Bill the Management Company, Service Every Property
Pool Founder now lets you link customers in parent-child relationships. Connect each property, building, or tenant to a single parent account, then decide whether invoices are billed to the parent or to the individual account. It is built for property managers, HOAs, and landlords who oversee many pools but want one company on the hook for payment.
A management company might run a dozen properties, each with its own pool and its own on-site contact, but a single accounts-payable department that pays every bill. Before, you tracked that relationship in your head. Now the hierarchy lives in Pool Founder, and billing and notifications follow the rules you set.
How to Link a Parent and Child Account
When you create or edit a customer, open the Parent Account section and choose a parent. As soon as a parent is selected, a Relationship Settings panel appears where you control how billing and emails route. You can also start from a parent's profile and use the Add Child Account button, which jumps you straight to the new customer form.
Each relationship gives you four independent settings:
- Billing - Bill to Parent, or Bill to This Account
- Invoice Emails - Parent, This Account, or Both
- Service Reports - Parent, This Account, or Both
- Quote Notifications - Parent, This Account, or Both
Relationships are one level deep. A customer can be a parent or a child, but not both, which keeps the hierarchy simple to reason about. Archived customers cannot be assigned as parents, and a parent cannot be archived while one of its child accounts still has unpaid invoices.
Route Billing to the Parent Account
Set Billing to Bill to Parent and every invoice for that property is charged to the parent account instead of the property's own account. The parent's saved payment method and auto-pay settings apply, so the management company's card covers the balance. Each property still generates its own invoice, which means you keep a clean per-pool record while one account carries payment.
Parent-child billing routes each invoice's charge and notifications to the parent account. It does not merge separate invoices into a single bill. Combining multiple invoices onto one statement is consolidated invoicing, which is a separate feature. Use parent-child when one company should pay for many accounts, and use consolidated invoicing when you want several charges combined onto one document.
Billing is set per relationship, so you can mix and match. Choose Bill to Parent for the properties a management company covers, and Bill to This Account for tenants or owners who pay their own way, all under the same parent.
Choose Who Gets Which Emails
Billing and communication do not have to point to the same place. A property manager may want every invoice and quote, while the on-site contact at each property should still get the service report after a visit. For each linked account you set Invoice Emails, Service Reports, and Quote Notifications independently to Parent, This Account, or Both.
On the parent's profile, a Child Accounts section lists every linked account along with its locations, open invoices, and billing target, so you can see the whole portfolio at a glance and jump straight to any property.
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Try Pool Founder free for 30 daysFrequently Asked Questions
How do I link a customer to a parent account?
Open the customer form when you create or edit a customer, find the Parent Account section, and select the parent. A Relationship Settings panel then lets you choose the billing target and how invoice, service report, and quote emails route. You can also start from a parent's profile and use Add Child Account.
Does this combine all my invoices into one bill?
No. Parent-child billing routes each invoice's charge and email notifications to the parent account, but every property still gets its own separate invoice. Combining multiple invoices onto a single statement is consolidated invoicing, which is a separate feature.
Can a child account have children of its own?
No. Relationships are one level deep. A customer can be a parent or a child, but not both. This keeps the structure predictable for property managers and HOAs with many accounts under one company.
Can I bill some properties to the parent and others to themselves?
Yes. Billing is set per relationship. Choose Bill to Parent for accounts the management company covers, and Bill to This Account for properties that pay their own way. Both can live under the same parent.