Payments- Monthly / Bi-monthly / Quarterly??

[SW Landscape Maintenance]

Iv'e got mostly residential full time customers signed on a service agreement ( contract) with 12 equal payments over 12 months. Half pay on the 1st and the other half pay on the 15th of each month. So every two weeks I make a deposit.

I was once told by another lawn care owner that the less invoices a customer receives the better and he has all his full time clients pay quarterly. Just wondering what everyone else does and why.

[PROCUT1]

Quarterly would be fine if it was paid in advance. There is no way I would go quarterly billing after the service. I had a hard enough time collecting on one month after the service.

[fertguy2008]

Quarterly would be fine if it was paid in advance. There is no way I would go quarterly billing after the service. I had a hard enough time collecting on one month after the service.

I agree w/procut. If its in advance that's fine. Think about the customers that might not pay until the end of the quarter, you're 90 days out on supporting their lawn care needs. Then think about the ocassional customers who would decide not to pay at all and you not even realize it til you're 120 days out.
Bill early and bill often.

[larryinalabama]

Monthly, but I charge by the week because some Months have 5 days in them.

[Adam3669]

Monthly, but I charge by the week because some Months have 5 days in them.

Wow, I've even heard of months having 30 days in them! Crazy! :clapping:

[Lawnvision]

I bill residential customers monthly as the services are provided. commercial i bill using payments over 12 months, this way i have good cash flow and money in the winter months.

[larryinalabama]

Wow, I've even heard of months having 30 days in them! Crazy! :clapping:



Well allow me to explain so all ya'all in Kansas will understand my point.

7 days in 1 week
4 weeks in 1 month
28 days, so if a month has 31 days, some do, that leaves 3 extra days.

So why should I work free for 3 days?

Hope that helps

[dwlah]

This year residential customers have two options with me
Pay when Im on the property or
Invoice the end of the month due by the 15th
I do have one commercial property that wanted to go to twelve month billing Ill see how it goes with this one this year and MAY expand it to other commercial properties next year

Last year I had a however the customer wanted to do it (first year full time)
Hard to keep up with 5 different billing cycles wont happen again

[lawnman_scott]

Well allow me to explain so all ya'all in Kansas will understand my point.

7 days in 1 week
4 weeks in 1 month
28 days, so if a month has 31 days, some do, that leaves 3 extra days.

So why should I work free for 3 days?

Hope that helpsyou said some months have 5 days in them, I think you meant 5 weeks, so he was just playing with your mixup.

[PlatinumLandCon]

SW, when you say "full-time" I assume you mean snow work as well? Its a mistake IMO for companies to stretch 7-8 months of mowing into a 12 month payment cycle. Doing that puts the power with the homeowner to not pay you and get away with it easier. I've been debating going with the year-round contract but still have to look into it.

[Daily Lawn/Landscape]

I'm trying something new this year. I will require my customers to prepay for the month or we will debit a credit card the day after service. I will only bill monthly for my commercial accounts. I may loose a couple accounts but my cash flow will be at my discretion not theirs.

[greenazkeeper]

I do the same. I have my clients fill out a form that allows me legally to charge their credit cards on a recurring payment. It saves me time and I dont have to worry about billing them. I also have some that only want to send me checks. I continue to do that but once they have a NSF I require their credit card to make sure I get paid.

I have a friend that he send them an invoice and that works for him. But he dont tell me if he has any issues collecting money. To each their own.

[Trader Rick]

SW, when you say "full-time" I assume you mean snow work as well? Its a mistake IMO for companies to stretch 7-8 months of mowing into a 12 month payment cycle. Doing that puts the power with the homeowner to not pay you and get away with it easier. I've been debating going with the year-round contract but still have to look into it.
I have several H.O.As that pay monthly. They claim it is easier for them to budget out expences? Works for me. They are like clock work

[Ferti-man]

Trader Rick, When you say like clock work, if it is monthly as you stated, do you still invoice monthly and if so, how long after do you get money? I have one HOA and I invoice at beginning of month . It seems that it takes another 30 days if not more to get payed after this. They claim they have to get HOA board to sign off on all payouts and they have to wait until the next meeting to get checks signed. It is getting to be a PITA for me. How have you overcome this HOA type obstacle? :hammerhead:

[HOOLIE]

Well allow me to explain so all ya'all in Kansas will understand my point.

7 days in 1 week
4 weeks in 1 month
28 days, so if a month has 31 days, some do, that leaves 3 extra days.

So why should I work free for 3 days?

Hope that helps

Larry....my man...you just take the total # of cuts for the year (total $ cost) and divide by the number of months you want to do it by.

[causalitist]

Iv'e got mostly residential full time customers signed on a service agreement ( contract) with 12 equal payments over 12 months. Half pay on the 1st and the other half pay on the 15th of each month. So every two weeks I make a deposit.

I was once told by another lawn care owner that the less invoices a customer receives the better and he has all his full time clients pay quarterly. Just wondering what everyone else does and why.

i dont send invoices. I charge credit cards automatically, and dont send an invoice.. there credit card statement is their invoice.

so according to the guy you talked to, it doesnt get any better than the way i do it lol. i'd have to agree, most people completely forget about me. i never call them, never see them... their lawn magically looks nice, and their credit card bills a little more. none of the impact of seeing an invoice though.

i charge em every single time i mow. little increments are better.

[Blink74]

I just switched to flat rate for this coming season, so the jury is still out. Here's what I did:

lawn care only is bimonthly feb-oct (5 equal payments)

weekly maintenance only is monthly march-oct (8 equal payments)

fert and weekly maintenance is Feb-oct (9 equal payments)

I simply take the annual total and divide it by the number of payments to come up with the flat rate. Customers are billed in advance for the coming months services. So far the response has been good. I wouldn't want to bill through the months when no services are needed. I think people wouldn't tolerate having to pay me for three months when they don't need me.

[Ferti-man]

You guys having HOA type accounts, how are you getting timely payments out of them? :hammerhead:

[shepoutside]

i dont send invoices. I charge credit cards automatically, and dont send an invoice.. there credit card statement is their invoice.

so according to the guy you talked to, it doesnt get any better than the way i do it lol. i'd have to agree, most people completely forget about me. i never call them, never see them... their lawn magically looks nice, and their credit card bills a little more. none of the impact of seeing an invoice though.

i charge em every single time i mow. little increments are better.

This is how I operate too, works great, and paid the day of the work.

[DuallyVette]

All our customers are serviced 12 months out of the year. Some months we mow 4 times, sometimes 5 and , with the drought...less. Some months we vacuum up leaves, some months we blow off the driveway and pick up a few sticks. I bill them a flat monthly rate on th 23rd of each month, for that month ( I billed for February today.)I also add fertilizer, weed control fees to their bill when that service is provided. 40% of the money arrives by the 1st (March) 40% more by the 10th, and maybe 10% is still due from last month.