Getting customers to switch over to yearly contracts

[jrayb39667]

I have a question. How do you guys bill for a yearly contract? Do you figure up what your rate would be to mow a lawn then multiply that by the number of cuts you would do per season then divide that 12? Say I would mow a lawn for $60 and would mow that property 20 times over the cutting season. would you multiply $60 x 20 / 12 = $100 per month for 12 months? I live in south MS and i'm pretty much like everyone else with the drought conditions and have only cut 7 yards in the past 2 weeks. Now it has rained in the evenings for the past week and I should pick back up next week. This is my 1st season and I have 20 clients and would like to start moving them to a yearly contract next season. This is a side job for me as of now but I would like to see it replace my current 9-5 within the next 2 years. Any advice and direction would be helpful. I forgot to mention that most of my clients are bi weekly (I will not be able to move them to weekly as they're tight wads lol)

[SECTLANDSCAPING]

Lawn care business tips

Yeah pretty much. A couple points though. I would bill for 8 months instead of 12. To prevent some tight wad for stopping payments after your done mowing. I would add a few extra cuts. If biweekly is 20 cuts, charge them for 22 cuts and tell them that you come 3 times a month during heavy growth. Then I would add a fall clean up to the price. If you mow in late october there will be very little to clean up. Dividing a $300 clean up over 8 months might make it more affordable to some that would put it off.

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[stevef1201]

I figured how much I ned to make for a year. then divide that by 8 (months), then divide that by 4.3 (weeks per month) then by 30 (hours per week) That is my hourly rate.

I contract for 8 months, then add for 4 months, I charge .6 per month.

Example:

This yard is 20 bucks a cut (weekly)
times 4.3
86 dollars a month for 8 months
then 50 dollars a month for 4 months. (this is because there is less grass growth in the winter)

My customers think thay are getting a real good deal, and love tha fact that I charges less for the winter.

I live near Tampa Florida so there is no worry about snow removal.

I do lawn cleanups as part of my winter service. With high speed lawn vacs, blowers etc this takes very little time. And as it is for lawn customers I charge less than if someone just called for the service.

That way I make all the money I have to make in the summer, then get some extra in the winter.

[Godslapper]

Not bad. Just remember no two customers are alike and it's all about the numbers.

[stevef1201]

Originally Posted by Godslapper

Not bad. Just remember no two customers are alike and it's all about the numbers.

True that. And The BIGGER the number (for me) the better

[Steve]

If you can show them they will be saving money by signing a contract and that they can still get out of it with X amount of days notice made to you, then it's a big win for the customer and a win for you too.