How frequently do you invoice?

[Lawn Lad]

I'm wondering how frequently you guys invoice your per occurrence or per push customers? I'm sure residential and commercial might be a little different. As well, frequency of service might play into how the billing works.

Although my goal would be to invoice right after each event or after each snow storm, the bottom line is that I have not refined or pushed our system to meet this goal. I'd like to do this, but I also don't want to overwhelm my customers with 15 or 20 bills in one month. The advantage to frequent billing is that you cut down on questions or disputes to the service.

I'm interested in any thoughts everyone has on this.

[JD PLOWER]

We try to invoice within the 24-72 hour time frame but thats not always possible.

The seasonal's get a reminder of whats due and when, followed usually by a late notice. :rolleyes:

[grasshopper]

We do monthly invoicing. If we got a lot of snow here I would do it more frequently, but we usually only get maybe 2-3 events a month.

[BOUNDS-ELECTRIC]

I invoice at the end of each day! I speed things up by taking credit cards! Most are set up in computer, invoice, fax, receive fax with ok to pay, put on their card, in bank 3 days! I mail out paided invoice with card authoration # and thanks for your quick payment!

[BWhite]

I invoice /statement monthly . I too thought about invoicing after each event so customers know whats coming in the monthly statement . Seems like a lot of work

[BWinkel]

We do mostly residential and we invoice monthly. Our customers seem to like it. We try to get the bills out right around the first of the month and most of them are good about paying promptly. I think the key is to be consistent with what ever method you use. I do have two customers who insist on paying each storm and I have one customer who wants one big bill at the end of the year. I don't mind the year end customer because when I hand him a bill he hands me cash.

[wyldman]

Monthly for the few per push that we have.Don't have time to bill each event,and to track each bill.

That is the nice thing about seasonal,no billing,except for salt or removal.

I fire off an e-mail the next day for the per push customers,and salt billing,and then invoice it all at the end of the month.I make sure I request a read receipt for the e-mail,so I know they got a copy of it.Aren't computers wonderful ? :D

[jt5019]

We tried billing after each snow event but it became to complicated with who paid what, and whats still due etc etc.Unless the person pays me cash on the spot i just send out all bills at the end of the month.Its much easier to track that way

[Lawn Lad]

Chris - do you use email to send your invoices after each salting event? What format do you use? Do you just type it out in your email or are you getting more fancy with attaching an invoice from QB via something like adobe acrobat? I like the idea of email or faxing.

My biggest hang up with getting bills out sooner is getting the paperwork processed in a timely fashion. After each storm event I take all of the route sheets and enter them into a spread sheet which summarizes my billing for the event. I also have it set up to provide a summary job cost from the event. I then take this spread sheet and input into QB.

Although it is an extra step to get from the route sheets to the billing, I find the spread sheet is a good summary to put into each folder for each job, it provides a summary of each storm event and allows me to manage each job to understand how profitable it was. The sooner I enter the information into the spread sheet with any particulars from the storm, the sooner we can invoice. Since sometimes we prorate certain servie visits, I determine this when entering into the spread sheet. Once it's on the spread sheet anyone else could in theory enter the invoicing into the computer.

I guess it's a matter of discipline of getting that paperwork done and into the system ASAP no matter how frequently the billing gets mailed out.

[GreenQuest Lawn]

Hard to bill here after each event, I have plowed 5 days in a row, then off one night then another 4-5 days in a row.

I just bill on the 1st and 15th of the month with all invoices due in 15 days. This keeps the bills smaller and keeps the cash flow comming in and keeps me from sending 10,12,15 invoices per month.

of course that is when we DO actually get snow.

[Adams Plowing]

I bill after every 3rd plowing or once a month if theres only a little bit of snow in the month this way theres not too much money outstanding say a months worth of plowing everyday and them try to stiff the bill and by doing it every 3 storms i dont have to send out bills everynight...

[wyldman]

Originally posted by Lawn Lad
Chris - do you use email to send your invoices after each salting event? What format do you use? Do you just type it out in your email or are you getting more fancy with attaching an invoice from QB via something like adobe acrobat? I like the idea of email or faxing.

My biggest hang up with getting bills out sooner is getting the paperwork processed in a timely fashion. After each storm event I take all of the route sheets and enter them into a spread sheet which summarizes my billing for the event. I also have it set up to provide a summary job cost from the event. I then take this spread sheet and input into QB.

Although it is an extra step to get from the route sheets to the billing, I find the spread sheet is a good summary to put into each folder for each job, it provides a summary of each storm event and allows me to manage each job to understand how profitable it was. The sooner I enter the information into the spread sheet with any particulars from the storm, the sooner we can invoice. Since sometimes we prorate certain servie visits, I determine this when entering into the spread sheet. Once it's on the spread sheet anyone else could in theory enter the invoicing into the computer.

