide whether card pricing is worth chasing. If your invoices are the bottleneck rather than the fees, look at contractor invoicing software that can offer both rails on one invoice.

Where does consumer financing fit?

It replaces the card on jobs the customer cannot pay for in one go, rather than competing with your processor. Housecall Pro bundles Wisetack. Its own disclosure gives the example that a $1,200 purchase could cost $104.89 a month for 12 months at 8.9 percent APR, with offers ranging from 0 to 35.9 percent APR. If you offer financing, choose it on approval rates and merchant fees, which our comparison of contractor financing companies covers, and let the processor decision rest on ACH and card costs.

A 15 minute payment setup checklist

1. Pull last year's payments by size. Count how many were over $5,000. That number decides everything below.
2. Find your ACH cap. Look it up on your processor's own pricing page. If there is none, multiply last year's bank payments by 1 percent.
3. Route big invoices to a capped rail. Stripe at $5, Helcim at $6, Square Plus at $10 or Joist at $15.
4. Keep a card option for deposits and small tickets. Speed matters more than fee there.
5. Put every option and its cost on the invoice, so the customer chooses without a phone call.
6. Ask for a statement analysis from an interchange-plus provider if you take more than a few thousand dollars a month in cards, or any corporate cards.
7. Warn your processor before a first large card payment, and keep the contract and change orders on file.

Go deeper

• The Getting Paid topic hub: every guide on deposits, progress billing, late payers and liens.
• How to get paid faster as a contractor: the terms and timing that shorten your collection cycle.
• When a customer short-paid the final invoice: what to do when the last payment comes in light.
• Jobber alternatives: where Jobber users go when payments and plan limits stop fitting.

How to pick

Start with your ticket size, not the card rate. If most of your revenue arrives in payments over $5,000, the processor with the lowest ACH cap that fits your software is the best one for you, and the card processor matters far less. If most of your revenue is small field tickets, pick the one your crew will actually use at the door, and revisit it the first time a $20,000 job lands.