A commercial refrigeration bookkeeper pays the supply houses and posts payments from chains and restaurants. They code each part and pound of refrigerant to the store it went into, bill service agreements and handle lien paperwork on installs.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, HVAC and plumbing contractors · BLS, May 2025
You'll keep the books for a commercial refrigeration contractor: supply house bills, customer payments, payroll inputs and job costs. You'll make sure every refrigerant cylinder, compressor and install hour lands on the right job, so the CFO can trust the margins.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Enter and pay supply house, equipment and subcontractor bills, matching each to a purchase order and job.
Post customer payments, including portal payments and lockbox checks, to the right invoices.
Bill service agreements on their monthly or quarterly schedule, and set up install progress billings with the CFO.
Prepare lien waivers and track retainage on install jobs where the contract requires them.
Reconcile bank, credit card and fuel card accounts each month.
Prepare payroll inputs from technician timesheets: hours, overtime, on-call time and job codes.
Collect subcontractor tax forms and certificates of insurance, and prepare year-end 1099 forms.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Match vendor invoices to purchase orders and flag price or quantity differences.
Post deposits and payments.
Code technician parts and refrigerant charges to the right job.
Send statements and the receivables aging to the Office Manager for follow-up.
Answer vendor questions about payment status.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Bank reconciliations done on time: [your target].
Vendor bills paid by due date: [your target].
Costs coded to the correct job: [your target].
Payroll errors: [your target].
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
[3+] years of full-cycle bookkeeping, ideally for a contractor or service business.
Experience with job costing and progress billing.
Strong skills in [your accounting software] and spreadsheets.
Keeps payroll data and vendor banking details confidential.
6. Preferred Experience
Associate degree in accounting.
Experience with construction billing: retainage, lien waivers and change orders.
Experience with the invoicing portals grocery and restaurant chains use.
7. Physical Requirements
Sit at a computer for most of the day.
Lift file boxes up to [20] pounds.
With or without reasonable accommodation.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Office-based at [location], [your hours].
Extra hours at month-end and year-end.
[Hybrid options, if any].
9. Compensation and Benefits
Pay: [range and hourly or salary basis].
Additional pay: [overtime, bonus or incentive terms, or none].
Benefits: [health, dental, vision, retirement, paid time off, and when they start].
10. Company Culture and Overview
[Two or three sentences on what your company does, the area you serve, and the support a new bookkeeper gets in the first 90 days.]
11. How to Apply
[Apply link or email]. Our process: [phone interview, in-person interview, and next steps]. Contact [hiring contact] if you need an accommodation during the application process.
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What changes for a bookkeeper at a refrigeration contractor
Most of the books match any trade contractor's. Refrigerant, chain remittances and store builds are where a hire from another trade will need coaching.
Recovered refrigerant is not resale stock
Techs pull refrigerant out of a store's system before many repairs and tear-outs. Federal rules bar selling used refrigerant for reuse unless a certified reclaimer has cleaned it. There are a few narrow exceptions, such as gas still inside equipment that is sold. So recovered pounds never go into stock to bill to another account. Log the recovery cylinders that leave. Post any reclaimer credit when it comes back. Source: 40 CFR 82.154(d): Sale of used refrigerant (eCFR).
On Iowa store builds, check the lien registry first
Iowa runs mechanics' liens through a state website, the mechanics' notice and lien registry. The general contractor posts a notice that work has started within ten days of the start. Iowa counts any company hired straight by the owner as a general contractor, so on direct store jobs that posting falls to your company. The notice only counts for labor and material supplied after it's posted. Look the project up before the first install bill, and save the notice with the contract file. Source: Iowa Code 572.13A: Notice of commencement of work.
Your supply house may write to the general contractor
On commercial jobs in Iowa, a supplier selling to a subcontractor must warn the general contractor. It keeps its lien rights only by sending the GC a one-time written notice within thirty days of first supplying material. When a GC gets one naming your company, expect a request for proof you paid. That proof is often the supplier's own lien waiver. Pay those bills on time and file the waivers with the job. Source: Iowa Code 572.33: Notification for commercial construction.
One chain payment covers many stores
Grocery and restaurant chains often pay a batch of store invoices in one deposit. A remittance file lists the work order numbers. Apply each line to its own store and ticket, not to the oldest open bill. A short payment usually means a portal rule was missed, such as a missing photo or a price over the limit. Send those to the office manager with the store number.
Night calls show up on the fuel cards
Emergency calls overnight mean fuel and parts bought at odd hours, far from the branch. Match each swipe to the on-call log and the ticket before you question it, and code it to the job when it was bought for one. A card used on a night with no call logged is the one to ask about.
How much commercial refrigeration bookkeepers make
The closest BLS group for commercial refrigeration bookkeepers is bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks. Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks who work for plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning contractors earned a median of $26.25 an hour ($54,610 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s above the $50,670 median for bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks in all industries. About 20,690 of the 1,373,680 bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks in that survey work for HVAC and plumbing contractors.
Usually paid by the hour, so budget for overtime during month-end and year-end close.
