business bests Education resources
Belgard Hardscapes (belgard.biz/university.htm) Unilock (unilock.com)
National Concrete Masonry Association (ncma.org)
so you can bid on jobs profitably. "You need to know your man-hour costs," he says. "I blun- dered along for years. When I finally hired an accountant, his knowledge of business write- offs alone paid for his monthly fee."
Practice proper billing Good billing practices include a down pay- ment that's high enough to secure a commit- ment from a customer and motivate him or her to stop shopping around. O'Neill suggests charging 25 percent up front, 25 percent more upon starting a job and 50 percent upon completion. "The up-front money puts accountability on the homeowner and pays for materials, the second payment pays for labor and the last one covers the remaining labor and provides the profit," he explains. For projects less than $25,000, Stewart
requires a 50 percent down payment and 50 percent upon completion. But for projects costing more than $25,000, he requires 30 percent up front, then two 30-percent draws and 10 percent upon completion. He also charges customers a fee for project designs, which subtly commits them to hiring him and discourages them from using that design to get bids from other contractors. Pickering charges half up-front, with 25
percent due in the middle of the project and the remaining 25 percent due upon comple- tion, and he offers a three-year warranty. He also uses written contracts and written change orders to avoid miscommunication with customers.
June 2012 / TOTAL LANDSCAPE CARE 27
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