Do you Bill the Customer Before Mowing Services or After?

[Lawnguy6340]

Last season I billed monthly on the 15th, and payment was due by the 30th for that month's mowing. We had already done the services by the time payment was received. Does anyone bill in advance?? Say send the bill out for the next months services? I ask this because I had a few non-paying bums last season (not many, but there were a few). We do great work, but they fell off the face of the earth and I felt like a debt collector (and I had to be to get my $). How do you guys do billing?

[steve-o]

Last Service Day Of The Month............

i mowed today so those folks get their bill mailed tomorrow. all my mowing have chemicals i put down the first week of march and some have mulch and clean-ups as well. i don't have anymore MOW ONLY customers as they can be real pricks......my chemical only customers were billed the next day since that was their last service date of the month.

steve-o

[MASTERMOWER]

I bill at the end of the month for services rendered. I rarely have a problem with non-paying scumbags. And if I do, I just turn them over to a collection agency and cut 'em off.

[bluecollar01]

There is one service in town that offers the option to pay for the entire year or quarterly in advance and provides a discount vs the pay as you go. It may be something to think about.

[dpld]

all my customers that sign up for weekly services get billed ahead and if the bill is past due services are not performed until payment is received.

if they have monthly auto pay on the credit card they get a discount and if they pre pay the entire season they get a even bigger discount.

i am not bank of america and i refuse to carry all the costs for a month on careing for a property when any other form of business requires payment to be made prior to services.
and i certainly am not gonna be a collector and have to knock on doors to get paid or bill weekly for each service, that is a complete waste of time and i will not work for customers like that.

its time to wake up and get with the program people, its 2011 and we don't operate like its 1960 no more and work on a handshake and get paid in soup and tomatoes.
if you want to compare and justify you rates based on if you had a job working for someone thats your gig, but i myself operate and charge accordingly as to how a business is run compared to other businesses.

i am not knocking anyone, but the bottom line is it cost money to provide a service second to none and considering how competitive the business is there is not much room for error and i think a lot of guys sell themselves too short and find themselves struggleing needlessly when all they have to do is reverse their billing cycle.

the customer wins all across the board, they save money, they get what they pay for and the work is being performed by a company that has no cash flow issues and operates in a timely unfettered fashion.
and the business wins because he is no longer bank of america and actually has some money to invest in the business and give himself a paycheck as well as never has to work and after its all said and done after the fact, wonder, will i get paid?.

[MASTERMOWER]

There is one service in town that offers the option to pay for the entire year or quarterly in advance and provides a discount vs the pay as you go. It may be something to think about.

A lot of companies do this. It's all set up on a contract. I offer a 5% discount if paid upfront. I have a few takers. Seems more popular with lawn program contracts however. :alien::alien::alien:

[safari lawn]

I bill at the end of the month, I never thought of getting paid ahead of time seeing I dont know any Employers who pay their workers in advance, usually they withhold a week or 2 of salary. I also do not want to be in the position of owing a customer a credit in the event of weather rescheduling. I put a limit on the amount I am willing to loose and over 10 years I might be out maybe 500 in total, (I could go back and tally it up, just dont know the number off the top of my head and its been 3 years since the last time I was stood up for a payment) anyone who is habitually delinquint I usually dont service the property the following year, or at a minimum wont schedule until I have recieved the payment for the past month.

(of course I would agree that with a commercial contract it could be broken up either monthly or quarterly) it doesnt hurt to have money rolling in over slow periods of either draught or winter.

[dpld]

I bill at the end of the month, I never thought of getting paid ahead of time seeing I dont know any Employers who pay their workers in advance, usually they withhold a week or 2 of salary. I also do not want to be in the position of owing a customer a credit in the event of weather rescheduling. I put a limit on the amount I am willing to loose and over 10 years I might be out maybe 500 in total, (I could go back and tally it up, just dont know the number off the top of my head and its been 3 years since the last time I was stood up for a payment) anyone who is habitually delinquint I usually dont service the property the following year, or at a minimum wont schedule until I have recieved the payment for the past month.

