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How frequently do you invoice per occurrence work?

  • Within 24 to 72 hours after the occurrence

    Votes: 40 18.2%
  • At the end of each storm event - no matter the number of occurrences

    Votes: 32 14.5%
  • Once a week

    Votes: 14 6.4%
  • Twice a month

    Votes: 22 10.0%
  • Once a month

    Votes: 104 47.3%
  • Other

    Votes: 11 5.0%
21 - 40 of 44 Posts
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
 
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.
 
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
 
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.
 
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
 
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.
 
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.
 
BILLING

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

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
 
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.
 
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
 
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
 
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.
 
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
 
24-72 hours

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$.
 
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
 
21 - 40 of 44 Posts
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