Billing by the Month?

[Jarrells74]

Hi all.. This is my first year in the Buisness, and all my customers pay me by the job right now. One customer asked me if I could set him up on a monthy payment plan. I am wondering how you all bill by the month? I mean, do you just charge them for 4 weeks at a time, or do you have the payment do at the first of the month? Seems if you did that, you would be doing a free mowing every few months because of 30 or 31 days in a month. I need to give him a figure on Monday. Thx for any help..

[bastalker]

May has 31 days in it. so if you cut 4 times, bill for 4 cuts due on the 15th of June. June has 30 days in it, so if you cut 3 times, bill for three cuts, due on the 15th of July. July has 31 days in it, so if you cut 3 times, bill for 3 cuts due the 15th of Aug....etc....:)

[ahah]

In my area there are generally 30 cuts per season. I have customers under contract. First bills are due March 15 th., the last is due December 15 th. Mowing starts the second week of April and ends the last week of October.

30 cuts at 30 bucks per cut= 900 bucks

900 bucks divided by 10 months of payments is 90 bucks per month.

In the contract it stipulates that any additonal mowing over thirty cuts will be billed at 30 (or whatever the original mowing price was) bucks per instance.

[Turfdude]

We bill at the end of each month for that month's work. We do not have an equal pay plan. We have contracts for all of our services. We take deposits for larger mulch jobs (over 12 yds) and for landscape intalls only. We do not offer pre-pay discounts. Hope this helps.

[sgallaher]

I bill monthly also. Any work that is done in the month is billed on the last day of the month. Most of my clients write me a check on the spot whenerver I give them an invoice.

[Green Pastures]

I cut an average of 36-40 times per season in my area.

I put my customers on a 5 step fert/pre-emergent program, after an initial soil test.

I cut all bushes and shrubs.

I provide all weed control.

I clean up after thunderstorm's.

I remove all leaves from property in the fall.

I leave them with nothing to do in their yards but watering, and pest control. Lime treatments and mulching is extra as most customers do not need or want lime and mulch every year.

I give them a price for the entire year, then I offer 2 payment plans. One I call seasonal which divides the total contract price into 9 equal monthly payments, (April-December). Two is the annual, total contract price divided into 12 monthly payments.

All of my customers except 2 are on the annual payment plan.

I get my money by the 10th of the month or service stops and I send a notice to pay. NO EXCEPTIONS. This way If I don't get paid I'm only out a little bit of money. If I'm not paid by the 25th I send another letter, and if I'm not paid by the 10th of the following month, we go to court. NO EXCEPTIONS.

I will do NO WORK AT ALL without a signed and dated contract.

This has worked for me for 3 years now with only 2 maybe 3 late payments in that time. I've never had to go to court. I've always been paid by no later than the 20th by those who have been late.

I've said it a million times here, contracting your jobs is the ONLY way to run a landscaping business. I get steady income all year round, and I never have to sweat receivables.

[bastalker]

I myself have never had problems with collecting the money that is owed. I have never had contracts with lawncare service. Most of my customers to me are my buds. I treat them that way, and they treat me the same.

I have had a couple of customers neglect to pay promptly. I just give them a call, and ask if they were satisfied with the job,and is there anything else I can do for them. The check is in the mail the next day.

I did however, and this is a first for me, talk to a potential customer. He wanted me to dethatch,and lime his propety, and if I gave him a good deal I could cut him for the season.

We did give him a break, an did an awsome job. After we were done the lawn looked like a carpet. He couldn't have been more pleased.

As we were settling the financial end of the deal. I said well we will be here in about a week to mow. He says to me, well I think I will cut it myself this year....:angry:

This is the first time it has happened to me, but I still like being on a personel level with my customers than a proffesional one. But thats just me..:)

[xpnd]

In every calendar quarter there is one month that has five billable weeks assuming you bill by the work accomplished during and through that week. For me each week is defined by which month the Monday falls in. This completely arbitrary. Any day could be selected. If Monday happens to be the last day of the month, the following days even though they are in the next month are billed on the prior months invoice in advance. You need to be careful. Many people are exempt employees (salaried) and get paid on the 15th and 30th of the month. To these people there are only 48 weeks in the year. But for the hourly worker there are 26 paydays or the correct 52 weeks in a year. Make sure your customers know that you don't work that "fifth" week for free and their bill will increase accordingly.