I guess it's a matter of discipline of getting that paperwork done and into the system ASAP no matter how frequently the billing gets mailed out.


All the salt statements are done in Excel.When the route sheets come in after the storm,I have one of the girls in the office enter them into an Excel spread sheet.The spreadsheet contains all the current storm data and conditions,amount of salt applied,and the monthly totals so far.At the bottom it has the billing amount,as well as the account balance.It more of a statement than an actual invoice.Excel keeps track of a lot of the previous data,so there is no need to go searching for it all the time.At the end of the month,she prints off all the statement totals,and enters that into quickbooks for the actual invoicing.Those invoices,and a final statement,are mailed out,as most places prefer a hard copy of the actual invoice.

It's much faster,no more printing,stuffing envelopes,and stamps.They are usually completed and sent off the next morning after a storm,so if there are any complaints or issues regarding the billing,they can be dealt with right away,when it's fresh in everyones mind.Not at the end of the month,when they can't remember what happened yesterday.

[campi]

commercial-once a month, residential after each snow event residents dont like getting big bill better to pay after each event, better on there wallet in this area any way,its working so I keep it that way!! Campi !!!!!

[NSSM]

We bill with in 24 hours of an event. Our customers expect it and we have never had a problem with complaints on multiple events. We fax a copy of the invoice. Seasonal contracts are done monthly.

Chuck

[SLC1]

Once per month, that is the great thing about having seasonal contracts. We do have some per plowing customers but those are sent out once a month also. If in the rare chance we do something like a one time thing we will send that bill out immediately. Just my two cents.

[Ohiosnow]

Once a week :cash I've done it this way for over 25 yrs. & all my accounts like it this way ;)

[windmill]

I take each customer's bill with me during any event, note applicable information on each bill (Temp, time, depth, and anything else snow or ice related). These are kept in the office and sent with a statement at the end of the month. As Grasshopper said, we don't get more than 2-4 events in a month so the bills are not enormous. :mad:

[BRL]

We average about 8 billable "events" per year, so I invoice after each one. But it still takes me too long IMO after each one to get them out.

Lawn Lad writes:
"My biggest hang up with getting bills out sooner is getting the paperwork processed in a timely fashion. After each storm event I take all of the route sheets and enter them into a spread sheet which summarizes my billing for the event. I also have it set up to provide a summary job cost from the event. I then take this spread sheet and input into QB. "

IMO, you have this backwards ;) I get my QB stuff done ASAP so the invoices can get out faster, and so in theory the money is coming back in faster. Plus the snow usually melts within a day or 2 of each event here, so I try to get the invoices to them while they still remember it snowed LOL. Now, I can then take that info & determine whether I made money at each account or not, at my leisure. You can take the info you inputted to QB & download that info into your Excel spreadsheet with a little tweaking, instead of double inputting info into your puter. This may already be what you are doing when you bring the info from Excel to QB? Or are you retyping info from the spread sheet to process your QB invoices? If the latter, you can make these 2 profgrams work better for you & single input the info to one program, and use the info in the other.

[szorno]

Since we normally have 2-4 events per month, our customers like getting billed while they remember the storm. We bill on the 14th and 29th. That way when checks are cut on the first and 15th, we get ours paid quickly. We started this way for speed of getting paid with our commercial customers. Now our residentials like it too. No bill gets way big. No surprises or forgotten storms either. :grinz

[CPSS]

We bill after each storm. We use Quickbooks Pro Contractor and it makes billing a snap! Prints the invoices, tracks payments, adds finance charges, prints statements, keeps track of expenses, profits, etc. At the end of the year my accountant copies to disk, does our taxes, sends a disk back that we load into QuickBooks, and we are all done.

[BWhite]

I sent out my first of the seasons monthly statements&invoices Monday night. Two days later the checks are starting to roll in . It feels like winter now

[landman]

We bill after every event, we have an exception for some of our commercial accounts might have 30 days. We service about 75 commercial accounts and most of them are a decent amount of money, with the overhead we have we need to bill ASAP we pay all our guys every Friday no matter what and our Subs get paid within 2 weeks of the end of the event. If we only billed once a month we would go broke, An average storm cost us about $5000.00 per storm labor and materials. Not including breakdowns and other operating expenses for the business.

[ih82plow]

I am not a plowing company.But I do own a service related company.

We have our normal customers we do,then we have contract customers,And then we also have new customers

Any new customer is set up at COD. So we would collect for our services regardless on the spot.