(of course I would agree that with a commercial contract it could be broken up either monthly or quarterly) it doesnt hurt to have money rolling in over slow periods of either draught or winter.

there you go, comparing a business to a employee.
the two have nothing in common in that regard as well as you are paying your employee's in advance, for the customer until he pays you.

i never had to credit anyone, ever. my contracts include all the services for the year and are added together and divided by the amount of months in the service plan and with that said if i show up to cut the lawn and if its raining or too wet to cut then while we are there we can trim shrubs,mulch, edge, applications, etc, etc because there is always something to do on a property each week and the same goes for the summer when the grass does not grow.

i also never got stood up for payment, because i bill in advance and the rules are no pay, no play.
and the best part of all is by billing in advance i never need to worry about payroll and all the money i make is able to be put to work for me in the bank instead of in the customers bank account.

[Sammy]

I bill them at the end of the month.

[safari lawn]

there you go, comparing a business to a employee.
the two have nothing in common in that regard as well as you are paying your employee's in advance, for the customer until he pays you.

i never had to credit anyone, ever. my contracts include all the services for the year and are added together and divided by the amount of months in the service plan and with that said if i show up to cut the lawn and if its raining or too wet to cut then while we are there we can trim shrubs,mulch, edge, applications, etc, etc because there is always something to do on a property each week and the same goes for the summer when the grass does not grow.

i also never got stood up for payment, because i bill in advance and the rules are no pay, no play.
and the best part of all is by billing in advance i never need to worry about payroll and all the money i make is able to be put to work for me in the bank instead of in the customers bank account.

So you dont Bill in advance but rather have a Service Contract instead?




I can see your point in the extra work that can be accomplished to fullfill your contractual terms with the customer. I can also see how this may be the only industry that can demand that the Customer trust the Contractor. Pretty much all other operations pay at time of service or are billed. Snow Plowing (Contracts have a deposit attatched which could be said is paying in advance with more charges to follow in the event the deposit was exhausted), Most all service trades Plumbing, Electrical, Appliance, (Unless covered under a service contract) Vehicle and Equipment Repair (unless Warranty work). Construction (sure it requires a partial payment in advance, but not full) I do have a few customers who left their previous Lawncare companies since they would mow needed or not. I would argue however that if your profit margin is high enough that you are paying your employees out of your total profit, and not fronting them money, you are just taking your cut after your expenses.

In our area residents are urged to make the Contractors pull the permits, Call Miss Utility, so in the event the work has issues, the county can go after the contractor protecting the consumer.

I could imagine what would happen if Companies or Banks took the profit off the top. Just spells diaster in my mind.

I have limited expertise in Business having always been service oriented or Govt. industries, and operating a Sole Owner/Operator Lawncare operation, but in the small Retail I have done The Buisness Eats the cost of Stock until its sold, sure there is a grace or billing period of maybe 30 days. I have only experienced 1 Employer who would dip into the Register and pay himself first, and he is no longer in Buisness, I also know of a Tree Person who requires payment up front and he is always using the money for deposits of 1 job to rent equipment for another since he has already spent that allocated money on.

[clclawn]

if i were looking to hire a lawn company and they wanted the money up front to mow my lawn that month i would have to look somewhere else. We do have a handful of customers who prepay for the year, but that is their preference not mine. I also have many on set monthly fees who are ahead at some points of the year but as a rule of thumb, most pay after service is performed.

There are way to many companies in our industry who screw people over and do really ****ty work for there to be an expectation to be paid up front.

[steve-o]

No Contracts In Hooterville..............

i seen too many guys almost go out of business 3 years ago when gas and fert went sky high. they had prices for their fall services in january with those payments set at that previous season's rate and then come the fall and gas was 50 cent higher and fert related products went sky high and those boys was locked in for the ride. they got two choices at that point, take a huge loss in profit or cheat the customer on what they put down..... i just simply rose my prices and explained it to the customers why i was so much higher than the previous year. i do fine billing at the end of the month. it keeps me honest. i would think it would be real easy to get lazy when it's a 100 outside and the $$$ is already spent or in the bank....

steve-o

[MASTERMOWER]

There are way to many companies in our industry who screw people over and do really ****ty work for there to be an expectation to be paid up front.

Yeap, I couldn't agree more. And even so, many are afraid of the word 'contract' in itself. :alien::alien::alien:

[dpld]

if i were looking to hire a lawn company and they wanted the money up front to mow my lawn that month i would have to look somewhere else. We do have a handful of customers who prepay for the year, but that is their preference not mine. I also have many on set monthly fees who are ahead at some points of the year but as a rule of thumb, most pay after service is performed.

