Three Invoicing Methods Used By Lawn Care Firms

By Author: unknownmem
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There are three invoicing methods which are commonly used by lawn care firms. We will be looking at each of those. We will also be keen on learning how each invoicing approach works. This information would be useful to a person setting up a lawn care firm: as it is an exposition on ways in which lawn maintenance services can be charged for. But a person shopping for lawn maintenance services will also find it useful: as, in this case, it would be an exposition on ways in which lawn maintenance services can be paid for. A person with proper awareness of these issues can opt to retain a lawn service firm under the billing terms which offer the best value for money. It emerges that majority of lawn service firms are actually willing to use a different invoicing approach, upon being requested to do so by their clients.

The three invoicing methods used by lawn care firms include:

Where clients are billed a flat fee for the whole lawn care contract. Under this arrangement, a client simply shows the lawn service firm a plot they want a lawn established on, agrees on a sum of money they need to pay for the job, and proceeds ...
... to pay the same. The lawn service firm, having thus received the bulk payment, works out several things. It works out how much of that amount to devote to the purchase of lawn maintenance supplies, how much to devote to the payment of wages, how much to keep as profit… and so on. The total sum of money paid in this way may look huge (actually ‘monstrous’ when quoted on paper). Yet it tends to be actually cheaper than what you end up paying, in the long run, if you opt for the other two invoicing methods we are just about to look at.

Where clients are billed per task. This is where the client takes ‘overall control’ of the lawn maintenance project, but gets the lawn service people to help with the actual tasks that pertain to it. Thus, the client, having identified the plot on which he or she needs a lawn developed, gets a lawn service firm to help with ground preparation, and pays for that service alone. Once they are ready to plant grasses, they get the same (or another) lawn service firm to help with grass planting – and pay for the same. That is repeated with respect to other things like weed control, pest control, fertilization, irrigation and so on: with payment being made for each task individually (rather than making one huge payment for the whole project).

Many people who opt to do things this way come to realize that, cumulatively, they have spent more on lawn maintenance than they’d have spent if they simply opted to contract the whole project to a lawn care firm. But on the upside, this approach gives the lawn owner control. It is also ideal where you want a lawn but don’t have the money to pay a lump sum down payment for a lawn service firm to take the whole project.
Where clients are billed per hour. This is a rare method, but you occasionally come across lawn owners who are billed by their lawn service firms in this way. It looks odd, but if you supervise what actually gets done in the hour you pay for properly, this can actually turn out to be the most cost effective way to pay for lawn care.

Pennsylvania Lawn Care agencies along with Allentown Pennsylvania Lawn Care firms have always relied on technology, says the author.