How I bill my clients

[ritchiem]

There has been a few questions on how to bill clients on the forums lately and I just wanted to share how I do it.

Contracts (April - November, 8 months)

For all my 'Contract' clients I bill out on the 15 of every month starting on April 15th until November 15...that is our growing season here in Ontario Canada.

Time and Material

For all of our T&M work we bill out on the last day of every month. This is for our clients that don't want to sign an equal billing agreement.

One time jobs

These jobs get billed out as soon as the job is completed. Any job that is over $2500.00 I require a deposit of 25% to cover materials.

By doing the billing the way I do, I constantly have good cash flow. Therefore I am able to pay my bills on time and have money in the business account.

I have been doing it this way from the start and it works out nicely.

[RoyalLawns]

Thanks, this will help me this season. I've been having cash flow issues in the past.

[Steve]

Richard,

What is your view on why your contracts and (time & material) bills go out at different times?

[ritchiem]

Like I said it is all about cash flow. All my invoices are due on receipt and marked late within 30 days. So by doing 2 runs I can be receiving payments thru the month and not waiting for them all to come in at once.

[Steve]

I think that is an important key to success that is so often overlooked by newer start ups. They tend to feel completed jobs are money in the bank but you have to remember they are not.

Completed jobs are simply completed jobs and the money owed to you isn't yours until it is in your bank.

Tracking down customers for payment can take huge amounts of time.

Also by splitting up his billing, Richard gets checks coming in twice a month versus at the end of the month. So it's important to constantly think how you can improve your cash flow.