February 17, 2026 · 10 min read
Your office manager spends 4+ hours every pay period manually calculating technician commissions from spreadsheets. They cross-reference completed jobs, pull invoice totals, check material costs, verify job eligibility, run percentages, and still worry about errors.
Dispatch Scout's Commission System automates the whole process: track commissions on completed jobs, batch payouts in one click, and keep records auditable.
No more spreadsheets. No more manual math. No more payout disputes.
Most service businesses spend 4-6 hours per pay period calculating commissions. Over 26 pay periods, that is 104-156 hours per year, roughly four full work weeks spent on manual arithmetic.
Dispatch Scout tracks, calculates, and pays out technician commissions directly in the same platform where jobs, invoices, and payments already live.
Add a commission on the job detail page:
The system calculates the commission amount automatically based on your configured commission basis.
Every commission starts as unpaid and appears in the commission report, filterable by technician, date range, and paid status.
Select technician and date range, then click Create payout. Dispatch Scout batches all unpaid commissions in that range.
After payment is sent (payroll, check, or direct deposit), mark the payout as paid. Commissions in that batch are locked from edits. Export a CSV for payroll and records.
The commission basis controls which amount the percentage uses:
| Basis | What It Uses | Example Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue (default) | Total customer payment | Pay commissions on full invoice amount |
| Gross Profit (Materials) | Revenue minus material costs | Exclude parts from commissionable base |
| Gross Profit (Materials + Labor) | Revenue minus materials and labor | Exclude labor from percentage base |
| Gross Profit (All Direct Costs) | Revenue minus materials, labor, and processing fees | Pay commissions on true net profit |
Example: A $1,000 HVAC repair with $300 in materials and a 10% commission:
You can attach multiple commissions to one job, such as lead tech 10%, assistant 5%, plus a fixed upsell bonus. Each commission is tracked separately.
Set per-job commission caps to control total payout on high-ticket work.
No job can pay more than a configured percentage of its base amount.
No job can pay more than a configured dollar amount.
If both are set, the stricter cap applies automatically.
If a job reaches its cap, the commission form is disabled and shows remaining allowance at $0, preventing accidental overpayments.
The commission report gives full visibility with filters for date range, technician, and paid status.
The table includes:
Totals aggregate base and commission amounts for whatever filter is active.
If revenue or costs change after creation, unpaid commissions can be recalculated using current data. Paid commissions stay locked to preserve payout integrity.
The system batches all unpaid commissions for that technician in the selected range.
Once payment is sent, mark the payout as paid. This locks the commissions, records payment timestamp, and updates reporting.
Each payout exports as CSV with earned date, job, client, technician, base amount, commission amount, and description for payroll processing and record-keeping.
Commission settings are under Account Settings > Commissions.
| Setting | What It Does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Enable commissions | Turns commission tracking on or off | On |
| Commission basis | Controls the base used for percentage commissions | Revenue |
| Require paid invoices | Allows commissions only on jobs with paid invoices | On |
| Job commission cap (%) | Sets maximum commission as a percentage of base | None |
| Job commission cap (fixed) | Sets maximum total commission dollars per job | None |
Pro tip: Changing commission basis affects only new commissions. Historical records retain original basis for auditability.
When created, a commission stores the then-current base amount. Later invoice changes do not alter it unless you explicitly recalculate.
Paid commissions cannot be edited, protecting payout records and preventing post-payment disputes.
Caps apply to total commissions on a job across all technicians, not per technician.
Each commission records the basis used at creation, so historical records remain accurate if account settings change.
By default, no. The Require paid invoices setting prevents commissions on unpaid jobs. You can disable it if your workflow needs earlier tracking.
The commission base includes only the paid portion of invoices. If a $1,000 job has $500 paid, the calculation runs on $500.
Yes, while unpaid. Once included in a paid payout, it is locked.
Only new commissions use the new basis. Existing records keep their original basis. Unpaid commissions can be recalculated if you want to apply the updated basis.
Yes. Rates are entered when adding commissions, so different technicians can use different rates on the same job.
Material costs come from unit cost on invoice line items. In flat-rate pricing, costs are tracked at the component item level, not the customer-facing rollup price.
Labor costs are based on actual time worked from appointment timestamps multiplied by technician hourly rate. If a technician has no hourly rate set, the account default rate is used.
Commission tracking should not require spreadsheets, manual formulas, and constant verification.
Live for all Dispatch Scout customers today. No upgrade required. Enable commissions in account settings and start tracking.
Log in and go to Account Settings > Commissions to get started.
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Questions about commissions? Email support@dispatchscout.com or reach out via live chat.