HVAC and plumbing contractors
$54,610$54,610 median Middle half $45,270–$63,180 10th–90th $36,410–$76,160
All industries
$50,670$50,670 median Middle half $43,520–$61,470 10th–90th $36,000–$74,550
$30k$40k$50k$60k$70k$80k$90k
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
HVAC and plumbing contractors
$36,410
$45,270
$54,610
$63,180
$76,160
All industries
$36,000
$43,520
$50,670
$61,470
$74,550
BLS doesn’t publish pay for refrigeration contractors on their own. These figures cover plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors, which include them. Post a real range for your market in the ad.
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Splitting one truck's parts and refrigerant across several stores in a day
Accounts payable with a three-way match of bill, purchase order and receiving
Applying large batch payments line by line from a remittance file
Payroll input from timesheets with job codes, overtime and on-call pay
Keeping vendor banking details and pay data private
Teach these on the job
Refrigerant names, cylinder types and how techs record pounds on a ticket
Each chain's invoicing portal and remittance format
Lien registry searches and waiver forms for the states you build in
Your field service software's ticket and job code setup
Which agreement visits bill ahead and which repairs bill on completion
The work runs on QuickBooks Online, Sage or a similar ledger. It links to the field service software where techs close tickets. Add supply house web accounts for bills and the chains' invoicing portals, and name your systems in the posting.
Two of the 6 questions we'd ask, and what a strong answer sounds like. Ask every candidate the same questions, and rate each answer on your own before you compare notes.
Situational · Payroll inputs
A technician's timesheet shows a long overnight emergency call with no on-call code. What do you do?
A strong answer: Checks the dispatch record, confirms with the technician and Service Manager, codes it under the on-call pay policy before payroll runs, and fixes the timesheet habit.
Behavioral · Fixing recurring mismatches
Tell me how you fixed a mismatch that kept showing up between purchase orders and supplier invoices, like refrigerant or compressor prices.
A strong answer: Tracked the pattern, found the cause (refrigerant prices not updated, wrong units, missed surcharges), worked with purchasing or the vendor, and checked it stopped.
Treat the template's targets as placeholders. Pick each number after a few closes, using what your books show for both branches.
Bank reconciliations done on time
Note when every bank, credit card and fuel account was tied out, next to the CFO's close calendar. Count the late ones each month.
Vendor bills paid by due date
Pull paid bills each month and check whether each one went out by its due date. Look at supply houses and subcontractors on their own, since late payments there slow parts and lien waivers.
Costs coded to the correct job
Have the CFO sample closed jobs each month and check that parts, refrigerant pounds and subcontractor bills sit on the right store and ticket. Count each line moved after review as a miss.
Payroll errors
Count paychecks corrected after payday, including wrong job codes, missing on-call hours and overtime math. Note the cause of each one so you can fix the timesheet or the step behind it.
Career path
Payables or billing clerkMatches supply house bills, enters invoices and learns how a contractor sets up its jobs.
BookkeeperKeeps the full cycle for both branches: bills, payments, payroll input, agreement billing and job costs.
ControllerCloses the books, owns the reports by branch and account, and manages the accounting staff.
Chief financial officerSets the cash plan, bank relationships and pricing rules with the CEO.
Other roles in a commercial refrigeration business
How should a bookkeeper bill a refrigeration service agreement?
Set each agreement up once with its billing cycle, the covered stores and equipment, and what the price includes. Bill the agreement amount on its monthly or quarterly date. Bill repairs it doesn't cover as separate tickets with the store's work order number. When a store is added or a case is pulled out, update the agreement before the next run. If you don't, the chain will reject the invoice.
How much does a commercial refrigeration bookkeeper make?
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks who work for plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning contractors earned a median of $26.25 an hour ($54,610 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $45,270 and $63,180 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and overtime.
How long does a contractor have to post a lien on an Iowa job?
Iowa Code section 572.9 gives a general contractor or subcontractor two years and ninety days to post the lien. The clock starts after the last labor or material. Treat that as the outer limit, not the plan. Past ninety days, section 572.10 also requires written notice to the owner, served the way court papers are. Ask your lawyer how waiting changes what you can collect, and set reminders when each Iowa install wraps up.
What should the month-end package for the CFO include?
Start with the bank and card reconciliations, the receivables aging by chain and by store, and tickets closed but not yet billed. Add job cost reports for open installs. Show agreement revenue next to the labor and parts spent on each account. Put refrigerant pounds by account beside the agreement price, so the CFO can spot a store that needs a repair quote.
What does the bookkeeper need from technicians for payroll?
Each timesheet should show start and stop times for every ticket, the job code, drive time between stores and on-call hours. The service manager approves it before cutoff. Ask for corrections the same day, while the tech still remembers the night call. Hours with no ticket behind them need a note, or the job cost reports will be off.
What lifting comes with a refrigeration bookkeeper job?
The template's file box line covers carrying boxes of paid bills, signed tickets and year-end records to storage. It also means bringing one back when a chain or an auditor asks for old paperwork, and putting away paper and toner orders. Name those tasks in the posting, next to the line on reasonable accommodation.