The rest of our customers after completing a service for them they will recive an invoice in the mail with in a day or so asking for payment .

then on the first day of the new month.anything and every thing that is open and uncollected gets a statement generated showing all invoice # and the amounts due. and this continues untill its paid in full

On the 15th of the new month I do a report to see whats open and then start calling on them.And this process continues month in and month out

anything over 45 days is marked as NO SERVICE NEEDS MANAGERS APROVAL. And if a customer calls with an open invoice our dispatcher will schedule the call and then say OH WAIT your account is noted as NEEDDING A MANAGERS APROVAL WHERE YOU AWARE YOU HAD AN OPEN INVOICE to the customer.and then offer them to pay by credit card .If they dont want to pay I get on the phone.BUT WE DO NOT SERVICE ACCOUNTS OVER 45 DAYS OLD Unless I aprove it. Its a full time job doing this but whats worse then working for free? (meaning making NO profits) Its working for free and not getting paid for it.(meaning it actually cost you money out of pocket)

Also the benifit of wrighting a bill asap is that its fresh in your mind and the customers mind of what great service you provided.

And anything our guys do for a customer and its done as a customer curtisy (notice I said curtisy ) is noted on the invoice this way they dont think they will get that service in the future at NO CHARGE.

Lastly the benifit of calling is some customers will use any excuse not to pay an invoice,If they have a problem with an invoice they just wont pay it.But when you call and asked if you did something wrong or they are unhappy then they might say well I didnt pay it because the sales tax was wrong or.Ithought it was only $400.00 well you know what I mean.

This is a part of the job I hate most.But if I dont do it whos going to do it for my company?

This all may sound like alot of work to do but it keeps the recevables managable

[J&JProperty]

Most of our invoices are billed out on the 10th, 20th, and 30th of each month, we do have a few that get billed on the 15th and 30th and a couple that are monthly on the 15th. This seems to work out well for us as it keeps a steady stream of revenue coming in during almost every week of the month.

[76chevyman]

Great thing about quick books pro. U just do up the invoice and then It tells you which invoices are late and when you do get a check it take 5 seconds to type it in as paid. Great system. And if there late its in a list then you just click print late payers and it prints out a letter or a invoice for each customer to be mailed out.
Works for me I bill the day of the storm when work is done.

Rich:burnout

[Lawngodfather]

The best way possable, not every time is it possable to invoice each event.

So far this winter we have gone almost 2 weeks straight, so right after the event is not possable, but they will have seprate invoices coming so they wont be over whelmed.

I will send out one for the first week, then a few days later the rest will be on the new one.

Hopefully they will pay fast.(yeah right)

I think breaking it up in situations like this may make it easier on the customers, otherwise t is tried to do right after the event.

[CPSS]

My experience is that it's better to send out a bunch of smaller invoices than one BIG invoice with 10 plowings on it. The money seems to dribble in every week or two with the smaller invoices. The larger ones usually result in a phone call from the customer questioning plow dates etc. Just my personal experience, others may have different results.

[REED384]

i bill every two weeks . works good here as late payers get reminder in next billing.plowing!

[capt.craig]

Chris and Lawn Lad you talked about sread sheets that you use after plowing. would you happen to have a copy or sample of what you use? they sound like a good idea, Im not that familar with excel but am going to take a coarse in it soon thanks Craig
cworkman@iaw.on.ca

[TLS]

Since in my area we only get maybe 6 at the MOST "events" per year, it would be rediculous to wait till the end of the month.

We our first snow in the beginning of December (5th) and then not again till the 15th of January. Had I billed monthly, the bills would have went out the 31st of December for that one storm, then I would wait 30 days (my normal terms) for money. I'd still have money trickling in from that FIRST storm had I billed monthly!

Then for January, I'd have billed them 4x's on January 31st and not get that money till the first week of March!


This is why I bill out the first day after an event. Sure in January I was sending out bills every other week, but ..... :rolleyes:


Cash FLOW!!!!!

Its bad enough this time of year, why would I complicate it more?

But for you guys that plow 10+ times a year, you almost have to bill monthly.

[CT18fireman]

Residentials get billed weekly if snowfall warrants it.

Commercial gets billed bi weekly.

20 day payment term for both.

Commercials get more formal contracts. Residentials just get trigger and payment terms.

[apgarconstruction]

I bill within a few days of the storm. I know it takes some places at least a month or so to pay once they get the bill. so I don't want to delay that process anymore by billing once a month.
all my residentials pay either at the time I plow, or within a day or so afterwards.

