A dive shop runs three businesses off one counter — a school, a boat and a workshop. QuixChex bills the course over its stages, takes the boat dive per head, and keeps the service history on the piece of kit it belongs to.
How a dive runs
An Open Water books for two students: a deposit holds the place, four sessions run over a fortnight, and the balance is cut when they certify. The same weekend the boat runs a two-tank morning for six, one of whom is on the course package and pays nothing on the day. On Monday a regulator comes in for its annual service, a service kit is billed to the job, and the divemaster who ran both trips is owed for a day and a half. All of it is the same shop, the same divers and one set of books.
An Open Water books for two students: a deposit holds the place, four sessions run over a fortnight, and the balance is cut when they certify. The same weekend the boat runs a two-tank morning for six, one of whom is on the course package and pays nothing on the day. On Monday a regulator comes in for its annual service, a service kit is billed to the job, and the divemaster who ran both trips is owed for a day and a half. All of it is the same shop, the same divers and one set of books.
Open Water runs over weeks: a deposit to hold the place, pool sessions, open water, then a balance. It is one agreement with money at both ends, and it wants to be one record rather than four appointments and a note.
Six divers on a two-tank morning is six lines, not one booking — some paid online, one is on a course package, one hired kit. Weather cancels it more often than anyone likes, so what was collected and what was refunded both have to be visible.
A visual inspection runs annually and a hydrostatic test every five years. A tank out of date cannot be filled — and nothing about the cylinder on the counter says so. The date lives on the kit, with its history.
A full set out on a two-day hire and back on the third. What is out, whose name is on it and when it was due — a set nobody chased is a set the shop quietly bought.
Paid per course and per trip, not on a payroll, so what is owed to whom adds up between paydays. Their ratings and insurance carry expiry dates too, and a lapsed certificate is not a small problem.
Day one
Say you run a dive shop business and QuixChex sets this up for you before you've typed anything. Every price is editable — they're a starting point, not a rule.
| Service | What it covers | Starting price |
|---|---|---|
| Discover Scuba — try dive | Pool or sheltered water, no certification | $149 |
| Open Water Diver — course | Excludes agency fee and materials | $549 |
| Advanced Open Water — course | Five adventure dives | $399 |
| Rescue Diver — course | The one most shops call the hardest | $475 |
| Divemaster — programme | The first professional rating | $1,200 |
| Enriched Air (Nitrox) — specialty | Classroom and a blend | $225 |
| Agency Certification Fee | Passed through, not the shop’s margin | $60 |
| Two-Tank Boat Dive | Per diver | $145 |
| Night Dive | Per diver, lights hired separately | $110 |
| Guided Shore Dive | Divemaster in the water with you | $65 |
| Charter — whole boat, half day | Up to the boat’s certificate | $1,100 |
| Full Kit Rental — per day | BCD, regulator, wetsuit, mask, fins | $65 |
| Air Fill | Tank must be in current visual inspection | $9 |
| Nitrox Fill | Certification sighted, tank oxygen-clean | $15 |
| Regulator — annual service | Labour; service kits billed as parts | $145 |
| Tank — visual inspection (VIP) | Annual | $25 |
| Tank — hydrostatic test | Every five years in the US | $45 |
| Oxygen Clean — tank and valve | Required before a tank takes nitrox | $65 |
FAQ
It records the inspection and what it is due, on the cylinder, with its history — so the date is on the screen in front of whoever is at the fill station. It does not lock the compressor. Nothing in software can make that call for you, and a shop that wants a hard stop should have one at the fill station itself.
Yes. A deposit holds the place and a balance falls due when the course finishes, both on the same record, so what is collected and what is still owed sit together rather than in two places.
Per diver. Six on a morning is six lines — one prepaid online, one on a course package at nothing, one who hired kit as well. The manifest is who is aboard; the money is per head.
The booking is cancelled and what was taken is refunded or carried, and both show against the diver. Whether you hold a deposit for weather is a shop policy — the software records what you decided, it does not decide it.
A hire is a booking with a due-back date, so an overdue set is visible as an overdue set rather than as an old booking. It is not a full inventory system — it will not tell you which of four identical BCDs is out.
Yes — per course and per trip, at their own rate, recorded against the work and carried until it is approved and paid. Contractor totals feed the 1099 worksheet, which matters because most dive instruction is freelance.
No. Registering a student and issuing a certification happens in the agency’s own system, and QuixChex does not connect to it. What it does is bill the course, pass the agency fee through as its own line so a quote adds up to what the diver actually pays, and keep the instructor ratings with their expiry dates.
A short call, on your own services and your own customers. We'll show you what the first week looks like, and talk through what it would take to get you there.