[Shuter]

I bill on the first of the month for all work performed the previous month. Any extra landscaping jobs for a regular customer over $1000. I bill at the end of the job. One time customers are billed at the end of the job.

[sheppard]

Morning Jarrell74,

I bill on the 1st of the month for my commercial accounts. I give them till the 30th to get the check to me. Almost all of them pay on time.

My residential's I bill on the 15th and I tell them to get it to me by the 30th as well.

Like several posts above I annualize all my cuts so the billing amount is the same all year around. Any extra work, specified in the agreement, they want is billed seperately. I.E. pine straw, plants, hickory chips...these I pay up front for and request payment due at completion of the work.

Out of 40 accounts I have 3 that are consistantly late. Right now I'm keeping them because we manage our cash flow well. If I get as full as I want to be then I'll consider dropping them. As it happens one of the late ones is a $390.00 a month account. Need them at the moment. When I don't need them, I'll drop them. It's not worth the hassle to manage late paperwork or follow up calls to them.

Cordially,
S.

[fox]

all of my accounts are on a monthly payment schedule. we have a 26 week mowing season up here. formula is 26 x mow price, divided by an 8 mo. season. seems to work well. my snow contracts are monthly, but seperated by season.

[NC Big Daddy]

Keep reading Scott's (Green Pastures) post until you understand. Bid the job, don't be a yard boy. Include all services add them up divide by 12 theres you payment. I NEVER discuss price per cut never. Nice post Scott you're an asset to this site.

[bobbygedd]

"i call and ask them if they were happy with the job". i would never do that. if they are late with thier payment, and have not called in a complaint or anything to suggest they were unhappy with the work, i would not open up that window of oportunity for them. simply stick to the subject: we havnt recieved your payment for the month of ....... u should do a search on billing methods, there is alot to read on this

[Green Pastures]

Thanks NC Big Daddy,

I just call it how I see it. I figure it's been working for me, it's got to work for somebody else.

This process has made me a better estimator as well. If you can't bid and estimate with a very sharp pencil you stand the chance of losing big or winning big. Sometimes when I was not sure of my estimate I'd put a 30 or a 60 day price clause in the contract. Or I would mow trim edge one time for free to determing my costs.

God bless ya'll this Easter Sunday.

[smburgess]

Invoice at the end of the month for all services rendered during that month. Residentials net15, commercial net30. 1.8% finance charge on late payments. I run a business, not a "friends network". This is my livelyhood, not a part-time side job.

[Mueller Landscape Inc]

Jarrells74,

I would urge you to continue to collect your money after each job
(if that's what you meant). The one customer that wants to pay monthly, I would change. You should use Quickbooks. As your business grows and becomes more sophisticated (not meant in a negative way), then you will want to start billing monthly or what ever is normal in your area. I strongly suggest that you put in your contract that you expect to receive your money by the 15th of each month following service. Any payment received after that date will be charged a late fee. Our late fee is $15.00.

Cash flow is the life blood of any business and receiving your money right away will help you grow this season.

Also, what Green Pastures said is right on.

[Green Pastures]

I would urge you to collect your money BEFORE the work is done.

For example if I start a contract in the middle of the month say the 17th I want a check for the remainder of that month's contract price the day I sign the contract. It their monthly contract price is $200 I want $100 on the 17th the day we sign the contract. Then, I want the next month's full contract price ($200) by the 10th of the following month.

This way, IF they stiff me on a month or are late by a few days they only stiff me for one cutting. I would have only cut once by the 10th of the month. If I do not have a check in my hands by the 10th service stops, NO EXCEPTIONS, and a letter goes out.

I have never been stiffed from my annual contract customers on their January and February payments. They don't even see me at all in Jan. and Feb., but I have a contract and they know it.

We are the one's who perpetuate the payment hassles in our industry. You will be hard pressed to find any company who will let you pay later for services already rendered. We shouldn't either. I want my $ by the 10th of the current month or like I said all service stops.

It's funny how quickly you will get a check when the lawn you normally keep beautiful for them gets 6-8" high and starts falling over. I just send a letter on the 10th, no call, no dropping by, no nothing. And, IF they wait to long, say I end up missing a complete cutting I charge an extra $ per hour fee for bagging and disposal of the extra clippings.

No mercy.

[Jarrells74]

Thx for all the tips guys. I will probally just bill them a certain day every month, and if I have to mow 5 times in that month, then I will have to raise the price for that month. Next year I hope to get annual accounts.