How Much Are You Losing to Payment Processing Fees? (Probably Less Than You Think.)

Every contractor we talk to has the same gut reaction to credit card processing fees: "I am not giving up 3 percent of my money." We get it. When you look at a $10,000 invoice and see $320 going to a payment processor, it feels like throwing cash out the window. But that number does not exist in a vacuum. It exists next to all the other costs of getting paid, and most of those costs are invisible until you add them up.

The actual fees on real invoice amounts

Stripe, which is what Jobkore and most modern payment platforms use, charges 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction for credit card payments. Here is what that looks like at common contractor invoice sizes:

On smaller jobs, the fee barely registers. On a $1,000 service call, you are paying $29.30 to get paid in two days instead of two weeks. On larger jobs, the dollar amount gets bigger, but the percentage stays the same. The question is not whether $290 on a $10,000 invoice sounds like a lot. The question is what the alternatives actually cost you.

The hidden cost of "free" payment methods

Checks feel free. There is no processing fee, no percentage taken off the top. But checks are not free. They just hide their costs in places you are not tracking.

The Federal Reserve's payments research has documented the steady decline of check usage for years, and for good reason. The average contractor waits 20 to 45 days for a check to arrive, clear, and actually hit their bank account. During that window, you are floating payroll, material costs, and overhead out of your own pocket. If you carry $30,000 in outstanding invoices for an extra 30 days compared to a card payment, and you are covering that gap with a business credit line at 18 percent APR, that month of waiting costs you roughly $450 in interest alone. More than the processing fee on a $10,000 card payment.

Then there are the costs you never think about. Driving to the bank to deposit a check. Calling a client three times because the check "is in the mail." A bounced check on a $5,000 job that costs you a $35 bank fee plus another two weeks of waiting. None of those show up as a line item on your P&L, but they are all real costs of doing business with paper.

Why speed of payment matters more than the fee

Here is the math most contractors skip. Getting paid in 2 days instead of 30 days does not just feel better. It changes what your business can do. When cash is sitting in a client's checkbook instead of your bank account, you cannot buy materials for the next job, you cannot make payroll without dipping into reserves, and you cannot take on new work because your cash flow is stretched.

A contractor running $40,000 a month in invoices who gets paid in 2 days instead of 30 days has roughly $38,000 more available cash at any given time. That is enough to say yes to the next job without worrying about covering the gap. It is enough to take the early-payment discount on a materials order. It is enough to stop losing sleep over whether the next check is going to arrive before Friday's payroll.

The 2.9 percent fee on those invoices is about $1,160 a month. The financial flexibility of having $38,000 available instead of locked up in receivables is worth significantly more than that, especially if the alternative is borrowing to bridge the gap.

You can pass the fee to your clients

This is the part most contractors do not realize. In most U.S. states, it is completely legal to add a surcharge to credit card payments, as long as you disclose it clearly before the transaction. As of 2026, only a handful of states restrict surcharging (Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Puerto Rico have varying rules). Everywhere else, you can add a line item that says "credit card processing fee" and pass the cost directly to the client.

In practice, many contractors handle this by offering two payment options. Pay by card and the fee is included, or pay by ACH bank transfer where the fee is minimal (Stripe charges 0.8 percent, capped at $5 per transaction). When you give clients the choice, most do not mind the card fee because they are getting the convenience of paying with a click. The ones who want to save money can pay by bank transfer and both sides come out ahead.

Some contractors just build the fee into their pricing across the board, but we do not recommend that approach. It penalizes clients who pay by check or ACH, and it makes your bids slightly less competitive against contractors who price the work cleanly and handle fees separately.

The real cost comparison

Let's put it all together. Say you are running a remodeling business doing $25,000 a month in invoices. Here is what the year looks like under two scenarios.

Scenario A: Checks only. Average time to payment is 35 days. You carry roughly $29,000 in outstanding receivables at any given time. Two bounced checks a year cost you $70 in bank fees plus the time to chase replacements. You spend about 2 hours a week on payment follow-up and bank runs. You miss one job worth $8,000 because your cash flow could not support starting it. Total hidden cost: conservatively $3,000 to $5,000 in lost time, interest, and missed opportunity.

Scenario B: Online payments through Jobkore. Average time to payment is 3 days. Processing fees on $300,000 in annual revenue are about $8,700 if every client pays by card. In reality, some pay by ACH at $5 per transaction, bringing the blended cost closer to $6,000. You spend zero hours chasing payments because clients pay through a link on their phone. No bounced checks. No missed jobs because of cash flow gaps.

The fee is visible. The savings are not. But when you put real numbers next to each other, accepting cards costs less than not accepting them for most contractors.

The math almost always favors accepting cards

We are not saying checks are evil or that every contractor needs to stop taking them tomorrow. If your clients pay fast and your cash flow is healthy, checks work fine. But if you are spending time chasing payments, floating costs between jobs, or turning down work because money is stuck in the pipeline, the processing fee is one of the cheapest solutions available.

At 2.9 percent, a card payment fee is less than what most contractors spend on fuel in a month. It is less than the cost of one callback. It is a rounding error on your insurance premium. The difference is that the processing fee buys you something tangible: your money in your account, on time, every time. That is worth a lot more than 3 percent. Check out our pricing to see how we keep the rest of the costs simple too.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much do payment processing fees cost contractors?

Standard Stripe rates are 2.9 percent plus 30 cents per transaction. On a $10,000 invoice, that is $320.30. On a $5,000 invoice, $175.30. On a $1,000 invoice, $29.30. The percentage stays the same regardless of invoice size. Some contractor tools add their own markup on top of the processor rate, pushing total fees to 3.5 percent or higher.

Should contractors pass processing fees to clients?

It is legal in most states and increasingly common. If you pass the fee, disclose it clearly on the estimate and invoice. Some contractors add a "convenience fee" line item. Others build it into their pricing. Either approach works as long as the client knows before they pay. Check your state laws, as a few states restrict surcharging.

Is it worth accepting credit card payments as a contractor?

Almost always yes. The 2.9 percent fee on a $10,000 job is $290. Compare that to waiting three or more weeks for a check, driving to the bank, risking a bounced check at $35 plus lost time, and spending hours chasing payment. Contractors who accept online payments report getting paid in under a week. The fee pays for itself in cash flow speed.

What is the cheapest way for contractors to accept payments?

ACH bank transfers are the cheapest at around 0.8 percent with a cap of $5 per transaction. But fewer clients use them because they require entering bank routing numbers. Credit cards at 2.9 percent plus 30 cents are the sweet spot between cost and convenience. The easier you make it to pay, the faster you get paid.