How much does credit card processing cost a contractor?

Online card payments typically cost about 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction; in-person card-present taps run a little lower, around 2.6% + 10¢. On a $2,000 invoice that is roughly $50–$60. Most contractors find the faster payment — usually 7–10 days sooner — easily outweighs the fee.

Is Stripe or Square better for contractors?

Stripe is best for invoice and online payments, because it embeds a payment link in each invoice and reconciles automatically — ideal for a quote-to-invoice workflow. Square is best for in-person, card-present payments thanks to its physical reader. Many contractors simply use whichever is built into the invoicing software they already use.

Can a contractor pass the credit card fee to the customer?

In most US states you can add a surcharge to cover the fee, but it is regulated — there are caps, disclosure rules, and a few states restrict it. A surcharge can also add friction right when you want payment to be easy. Many contractors instead bake the roughly 3% cost into their pricing so the payment experience stays frictionless.

Credit Card Processing for Contractors

Is the fee worth it?

The instinct is to resist card processing because of the fee — roughly 2.6–2.9% plus 30¢ per transaction. On a $2,000 invoice that is about $58. Real money. But looking only at the fee misses the bigger number.

Invoices with a one-tap payment link get paid materially faster than invoices that ask for a bank transfer — typically 7–10 days sooner — because paying takes 30 seconds from the couch instead of a deliberate trip to online banking that clients keep deferring. Faster payment means better cash flow, fewer invoices slipping into "overdue," and far less time spent chasing.

For most contractors, getting paid a week or two sooner on every job is worth far more than the 3% fee costs. The fee is visible; the cost of slow payment — the cash crunch, the chasing, the forgotten invoices — is invisible but much larger. See How to Get Paid Faster as a Contractor.

Stripe vs Square for contractors

The two most common choices serve slightly different needs.

Stripe is built for online and invoice payments. Its strength is that it slots into your invoicing software — every invoice goes out with a unique payment link, the client taps and pays by card, and the payment reconciles automatically. It is the standard when you want payments embedded in a quote-to-invoice workflow rather than handled as a separate step. Pricing is about 2.9% + 30¢ for online card payments.

Square is built for in-person, card-present payments. Its strength is the physical reader — tap or dip a card on site, on the spot. If you regularly take payment in person before leaving the job, Square's hardware is convenient, and card-present rates run a touch lower (around 2.6% + 10¢).

Many contractors end up using whichever is built into the software they already invoice with, because a payment link inside the invoice beats a separate app either way. The integration matters more than a fraction of a percent on the rate.

Should you pass the fee to the client?

You can add a surcharge to cover the processing fee, but think carefully before you do.

Surcharging is legal in most US states but regulated — there are caps, disclosure requirements, and a few states restrict it. More importantly, a 3% surcharge can create friction at exactly the moment you want payment to be effortless, partly undoing the speed advantage you are paying for.

Many contractors find it simpler to bake the cost into their pricing instead. If card fees cost you roughly 3% and they get you paid one to two weeks sooner, a small across-the-board price adjustment covers it invisibly while keeping the payment experience frictionless. If you do surcharge, disclose it clearly on the invoice and check your state's rules first.

Fieldpaid puts a Stripe payment link on every invoice automatically, so clients can pay by card the moment they get it — and pairs it with automatic reminders so the few that do not pay right away still get chased without you lifting a finger.

Credit Card Processing for Contractors: Stripe, Square, and Getting Paid Faster