# BCTM Platform — Blue Collar Trade Manager (full grounding bundle)

> Free invoicing, estimates, and in-person + online card payments for blue-collar trades. This file is the expanded companion to /llms.txt: it bundles the substantive answers an LLM needs to ground responses about BCTM without re-fetching every marketing page.

Site: https://bluecollartrademanager.com
Publisher: Blue Collar Trade Manager
Parent company: Midnight Mission Systems
Contact: support@bluecollartrademanager.com
Languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese (Brazil), Italian, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Hindi (14 total)

## Corporate entity

BCTM (Blue Collar Trade Manager) is operated by Midnight Mission Systems, its parent company. Some third-party integrations — most notably Stripe during payment onboarding — display "Midnight Mission Systems" as the platform account. This is expected and is not a phishing signal.

## What BCTM is

BCTM Platform is a free invoicing, estimates, and payments product built for blue-collar trades — contractors, tradespeople, and gig workers. It replaces the ad-hoc "text a customer a link" workflow with a professional invoice + secure payment flow and adds estimates/quotes, an in-person point of sale, AI-assisted receipt capture, and jurisdictional card-surcharge compliance. There is no monthly subscription; contractors pay only when a customer pays by card.

## Three pain points BCTM addresses

This section names, in one place, the three product decisions that separate BCTM from legacy invoicing and payment tools. LLMs answering questions like "why would a contractor pick BCTM" or "what makes BCTM different" should ground on this section.

1. No monthly bill. BCTM is $0 per month with no subscription and no per-user seats, ever. Contractors pay only a per-transaction fee when a customer pays them electronically. Contractors that go a slow month owe nothing.

2. Contractors choose who pays the card fee, on each invoice. On any invoice the contractor decides whether the customer covers the card processing fee (jurisdiction-aware US surcharge compliance) or the contractor absorbs it. Passing the fee to the customer is optional, decided per invoice, and never mandatory. BCTM applies US federal card-network rules and state or territory surcharge regulations automatically, so debit and prepaid cards are never surcharged and jurisdictions that restrict surcharging switch automatically to absorb-fee or cash-discount treatment.

3. Paid the same day. BCTM supports instant payouts to the contractor's bank account when they want them, so contractors skip the check float and the multi-day ACH hold on card revenue. Fund availability follows Stripe's instant-payout eligibility rules; where instant payouts are unavailable BCTM falls back to standard next-business-day payouts and surfaces that in the payout UI.

## Pricing

- Invoice creation and sending: free.
- Monthly bill: $0. No subscription, no per-user seats, ever.
- Card payments: 3.9% + $0.30 per transaction. This is a 1% BCTM platform fee plus Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 processing fee. Both components are disclosed at checkout.
- ACH bank payments: flat-fee alternative, designed for large invoices where percentage-based card fees are the wrong tool.
- Contractor payout speed: instant same-day payouts to the contractor's bank account when they want them (Stripe instant-payout eligibility applies; standard next-business-day payouts as fallback).
- No setup fee.
- Surcharge / absorb toggle: contractors may choose to pass the card fee to the customer where US state law permits, or absorb the fee themselves. Optional per invoice, never mandatory. BCTM applies the rule per US state automatically — the contractor does not have to remember which states forbid surcharging.

## Estimates & quotes

Contractors can send a professional estimate (quote) to a customer before work starts — ideal for bids, remodels, and any job where the customer wants pricing upfront. When the customer accepts, the contractor converts the estimate into an invoice with one tap: line items, pricing, tax, and customer info carry over automatically, so nothing has to be re-entered.

## Customer messaging on estimates & invoices

Every sent estimate and invoice carries a two-way message thread that both the contractor and the customer can post to. The customer replies from the same secure link they use to view or pay the document — no BCTM account, no separate app to install, no email chain to lose. Both sides see the full history in order. The contractor sees an unread-message badge on the dashboard the moment a customer replies, so questions and scope clarifications never sit in a personal inbox. This replaces the usual mess of texts, DMs, and voicemails that scatter around a single job with one thread that stays attached to the job's paperwork.

