Reply With QuoteMost of my customers are on contracts if we miss a cut I take it off that months invoice.....missed quite a bit of cuts this summer with record rainfall...think we only had 4 days in June without atleast some precipitation.
All contracts
All pay-per-visit
A mixture of contracts and visit payments
The last few months weather has me curious, how do you have you business structured? With all the rain we have been having I can't walk in my yard, much less mow, mulch or anything else. If your getting paid by the mow how are you adjusting if you in this situation?
If you have your customers on a contract how are they structured?
Most of my customers are on contracts if we miss a cut I take it off that months invoice.....missed quite a bit of cuts this summer with record rainfall...think we only had 4 days in June without atleast some precipitation.
the contracts I have are yearly contracts that have straight monthly installments. No change in price for weather, but they are on full service contracts, so it's not just mowing they are paying for. the pay as you go customers have a flat rate per cut no matter what the schedule due to weather.
Any of you have samples of your contracts you can attach? I'm trying to find a good copy of mine...
All on contract, but then I spray trees.
I do pay per mow. I often have to switch the schedule up and it's easier just to collect as I go. I also have mostly elderly customers that are very... well frugal, to put it nicely. Let's say it's a $40/ cut lawn. If I collect $40 4 times, it's the same as collecting $160 1 time, but it's a lot easier for them to write a $40 check than the $160 check. I think some of them would drop if I went to monthly billing.
I've found it works better for me to have both. If its large enough, then 12 month annual contract billing is the way to go; but smaller ones, especially mow onlys I just bill eom for the number of visits per month. This helps regulate cash flow, as I have much more money going out during the mowing season than any other time of the year.
I have 3 large contract jobs, everything else is pay per mow, i do have a few that pay for 3-4 mows at a time, they
are mostly weekenders, i have tried getting contracts on residential and it just won't work in my area...
90% of our business is large acreage , vac lots, right of ways etc, do very little residential..
Bob..
I do both. Some of my larger properties that I work with all year around and do everything are on contract and the total is divided by 12 months. I like this because I have gaurnteed income 12 months a year. Then at the end of the year I adjust the amount based on the number of mowings. I also have a pay per cut program as well. I have found though that monthly billing is alot eaiser for me and alot easier for the customer. One bill at the first of every month. One check and alot less trips to the bank.
I have always only done it the pay-per-mow way. But how and when I get paid is a different story. Some people will pay me every time I'm there before I leave. Some people will send a bi-weekly check. Some people will send a monthly check. Some people will pay for the whole month in advance. But its still pay-per-mow because if I only got to cut the grass 3 times in a month, the check at the end of the month will only have 3 times worth of payment on it. And for those who pay in advance, the extra goes towards a cut in the next month. Actually I do have 1 that is an annual contract but it is billed at the end of the year with all the visits listed on it.
We have a contracts for most everything. A grounds mtc contract for spring clean-up, weekly mowing & fall clean-up. A second contract for a 6 step fert package (client given options to upgrade for pre-grub and or on spot fungicides if needed. We also have a menu of extras mulch, pruning, fert shrubs, pre-m when mulching, annuals, mums, cabbage/kale, etc that the client checks schedule and/or quote estimate. The majority of our accounts are all full service. Most I've had 5+ years, many for 20 years now, I kinda have carte blanche w/ one's I've established a working relationship. We bill each month for that month's respective services. Sometimes a deposit for mulch is required (usually if 10+ yds). ALl landscape work is done via contract. Deposits required for all landscape work. Snow contracts for commercial accounts only. Sometimes in winter we bill per storm.
I do it both ways 2. Here's a sample of one of my contracts...