[Pickering Snow]

I bill monthly iam mostly commerical and just think for the snow we get up here people would really be dicussed with me plus i wouldnt want the hassle of the extra paperwork, i know guys want to be paid but in the buss comm billing monthly is just how it is i wouldnt want to have to pay my parts venders everyday look at all the checks and paperwork added to a already busy day

Jan here was very good and has of today all commericals are current so i deal with monthly just part of doing buss

[drobson]

I try to bill after each event; however, if I know there is another coming up within a couple of days I will wait and bill together to save on postage and printing. Works out well this way, customers like to get the bills soon after each event.

[gslam88]

Guys,

I usually try to bill every couple of storms.. for me this season it seems like both in Jan and end of Feb and this last bit in March I have been billing as soon as the checks from the last statement went out... We were getting 2 or 3 events a week it seems in some months this season ... I am sure my customers are ready for a break.. me .. .keep the white gold coming ... .

I run off a excel spreadsheet for my routes with all information of name address, etc and charge per push… then I invoice in QB directly off that sheet.. and keep all my run sheets for every event with all additional need information on the run sheets.. like times , conditions.. etc… It works for me… for now…

Pete

[Big Nate's Plowing]

I bill twice a year, once on Jan 1st and the second time on March 30th (when the contracts expire)

they get a statement every 28 days though and it is their choice to pay the statement or let it ride out until the final end of the year billing

I dont know about you guys but I have a good habit of pissing away cash when it comes in small amounts, I'd rather go all season as if I am broke and then get a fat check around Valentines day and then another around tax day when we need the money for fert and mowing expenses then have it all spent

[SNO]

Nate,

I'd go broke if I tried that.

I bet you get alot of people stiffing you like that also..?

I've found, If you act like you dont need the money, they believe you.

:shades

As far as what I do, I let them decide whats best for them when I take the account, then hold them to it.

Commercials are always monthly though.

[wpd519]

We invoice at the end of the month. It is marked due upon receipt, and if not received by the 15th of the month they are assesed a late fee. Seems to be working pretty well so far. Only had one problem client who eventually saw the error of his ways....lol. I just explain to them that since we are a small business that we need a steady cash flow.

JOSH

98 Dodge Ram 2500HD, 7.5 Western Ultramount w/backdrag & Salt Dog Spreader

[Big Dog D]

We bill everything while it is fresh in everybodys minds customers and ours. Quicker billing cycle also gives a better chance to spot slow payers much earlier. I'd rather get burned for 2-3 events rather than 2-3 months worth of service!

Plowing business is tough enough, why make it harder on yourself by allowing others to keep what is rightfully your$.

[Pickering Snow]

Well like with most commerial buss in general we invoice on 30 days net the 10th of the month. Iam not gonna pay my office girl to invoice any sooner i have had most of my accounts for 15 plus years and ya some will run 60 days out but they always pay it all part of buss.

I have weeded many accounts over the years for no pay the worst i have ever been burnt was the Sleep Inn here in Midland for 25k it was a bad deal and would have just cost me more in attorn fees to get from this dead horse,, theres a old saying what comes around goes around a year after this happened they called the shop to work on there 00 Chevy Tahoe i guess not knowing we were owned all by me i took the truck in repaired it and but a lien on it the bill on the truck was 1500 bucks it sat for 90 days in my lot because i refused a check since the manager signed the repair order it allowed me to put the mech's express lien on the truck i filed for a title on the 91st day and sold it for 16k so at least i covered some of my loss. Still to this day when i pass by this place i make a point to tell the new contractor which they have every year there gonna get smoked and every year the contractor quits half way threw:D

[GMC Driver]

Still to this day when i pass by this place i make a point to tell the new contractor which they have every year there gonna get smoked and every year the contractor quits half way threw:D

Fred - I've always appreciated it when somone has done that for me, as I hate getting burned.

I had a fellow contractor call this week to warn me of a new local business, and their slow/no pay system. Sure as stuff, the new business calls next day to be put on the list, "Price doesn't matter". We politely declined, as we are not entertaining any more new clients this year - especially those who don't pay!!

I've always felt obliged to tell guys in lots where I've been burned to watch out - sure enough, next storm there's no plow there.

[snocrete]

I put 24 - 72 hrs......quicker the better. tome less confusion if theres questions from customers......and better cash flow considering most of my customers send a check within a week of getting the invoice, got a couple big ones that take 30 days and I hate that, but oh well.......

[young pup]

I do once a month myself. I picked up a church this year and I am going to bill them twice a month so it will not be such a shock on them.

[denangme]

I voted for the top two. I try for the 1st, if not the 2nd one then.
Like Scott said. I like getting the invoice to them while it's still fresh in their heads that we actually had snow and I was there to plow it! :cash