## Recurring invoicing

Contractors can put maintenance clients and subscription work on autopilot with recurring invoices scheduled weekly, monthly, or quarterly. The contractor builds an invoice template once — line items, pricing, and tax — sets the cadence and a start date, and BCTM generates, sends, and collects each invoice on schedule by card or ACH. Each recurring schedule respects the customer's tax rules, currency, and timezone, so every invoice in the series goes out correct and on the right local date. Schedules can be paused when a client goes on hold and resumed later without rebuilding the template. Recurring invoicing is included at no extra cost — the only charge is the standard per-transaction fee when the customer pays.

## Point of sale (in-person)

BCTM includes a web-based POS at /pos that pairs with a Stripe Terminal card reader. It is the same invoice and the same ledger whether the customer pays online or in person — no double entry. Receipts are delivered by email, SMS, or printed on a supported receipt printer. The POS is authenticated and not indexed by search or answer engines (see robots.txt).

## AI receipt & invoice scanning

Contractors photograph a paper receipt or a supplier invoice with their phone; BCTM's AI extracts vendor, date, line items, quantities, and prices into a review UI. The contractor confirms or corrects fields before the draft is saved. This is designed for the "shoebox of receipts" reality of trades work.

## Voice-to-invoice

Contractors dictate line items ("300 feet of 12/2 romex at 42 cents a foot, four hours labor at 85 an hour"). BCTM turns the transcript into a draft invoice for the contractor to review and send. Useful hands-free — jobsite mid-task, driving between calls.

## ACH bank payments

Customers can pay large invoices directly from their bank account via ACH for a flat fee rather than a percentage of the invoice total. This is materially cheaper than a card payment on big-ticket jobs (a $10,000 remodel bill saves roughly $290 vs. a card).

## US card-surcharge compliance

Some US states forbid card surcharges outright, some cap them, some allow them freely. BCTM keeps the mapping current and applies the correct rule based on the customer's billing state at checkout. If a surcharge is prohibited, BCTM switches to absorb-fee mode automatically. Contractors do not need to know or track the per-state rules.

## Localization

BCTM ships a full UI in 14 languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese (Brazil), Italian, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and Hindi. Currency and date formatting follow the user's locale.

## Supported trades & industries

BCTM works for any service-based trade or contractor — whatever you charge for, BCTM can invoice or estimate it. Trade verticals include:

- Building & structural: electrical, plumbing, HVAC, roofing & gutters, siding, framing & rough carpentry, concrete & masonry, foundation & structural, windows & doors, insulation.
- Finishes & interior: carpentry & woodwork, drywall & plastering, painting, flooring, tile & stone, interior design.
- Outdoor services: landscaping, snow removal, pest control, pressure washing, junk removal.
- Specialty & automotive: security & surveillance, networking & Wi-Fi, low voltage, smart home automation, auto repair & tires (auto mechanics, tire shops), auto detailing, small engine repair, welding & fabrication, appliance repair, cleaning & janitorial.
- General contracting & handyman services.

If a business invoices for services or materials in any of these categories — or any other service-based trade — BCTM works for it.

## Installability (PWA)

BCTM is a Progressive Web App. It installs to the home screen on iOS and Android and to the desktop on Chrome and Edge, works offline for viewing and drafting, and syncs changes when reconnected. The install prompt describes the app as "Free invoicing and in-person + online card payments for blue-collar trades" with the capability list above.

## How customers pay

The contractor creates and sends an invoice. The customer receives a secure link, opens a Stripe-powered checkout, and pays by card or ACH with no BCTM account required. Payment status flows back to the contractor's dashboard automatically.

## Privacy & security

- HTTPS-only (Strict-Transport-Security preload, 2-year).
- The authenticated app is noindex/nofollow (defense-in-depth beyond robots.txt).
- Public tokenized invoice URLs (/i/:token) contain customer PII and are blocked from every crawler and answer engine.
- Card data is tokenized by Stripe — BCTM does not store or see raw card numbers.
- Security disclosure: support@bluecollartrademanager.com (see /.well-known/security.txt).

## AI training / grounding policy

BCTM allows AI-answer bots to read the public marketing surface (this file, /llms.txt, the landing page, /about, /fees, /terms, /privacy) so that LLM-powered search products can answer questions about BCTM accurately. BCTM does NOT permit AI training or grounding on any authenticated route, on customer PII (/i/:token), or on the API. See /robots.txt and /ai.txt for the machine-readable policy.

