Best way to lock in a quote?

[LawnMoore]

What is the best way to lock in a price (estimate/quote/etc.) ? For instance if i quoted a client a job price, what is the best form to use for that agreement? Would i just use a purchase order and detail my services to that, then me and said client sign the PO? Is there a better way?

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(352)682-3094 Suwannee River, Florida 32680

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Last edited by LawnMoore; 07-29-2010 at 05:54 AM.

[picframer]

Lawn care business tips

Personally I send an email "Based on our meeting today, the following is an overview of our disussions and our estimate for each"

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Andy
Halifax, Nova Scotia

[LawnMoore]

Originally Posted by picframer

Personally I send an email "Based on our meeting today, the following is an overview of our disussions and our estimate for each"

my brain started working, i realized i needed some cofee!

Does anyone else have ideas for locking in quotes/estimates so you do not get screwed over?

[Steve]

Personally I send an email "Based on our meeting today, the following is an overview of our disussions and our estimate for each"

Andy,

When do you have the client sign something to acknowledge the price or have you found the email is sufficient?

[picframer]

Originally Posted by Steve

Andy,

When do you have the client sign something to acknowledge the price or have you found the email is sufficient?

Residential - Never had a problem using just email, never a question and we are always paid on time

Commercial we do very, very few however I have a contract my lawyer drew up, Commercial represents less than 2% of our gross revenue.

Private Communities - Conformation of email requested, once again no issues.

[LawnMoore]

Sounds good, i will give emailing a try when i can, for now its usually just a handshake deal, it has actually never failed me. But my memory is trying to slip me when i get so spread out ill use some Purchase order slips with my Name/logo to keep track of jobs that will be multiple items/prices.

[Steve]

What is the best way to lock in a price (estimate/quote/etc.) ?

When you asked this, was there something in the back of your head at the time that was making you a little concerned about this customer?

[picframer]

Originally Posted by LawnMoore

Sounds good, i will give emailing a try when i can, for now its usually just a handshake deal, it has actually never failed me. But my memory is trying to slip me when i get so spread out ill use some Purchase order slips with my Name/logo to keep track of jobs that will be multiple items/prices.

When I do a quote and it's accepted, it goes into our accounting software, On Sunday Heidi prints all the jobs for the week, we list all our jobs on Goggle Doc's for staff to select, she writes the staff member name on the invoice and it goes in the team leaders folder, 24 hours before the job is to be done, the software emails an invoice to the client, everyone has lots of time to question anything. The only exception is jobs by the hour, the software doesn't know what to charge, every night staff report back the number of hours worked on a site an an invoice is emailed, clients can stop us anytime they wish although it has never happened.

[LawnMoore]

Originally Posted by Steve

When you asked this, was there something in the back of your head at the time that was making you a little concerned about this customer?

I was just up all night and about to head to the print shop to have some of those made, i was going to just get a Purchase Order booklet and have them print my info on the invoices., i havent made it to the print shop yet tho.

I guess i can have custom Estimate books made, that say the estimate ends in 30 days ( for my tree removals )

and this is what im asking about, for the locked in, accepted estimates, is the best way to do that on a purchase order? Then after its done and paid for, i print the payment method and payed in full.

That sound right?

Or would i just use the estimate sheets and be ok?

[Steve]

Or would i just use the estimate sheets and be ok?

I would think an estimate sheet would be ok.