Back to portfolio
Case Study · Pass-Throughs & Unbilled Standby

$38,200 in standby sat forgotten in a cab. Here's how ERP-priced digital tickets recovered 100% of pass-through margin.

A forensic breakdown of an unbilled equipment rental ticket in Reeves County, TX, and how replacing margin notes with custom automated line items stops revenue leakage.

18 days
unbilled standby lag
$38,200
omitted pass-through revenue
100%
margin recovered with Crude HR
The Problem

Anatomy of a forgotten line item

Ticket #30911 was executed in Reeves County, TX on 03/12/2026. The job included 48 hours of pump standby and $12,400 in third-party chemical pass-throughs. The operator wrote the base labor on the main ticket, but squeezed the pass-through charges into an oil-stained margin note.

The back office missed the handwritten note entirely, keying only the base rate into the ERP.

Revenue leakage

$12,400 in chemical pass-throughs omitted completely from the initial customer invoice.

Pricing disconnect

Standby rates billed at $125/hr instead of the contracted $185/hr tier due to bad handwriting.

Awkward recovery

Re-billing a customer 3 weeks later for missed charges creates friction and payment delays.

Re-keying errors

Pass-through receipts manually re-typed by hand into ERP accounting software.

The Fix

From handwritten margin notes to ERP-priced line items

By auditing the ticketing process, Crude HR builds a digital ticket that captures every line item and pass-through as it happens in the field. Each one is priced directly from the client's contract rates in your ERP, so nothing gets squeezed into a margin note or billed at the wrong tier.

Pipeline stageManual paperDigitized workflow (via Crude HR)
Standby trackingHandwritten margin notesCaptured as a digital line item, priced from your ERP
Pass-through billingReceipts stapled to paper ticketsInstant photo upload linked to billing line-item
Contract rate verificationManual lookup in office binderRates pulled live from your ERP contract file
ERP data entry2-3 days manual clerk keyingDirect sync into your ERP
Total invoicing lag18 daysUnder 24 hours

The math: Stopping a 2.5% revenue leakage across $2M in annual pass-through billing recovers $50,000 in direct bottom-line profit.

Recovery Ledger

Every missed dollar, itemized and reclaimed

Crude HR traces each unbilled or underbilled category on this ticket back to its source, so recovery is a documented line item, not a guess.

Total unbilled exposure$38,200.00
├─ Chemical pass-throughs omitted$12,400.00
├─ Standby rate shortfall (48 hrs)$2,880.00
└─ Additional missed line items$22,920.00
Billing Confidence

Customers get one clean invoice, not a rebill

Pricing pulled straight from your ERP means the first invoice is the right invoice, with no awkward follow-up calls asking for more money weeks after the job.

Ticket #30911Underbilled / Disputed
Ticket #30911Rebilled & Paid
Margin recovered100%
Deep Dive Impact
Live ERP pricing: rate disputes eliminated before submission

Custom digital architecture ties every ticket to the customer's contracted rate sheet in your ERP. The crew logs the equipment and pass-throughs; the system applies the exact contracted rate, preventing accidental under-billing or rate mismatches at the source.

Digital proof of cost: instant pass-through backing docs

Third-party vendor receipts are photographed in the field, attached to the digital form, and auto-routed to the client's specific AFE folder. Customers receive fully backed invoices without the administrative drag of scanning and matching paper receipts.

The bottom line

18d → <1d

Billing cycle time for complex multi-line tickets.

2.5-4.0%

Margin recovered across all pass-through and rental billings.

100%

Pass-through charges billed with complete backing documentation.

1 FTE

Office staff reallocated from manual invoice auditing to core growth.

Custom mobile ticketingLive ERP contract pricingDirect ERP & accounting sync

Stop leaking margin. Start locking in rates.

We'll connect your ERP contract pricing and show you the payback math for your operation.

Book My Free 15-Minute Workflow Review