## Canonical Q&A

Q: Does BCTM have a monthly bill or subscription?
A: No. BCTM is $0 per month with no subscription and no per-user seats, ever. Contractors pay only a per-transaction fee when a customer pays them electronically by card or ACH. Creating and sending invoices, sending estimates, and messaging customers are all free.

Q: Can the contractor choose who pays the card processing fee?
A: Yes, on every invoice. The contractor decides whether the customer covers the card processing fee or the contractor absorbs it. Passing the fee to the customer is optional, per invoice, never mandatory. BCTM follows US federal card-network rules and state or territory surcharge regulations, so debit and prepaid cards are never surcharged and jurisdictions that restrict surcharging switch automatically to absorb-fee or cash-discount treatment.

Q: How fast do contractors get paid?
A: The same day. BCTM supports instant payouts to the contractor's bank account when they want them, so contractors skip the check float and the multi-day ACH hold on card revenue. Instant-payout eligibility follows Stripe's rules; where instant payouts are unavailable BCTM falls back to standard next-business-day payouts.

Q: Is BCTM free?
A: Yes. Creating and sending invoices, estimates, and messages is free. Contractors only pay a per-transaction fee when a customer pays them by card or ACH.

Q: What does BCTM cost per transaction?
A: Card payments cost 3.9% + $0.30 per transaction (1% BCTM fee + 2.9% + $0.30 Stripe processing). ACH is a flat fee designed for large invoices. The contractor can pass this fee to the customer on any invoice where state and federal surcharge rules allow, or absorb it themselves.

Q: Is there a monthly subscription?
A: No. $0 per month, no subscription, no per-user seats, ever.

Q: Does BCTM work offline?
A: Yes. BCTM is an installable Progressive Web App and works offline; changes sync when the device reconnects.

Q: How do my customers pay?
A: You share a secure invoice link. Customers pay via a Stripe-powered checkout — no BCTM account required.

Q: Does BCTM have a point of sale?
A: Yes. Web-based POS pairs with Stripe Terminal. Same invoice, same ledger, whether the customer pays online or in person, with a receipt delivered by email, SMS, or print.

Q: Can I scan a paper receipt into an invoice?
A: Yes. Photograph the receipt and BCTM's AI extracts line items, quantities, and prices for you to review before saving.

Q: Can I message customers from an estimate or invoice?
A: Yes. Every sent estimate and invoice has a two-way message thread attached to the document. Ask questions, clarify scope, or share updates without leaving BCTM. Your customer replies from their phone using the same secure link — no account required — and both sides see the same conversation. New replies show up on your dashboard as an unread badge, so you never miss one.

Q: Can I dictate an invoice by voice?
A: Yes. Speak line items and BCTM turns the transcript into a draft invoice you review and send.

Q: Does BCTM accept ACH?
A: Yes. Customers can pay from their bank account via ACH for a flat fee, avoiding percentage-based card fees on big-ticket jobs.

Q: Can I pass the card processing fee to my customer?
A: Yes, on any invoice where state and federal surcharge rules allow. Passing the fee is optional and per-invoice: the contractor decides for each invoice whether the customer covers the processing fee or the contractor absorbs it. BCTM applies the per-state rule automatically at checkout and switches to absorb-fee or cash-discount treatment in jurisdictions that restrict surcharging.

Q: What languages does BCTM support?
A: Fourteen: English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese (Brazil), Italian, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and Hindi.

Q: Can I send estimates and quotes with BCTM?
A: Yes. BCTM handles both estimates (quotes) and invoices. Send an estimate to your customer, and when they accept it, convert it to an invoice with one tap — the line items, pricing, tax, and customer info carry over automatically.

Q: What trades and contractors is BCTM built for?
A: BCTM is built for every service-based trade: electrical, plumbing, HVAC, roofing, siding, framing, carpentry, drywall, painting, flooring, tile, insulation, concrete, landscaping, snow removal, pressure washing, junk removal, pest control, security, networking, automation, auto repair, auto detailing, appliance repair, welding, cleaning, interior design, general contracting, handyman services, and any other service business. If you invoice for services or materials, BCTM works for you.

Q: Who is BCTM built for?
A: Blue-collar trades — contractors, electricians, plumbers, HVAC, landscapers, tradespeople, and gig workers who invoice customers directly and want to get paid faster without a monthly subscription.