[Steve Birch]

Hi

Could any of you guys please let me have a copy of either your terms and conditions, a job sheet  and a typical invoice.

I have done a few commercial carpet cleaning jobs,where up till now I have been paid,with only a few problems.

I really need to get my paperwork sorted.

What do you do from the point of them excepting your quote, regarding paperwork? do you get them to sign the quote?

What sort of info.would you require on a completion job sheet?

What do most of you except regarding a time scale for payment?

What can you do if they dont pay?

Thanks

Steve

[Jim_77]

That's a lot of questions

Steve, if you drop me an email I'll send you an example of some t&c's (it helps to put your email in your profile info so ppl can send you stuff without having to ask your address )

It helps if you have a quotation with an acceptance section where they sign and return.  You could send 2 copies and ask them to return one signed.

Standard payment terms 30 days. 

When chasing late payment, you start off all nice and sweet as sugar, then each time you have to get a bit tougher.  As a suggestion, on the 30th day of credit terms, you telephone and explain invoice is now overdue payment.  You'll get given the BS about it's bring processed or on the next payment run etc etc.  You have to accept this, but back it up by sending a statement of account.

MAINTAIN A PAPER TRAIL FOR FUTURE COURT ACTION!!

Next call comes 7 days later, same thing.  Basically you have to feel your way into things but if no payment has come after 60 days, the statement will read "legal proceeding will be taken to recover the debt".


www.moneyclaim.gov.uk is your answer to most debts.  To submit a claim you have to pay the court fee, varies from (prices from memory) about £30 up to about £50 depending on size of claim.  They get a limited time to answer claim, and limited time to pay up.  You can successfully get a CCJ against a company or individual if judgement is in your favour.

The court fee is added to what they owe, they have no choice but to pay this.  You can also charge interest (I think it's at 8% over the BoE base rate at the time the invoice became outstanding)

I've been considering a system for encouraging on-time payments from commercial customers but think in reality it will stop a lot from doing business with you because they like to use suppliers like a fee bank and stretch things as far as they can!  I've been considering adding an extra item to my quotation called late payment fee and setting it at whatever amount in scale to the invoice, i.e. on a £200 job it would be £40 or on a £1000 it would be £200.  The invoice would instruct the customer to deduct his amount if invoice paid on time, and a credit note or revised invoice will be issued for their accounting purposes.

I'd like to think it'd work but I think we allk now it wouldn't

Len Gribble does a lot of commercial, he should have some ideas for you

[Joe H]

That's a lot of questions

I've been considering a system for encouraging on-time payments from commercial customers but think in reality it will stop a lot from doing business with you because they like to use suppliers like a fee bank and stretch things as far as they can!  I've been considering adding an extra item to my quotation called late payment fee and setting it at whatever amount in scale to the invoice, i.e. on a £200 job it would be £40 or on a £1000 it would be £200.  The invoice would instruct the customer to deduct his amount if invoice paid on time, and a credit note or revised invoice will be issued for their accounting purposes.

I'd like to think it'd work but I think we allk now it wouldn't

Jim
I have done that twice in the last 5 weeks on commercial - and it has worked.

[Adam Fearnley]

What if they refuse to pay because they're not happy with the work??

[Jim_77]

Then you need to go back and have a look wouldn't you say?  Sometimes there is genuinely a cause for objection, but it may be that resultsd haven't been properly qualified.  If there are issues such as bad stains I'll always put an extra note in the quote to say results with these may be limited.  There is no comeback then.

If they're saying they're not happy just to stall, you still need to go back and get the drop of the situation.  In the case of a court claim, they have to prove reasonable grounds to withhold payment for that reason and if there are none you will win, simple!

[TCS Group]

Hi Jim,

most of our work will be commercial too but we already have good relationships in place with most of our contracts.

Can I drop you an email for the Terms and Conditions as well if you dont mind.

thanks

[GWCS]

Do you use these type of dealings with domestic/residential customers?

How have they gone?

Or is it strictly payment on completion?

[Simon@arenaclean]

Do you use these type of dealings with domestic/residential customers?

How have they gone?

Or is it strictly payment on completion?

Cheque or cash on completion, I expect to pay when I have work done, gardener, repair man etc, so I expect to be paid. I qualify it at the quote stage by asking the question "would you like to pay by cash or cheque" There maybe exceptions but they would have to be quite exceptional and I can not recall a single instance.

Simon

[fitz2kleen]

Srry peeps if this is a repetative subject,
I am about to quote for commercial work, Up to now have only really dealt in domestic and the one quote for commecial i made wasnt taken due to my low quote, the gentleman was good enough to explain i was lowest quote by over £100 could u guys throw me a rule of thumb idea of how best to  quote commercially
and do u quote
1- for the work spec
2- labour

if anyone would like to pass me a little guidance by phone
02476 263630
thanks in advance for your input
Regards Marc

[Ken Wainwright]

I'm in a slightly "blessed" situation whereby I am typically dealing with named individuals which will help the process along quite a bit. This works for me with everything from small business' through local doctors' surgeries and on to the NHS and various PLC's.   Because of my approach to life, I try to keep admin and formalities to a minimum. I rarely chase for payment and only occasionally need to send out a statement as a reminder.

Having said all that, my T&C's are limited to the NCCA Survey Form, which will be supplied at audit with info about carpet type, condition, system to be used etc. I will also supply a copy of my H&S guidelines.

If I feel it appropriate, I will work in/allow a 2.5% discount for payment received at my office/bank account within 7, 14 or 30 days as discussed at quotation.  DO NOT work out the discount for them on the invoice. A late payer will still send whatever you have written in the Amount Due column.

Try to find out how the accounts department works. For example, you may send an invoice in at the beginning of the month, but they are only processed once a month. Therefore, in their accounts, it is processed on the 31st of the month, then they take the 30 days credit so in effect they are taking almost 60 days credit. This can work in our favour with our credit card accounts, so it's a two way thing.

For new customers, I will send a statement 14 days after payment, another at 30 days then a phone call 7 days later. Quite a few companies will not pay before a statement is received, so 14 days will prepare for this.

Safe and happy cleaning
The Ken

[fitz2kleen]

Ken
I wouldnt mind If you could forward me anything to assist me with my quote,
I have paper work laid out for quotes and obviously pending statments,
what I really need is a best practic way to make a commercial quote as this is an area im not familiar with.
I am available to talk on phone or will be only to happy to converse by email.
While this was addressed to ken anyone who would like to give there input id be only too happy digest
thanks in advance
Regards Marc

[Ken Wainwright]

Hi Marc

Call me.

Ken
PS I'm in the office writing an article at present, so now's a good time

[fitz2kleen]

Hi Ken
just a little bit of news........confirmation of quote...... accepted
thanx again 4 the invaluable advice.
Regards Marc

[Ken Wainwright]

Well done Marc.

A whole new world now lies before you.

Safe and happy cleaning
The Ken

[nevil]

the Ken wrote
"If I feel it appropriate, I will work in/allow a 2.5% discount for payment received at my office/bank account within 7, 14 or 30 days as discussed at quotation.  DO NOT work out the discount for them on the invoice. A late payer will still send whatever you have written in the Amount Due column."

I use this too with a handful of customers that drag it out as long as they can. Works well. I include a date on the invoice which is a cut off point, after this date they don't get any discount. I normally make it seven days for the ones that normally pay late.