Richard Martin D.B.A. AM Lawn Service
125 Any Rd
Greenville, NC 27858
252-844-0432
Agreement for Lawn Service
This agreement entered into between Richard Martin and Regina Red, 123 Any Rd, Greenville, NC 27858 commencing on August 1, 2008, and continuing until July 31, 2009 as long as both parties are satisfied. Each party agreeing to give the other party a 14-day notice of intention to change or terminate this agreement unless otherwise stated in this agreement. If either party exercises their right to cancel this contract before July 31, 2009 then an audit of the account will be performed by Richard Martin. The audit will include all services performed by Richard Martin (at the prices outlined below) and all monies received for those services from Regina Red. If the account is deemed to have a negative balance then Regina Red agrees to make an immediate payment of the negative balance. If the account is deemed to have a positive balance then Richard Martin agrees to issue an immediate refund of the positive balance.
Regina Red agrees to pay Richard Martin 12 equal monthly payments in the amount of $185.00. These payments are due on the first day of every month beginning on September 1, 2008 and ending on August 1, 2009.
Included services are as outlined here and are limited to those services outlined here.
Basic Lawn Care Package - includes: Mowing, grass trimming, edging of concrete surfaces and blowing off of concrete surfaces. This service will generally be performed on a weekly basis during the growing season and on an “As Needed” basis during the off season. The growing season is defined as the period from April 1 until September 30. The price for the basic lawn care package is $55.00 per occurrence.
Shrub, Bush, Hedge, Rose and Plantings Service - includes: Richard Martin will prune and or shear the landscaping plants at the residence at the direction and request of Regina Red. The maximum frequency of this service shall be monthly. The price of this service is $35.00 per hour. This service absolutely does not include any tree trimming.
Richard Martin will make every attempt to perform the lawn service on the same day of the week. If weather or other circumstances beyond Richard Martin's control prevent him from performing the service on the day of or the day after the regularly scheduled service day Richard Martin reserves the right to skip the lawn service until the same day on the next week.
This service agreement is limited solely to the above defined service(s) unless otherwise stated in
this agreement. Any additional services outside of the above described are not included in the quoted prices.
Richard Martin is not responsible for any damage of items left on turf areas and/or malfunctioning sprinkler heads.
Richard Martin agrees to maintain a commercial liability insurance policy as long as this service agreement is in effect. The insurance policy and/or binder will be presented for viewing upon request of Regina Brown.
Any bill/service not receiving full payment within 21 days of the due date shall be considered delinquent. All services will be temporarily stopped on any delinquent account until full payment for services rendered has been received. In the event the lawn service is cancelled for non payment, Regina Red agrees to pay the outstanding balance, PLUS a $10 fee for each week that was missed, in order to resume service due to over-grown grass. In the event of default Regina Red agrees to reimburse Richard Martin all costs including but not limited to: administrative costs, collection costs, attorney fees, recording fees and/ or court costs. Any NSF check returned will incur a $25 Fee. After the second NSF check the account will be put a permanent weekly Cash/Money Order only basis for the remainder of the Agreement in question.
_______________________________ ______________________
Regina Red Date
_______________________________ _______________________
Richard Martin Date
I just saw an error in my contract. Subsitute suspended for cancelled in the last paragraph.
we have a mix of both.
here is the problem with either only one or the other:
If you only have pay per mow you will have cash flow crunches in the off season. Most people are not disciplined enough to set money aside for the winter months.
If you have only contracts then you will have a cash flow crunch in the summer. When you are spending most of your time and employee payroll, fuel, etc... you are only collecting 1/12 of the yearly total each month..
We balance the two out. We need almost $30Kper month to cover our overhead and key employee salaries. We try and make sure we have that amount in monthly contracts so that in the winter we can cover our overhead and salaries even if all the billable work stops.
We try and not go too far over that amount per month because then we have cash flow problems In june/ july when our payroll alone runs $40-$60K/month... not including any overhead...
If we had all contract accounts the work we are performing in 8 Months would be stretched out and paid over 12 months. This would put us into a cash flow crunch in the summer when we need a more heavy cash flow.
we have a mix of both.
here is the problem with either only one or the other:
If you only have pay per mow you will have cash flow crunches in the off season. Most people are not disciplined enough to set money aside for the winter months.
