Good Examples of Invoices and/or Contracts, etc.

My 2 Cents

There's a couple new fly by night tree services here in town this year. I've watched them come and go for 25 years. I personally don't mind them. They just make by business look better. But it's usually after the fact though when I'm coming in behind them cleaning up a mess for more than I originally quoted before they "beat anyone's price". Recently I've been loosing a more than normal amount of jobs to this. Normally I don't mind that because we have more work than we can handle. But the customers are telling me I have the job. When I show up it's already done. They say they were going to call. The last few I have charged a $200 service call. They don't like it but when I'm sitting there at 7 am with all equipment ready to work I'm going to get something for my time. I've found out through a couple of customers that these new tree services are pushy about wanting to do the job that day. That sounds good to someone who's really not wanting to wait 3 months for me to get there. Even though I tell them up front my time frame.

I never get paid until the work is done and the customer is satisfied. But I've been thinking about getting a signature and a 10% non refundable deposit. My repeat customers will have no problem with this however I'm afraid it would turn away new clients. Anyone have any advice on how to word this on my estimates. I already have "Estimate Expires in 30 Days". I tell them they are required to tell me of any and all utilities and buried services and have them marked before I show. I take care of One Call. I'm going to add "Payment Due Upon Completion of Work" on my next order of estimate pads. And probably something about metal and concrete in trees and a changed job site such as a church being built under the tree. Yes that happened a couple years ago. Also had a storage building moved in and a power line added within a 2 week period. The price went up and I lost the job due to not being able to fall the tree and having to charge more to rig it down.

I've only been doing trees for 7 years, but from the day we started we get half down on jobs of $400 or more. I've had 2 or 3 people complain about it in 7 years. We can be booked out 2 weeks, have a major storm come through, do that work, and not lose a single job. The first sentence on my forms says, "I understand that scheduling is dependent on the weather and a lot of other factors outside of everyone's control."

My quote forms say:
"I understand that scheduling is dependent on the weather and other factors outside everyone's control.
I hereby certify that I am the property owner, or am authorized by the property owner, to contract
2 Guys Tree Service for the work specified above. By signing below, I authorize 2 Guys Tree Service
to perform the work and personally guarantee payment. I further understand that payment is due
by cash or check upon completion of work, and that Jobs quoted at $400.00 or more require half of
payment upon signing."

That has saved us a lot of headaches. We make some exceptions, especially for storm work/insurance jobs.

I'm up for all the competition in the world, but I gotta make sure I can pay my guys at the end of the week, they have families to feed.

One more thing to mention.... heard a story a while back about a couple getting divorced. She owned the house and had a favorite tree in the backyard. He was getting booted and before he left, hired a tree guy (not me) to take down her favorite tree. Big lawsuit. That's why we have that property owner stuff on there.
 
I posted some of the written material that I use for my small business, including my subcontractor agreement, my quote sheet, the Integrated Tree Management Plan, and email scripts. If they can provide some value to anyone else trying to run a tree care operation then I am glad to help. Feel free to use them as starting points for your own needs, or you can just copy them straight-up, that's fine by me. You can check that stuff out here: Small Business Resources

Peace,

Very Cool, might borrow some stuff from what you posted. Nice work!
 
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