EL Lawn care
12-15-2008, 03:27 PM
I have been and in the outdoor industry for a while, working part time at a local produce/farm in the area (Virginia). My full time job was sales rep for which I was highly successful. The part time job was for fun and because I enjoyed being outside (cant take the country boy out of me) I never gave it up. Because of the over abundance travel with my sales job, I have decided to leave that business and go into the lawn care business full time. I believe my professional background in sales will be a plus in terms of dealing with customers and striking up a good clientele and dealing with commercial accounts eventually.
My question is how does someone work contracts? I have done some research and most of what I see is annual. Here in VA it is warm enough start cutting in march and it last until October, by November the grass goes dormant for the most part and grass doesn't need to be cut every week. Are contracts set up in as a 52 week deal? if a yard estimate is $50 to cut, does this mean I should charge $2600 for an annual contract? Or do I take in to consideration the "slow" months and perform services every other week (yard debris and leaf removal)? If that is the case I would subtract out 8 weeks total from the 52 and charge the customer that amount 44 x $50 = $2244? I understand the annual contract and billing for 12 months but I'm having a difficult time finding an answer to, if you charge someone for 52 weeks, does this mean you have to be at their house every week of the year? How does this work? Any help would be much appreciated.
Thank you!
"Don't give up, Don't ever give up" Jimmy V
My question is how does someone work contracts? I have done some research and most of what I see is annual. Here in VA it is warm enough start cutting in march and it last until October, by November the grass goes dormant for the most part and grass doesn't need to be cut every week. Are contracts set up in as a 52 week deal? if a yard estimate is $50 to cut, does this mean I should charge $2600 for an annual contract? Or do I take in to consideration the "slow" months and perform services every other week (yard debris and leaf removal)? If that is the case I would subtract out 8 weeks total from the 52 and charge the customer that amount 44 x $50 = $2244? I understand the annual contract and billing for 12 months but I'm having a difficult time finding an answer to, if you charge someone for 52 weeks, does this mean you have to be at their house every week of the year? How does this work? Any help would be much appreciated.
Thank you!
"Don't give up, Don't ever give up" Jimmy V