At a glance
If you'll invoice the customer for the work, it has to be a Job. If it's purely internal time you won't bill, use a Task.
Billable work (you'll send an invoice) → use a Job. SynkedUP has three flavors:
Service Ticket — one-time, usually less than a day
Maintenance Contract — recurring (weekly mowing, monthly fert apps, etc.)
Project — install or build job with a defined lifecycle
Unbillable work (no invoice, internal only) → use a Task. Examples: oil change on the dump truck, picking up materials, a tech's day off, a quick errand.
Key thing to know: Tasks are unbillable by design and cannot generate an invoice. If you realize partway through that you need to bill for the work, you'll need to create a new Service Ticket — there's no convert-Task-to-Ticket path.
The four schedule item types
Task
A Task is for non-customer work you want on the calendar but won't invoice for. Tasks live on the schedule alongside jobs but don't generate any billing.
Common uses:
Vehicle maintenance (oil changes, inspections)
Material pickups or supply runs
A tech's day off or training time
A one-off errand that's part of a route day but not the route
Service Ticket
A Service Ticket is for one-time billable work — usually a single visit that takes less than a day. Repairs, follow-up visits, troubleshooting calls, leak finds, pump replacements. You can invoice from a Service Ticket once the work is done.
Maintenance Contract
A Maintenance Contract is for recurring billable work on the same customer — weekly lawn mowing, monthly fertilizer applications, seasonal landscape maintenance. You schedule the whole season at once, and invoices generate based on the visits performed.
Project
A Project is a one-time install or build job with a defined lifecycle — patio installs, water feature builds, planting jobs, hardscape work. Projects support proposals, multiple work areas, payment schedules, and a richer billing flow than a Service Ticket.
Quick decision guide
Will you invoice the customer?
No → Task
Yes → Job, and pick the flavor:
One-time, short visit → Service Ticket
Recurring on a season-long schedule → Maintenance Contract
One-time install or build with a proposal and payment schedule → Project
If you're still on the fence between Service Ticket and Maintenance Contract, see Maintenance Contract vs Service Ticket.
Common questions
Can I invoice from a Task?
No. Tasks are unbillable by design — they don't tie to a customer account and won't generate an invoice. If you need to bill the customer, the work has to be set up as a Service Ticket, Maintenance Contract, or Project, depending on what fits.
Can my crew clock in on a Task?
Yes. As long as the Task is assigned to a team member, it shows up on their schedule, and when they start the timer on that Task the time counts as unbillable time. That's useful when you want hours tracked for payroll but not billed to the customer — material pickups, equipment maintenance, training, drive time between jobs (in some setups), etc.
How do I track unbillable time without using a Task?
If the unbillable time is part of a regular workflow (drive time, lunch, shop time, etc.) rather than a one-off scheduled item, use Unbillable Categories instead — they let you tag time entries with a category like "Drive" or "Shop" without putting them on the schedule as Tasks. See How to Set Up your Company Unbillable Categories.
What about seasonal cleanups — Task, Service Ticket, or Maintenance?
If it's a one-time visit (a single spring or fall cleanup), use a Service Ticket. If it's recurring across the season (regular monthly cleanups, ongoing pruning visits, etc.), use a Maintenance Contract. The visit length doesn't matter for that decision — even a multi-day cleanup is still a Service Ticket if it's one-off.
Can I convert a Task into a Service Ticket later if I realize I need to bill?
No. Tasks and Service Tickets are separate schedule item types, and there's no convert path between them. If you realize partway through that the work needs to be billed, you'll need to create a new Service Ticket for it and delete the original Task.
What if the work is for an internal property (my own shop, demo plot, etc.) and there's no customer to invoice?
That's still Task territory. Tasks are designed for any work that doesn't have a billable customer on the other end — including work you do for yourself.
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