If you have only contracts then you will have a cash flow crunch in the summer. When you are spending most of your time and employee payroll, fuel, etc... you are only collecting 1/12 of the yearly total each month..
We balance the two out. We need almost $30Kper month to cover our overhead and key employee salaries. We try and make sure we have that amount in monthly contracts so that in the winter we can cover our overhead and salaries even if all the billable work stops.
We try and not go too far over that amount per month because then we have cash flow problems In june/ july when our payroll alone runs $40-$60K/month... not including any overhead...
If we had all contract accounts the work we are performing in 8 Months would be stretched out and paid over 12 months. This would put us into a cash flow crunch in the summer when we need a more heavy cash flow.
Most of the ones I have I have set the only one that is different is the school district it is a per man hr
Hi everyone, I am thinking about starting a lawn care website and wanted to get your opinions on my idea. My website will be a "mow and go" service where people can log on, then schedule to have their grass cut. No contracts,they would just need to set up an account on my site, then start scheduling to have their lawn cut whenever they need it. Services will range from just a quick cut, to weeding, trimming, etc... You get to pick and choose what service you need and when you need it. I have a marketing background and do not have any lawn care experience so I will either bring on a partner with lawn care experience or outsource to local gardners. If all goes well, possibly hire some employees in the future. Let me know what you think and if you have heard of any such sites. Thanks for your feedback.
Hey Roy;Originally Posted by royboym
Thats good from a customer service stand point, but it could create problems for routing and scheduling.
You won't be able to control when to mow...every residential or church will want it mowed on Friday.
Many will want you to mow every two weeks, or maybe even once a month. If you biuld around customers who want service like that, then you'll be starved during dry times, and ocerwhelmed during wet periods of weather.
I a gree with Billy. If you leave it up to the customer they will let it get higher than you would then they will schedule a mowing where the grass is 8" high and your tripple mowing to get the yard cut. Also many of the people that might want this service could be the older, not sure how that will woth with internet scheduling. I hardly ever had anyone email me from my site, they usually got my number and called...makes it more personal and I could answer their questions.
Not saying it will not work, just factor these things in too.
I have not heard of such a service. It is doable. You may need a map displayed with zones colored by travel time. When the person schedules they should be able to view a calendar of available times, this calendar should be able to refresh the instant someone else schedules in. The calendar doesn't have to show the public who scheduled, but may or may not incorporate the zones.
Then because of chances of variability in grass height or amount of weeds, let them choose the amount of time to be on site. Add in travel time there and back. Let the customer know that you are being paid by the amount of time and not if it gets completed or not. To aid in proper timing, they can use a form that let's them enter square footage, size of equipment needed in which you own, and click on a picture of density and type of surface (weeds in mulch or gravel). This will then spit out how long it should take and an estimate based on how much area your equipment covers and the cost/area of equipment with hourly wage divided down into area/minute for equipment. Then let them decide on dump or mulch (if you do dump), this of course will be more difficult, dump can have a max and min and the rest to be determined on pick-up at a rate of $?.
I actually thought about setting something up like this. Basically what I was wanting to do was have a site where someone can do a basic estimate to get a ball park figure, but for an actual estimate to call for an on site inspection. This proved to be tricky for me to set up because I have no programming experience. I had set off on a journey to learn php so that I can interact with a mysql database, then wanted my forms to not have to reload a page in order to display what options become available when certain choices are made (if all the options and sub-options were all on a single page it may confuse people), but this is impossible with php and I don't want to learn javascript at this time. So I put it to a hault.
This is totally doable if you can break your costs and time down.
Base your equipment on how long it takes to cut, cover, blow, spray 1000 sq ft.
Edge on 1000 linear ft increments
This includes barking, weeding (light, medium, heavy density), tilling for really heavy.
Have customers agree on setup that if the job is not quite possible or is dangerous with equipment specified that an alternative can be performed at a different price and that if they choose to not take the alternative, they will be build for the travel time. Hence the zoning shown as a different bill.
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