Avoiding non-pays

[kturner]

We've been having a hard time with this one and I'd appreciate your hard-earned wisdom.
When you bid and start either a one time job or a periodic clean up, how do you guys gaurantee that you have a legal right to payment?
I'd like to have a signature on a scope of work or work proposal but this is often difficult to obtain quickly, and is sometimes just cumbersome to print out a new work proposal to get signed every three months in some cases.
If a customer balks and doesn't pay and I have no signature I feel a bit nervous. Are there any other ways to get around this?

Happy mowin'

[sheppard]

What a difference the southeast is. When you shake on something 90% of the time you can depend on the money person coming through. Of course most of us carry shotguns to enforce the payer but that's another story. Only direct advice I can give is to check around and ask people (i.e. bankers) if so and so is a paying customer. Sooner or later someone will know the person and speak up.

Cordially,
Sheppard

[kturner]

Yeah, it must be different. I'd bet ninety percent of my customers don't know their neighbor's names.
I don't have much of a problem with it, but I hear a lot of stories from other guys in the area and I had to threaten with a lien once. Lucky he was a contract guy. I'm not sure if I can file for a lien w/o a signature.