There are way to many companies in our industry who screw people over and do really ****ty work for there to be an expectation to be paid up front.

after the initial payment its monthly from there just like anyone else and they are also getting a discount which saves them money so its not like they are paying up front for something and not getting anything in return.
serious customers do not have an issue about how they have to pay whether they get billed on the first day of the month or the last day.

my discounts are very substantial due to the fact that my costs and troubles are greatly reduced.
i have every chemical and product for the entire season bought and paid for as we speak and i bet that i saved a minimum of 30% on my products compared to my competitors.
mulch is included in my price as well and i have 130 accounts with a average of 20 cubic yards per property and i pre paid for my mulch allready as well and i am paying about 9.00 per cubic yard less then anyone i know and i am free to pick it up as i need it.

when you have the money in your hands you are now empowered to negotiate better deals then the pay as you go businessman its just a fact of life, money talks and you know what walks.
my mulch guy even said so himself, he said guys come in here all the time and say i got x amount of customers and i will probably use x amount of mulch this year so what kind of discount will you give me before they even spend a dime and when i come and say i need your best price on 2,600 yards of mulch and i will pay you up front right here and now and pick it up as i need it they tell the other guy, hey i'll be right back i got to help this other guy first.
when i pull into the yard to load up they drop what they are doing and help me first.
i am nobody special the only thing i do is reconize that in this world today people only respond to money and nothing else.

i realize and respect we are from different states and things get done differently and the local economies varies greatly but where i live in new jersey and the people i work for are all doctors and lawyers and stock brokers and they do not want to be bothered by a monthly bill and their entire yearly maintenence tab does not equade to their monthly tax bill payment for their homes and being the lowly landscaper i am on the bottom of the food chain.

when i get to a customers house and they refuse the terms they can go and hire one of those crappy companies you speak of because if paying ahead is a problem then they probably will have trouble paying the bill itself because i am no low baller and my properties look like disneyland or one of your finer resorts and that comes at a price.

with all this talking i realized i have a question for you all, if mrs jones wants a 20,000 dollar patio do you pay for the job and bill at the end or do you get money up front for materials and such?

and if so, how is that any different then the law guy your going to have a 12 month relationship with versus a one time job, who says the guy you just gave a deposit to is gonna show up.

people are more receptive then you think because everything else they do in life requires a deposit or pre payment.
if you send your kid to a private school you pay before the education not after, you buy furniture for your home you pay before its delivered.
and you would say they got books to buy or teachers to pay or they have to make the furniture and i say i got employee's to pay and fuel to buy and insurance to pay so i can work on your property i also have chemicals i have to buy so the closest you ever have to come to a weed in your lawn is your neighbors property.

in order to keep prices competitive you have to cut costs and most traditional methods usually effect the quality of work by doing the bare minimum or cutting corners and the way i operate it allows me to cut the costs on everything i use and pass those savings on to the customer and never having to discount my labor.

discounts either come from your bottom line in what you take home at the end of the day or creative ways to save money through cutting costs in labor or materials or general exspenses.
i choose to not discount my profit and employees as well as provide a lesser service to my customers, i choose to do so buy increasing discounts through my suppliers and as long as they see the green they more then oblige.

[MASTERMOWER]

i am nobody special the only thing i do is reconize that in this world today people only respond to money and nothing else.

Interesting you mention that. :alien::alien::alien:

with all this talking i realized i have a question for you all, if mrs jones wants a 20,000 dollar patio do you pay for the job and bill at the end or do you get money up front for materials and such?

Landscaping is different from mowing lawns. You're talking different business. No fool would foot the materials themselves until the project was complete.

Refer back to the subject. The original poster asked about payment for MOWING. I never read about mulch or anything else. You're taking this too far (I suppose for your own pleasure).

If you're working in volume then buying in advance is a smart move, but for the majority here it does not. Not everyone goes through 5000CY of mulch per season. Many here mow under 50 lawns/ week. And again, if many here asked up front for payment before mowing services are rendered, they'd most likely end up with little to no work.

Might I suggest you take your knowledge and publish a book for all unwashed lawn turds to learn from. The best part is you'd receive money UPFRONT as you so love. You might even consider printing 1,000 copies and paying the press company in advance. Who knows, you might even receive a discount for pre-payment further heightening your profits from this new venture of yours. Ahhhh, I forgot you already have this all figured out. I'll just call you Einstein here on out. :alien::alien::alien: