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payment in advance

Just went on to ebay to look for some spares and a advert for a garden maintenance company came on at the bottom of the search page , keen to see what others are doing with there web pages i thought i have a quick look
i was surprise to see that they was asking for a payment in advance for regular maintenance contracts
does anyone else do this
http://www.dellerandsons.co.uk/garden-services-faq.html

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  • PRO
    No. My word is my bond, if I don't trust a potential customer I don't work for 'em
  • small/ tiny gardens it may work .. £39 a month zzzzzzzz examples.

    how do you estimate pruning all trees/ where do you draw the line to crown reductions, initially strimming a meadow,

    mares tail.

    major weeding huge borders that may take 7 days plus ongoing.. ??

    lawns, paths, patios, strimming, weed and feed etc yes you could do for £30+ a fortnight and stop in winter. i dont get how you can accurately quote for 'ALL' shrubs, trees etc / it depends on growth or expectations of quality/ frequency... rain and many factors. access/ holidays..

    how do you 'catch' up in bad weather for months unless you have staff standing about ready to jump and flog there guts out as soon as its sunny & dry !

  • To be fair, apart from the flashy website and cheap "prices from" offer, this is exactly what we should all be offering....

    All-inclusive, and regular direct-debit monthly payments all year round?

    I particularly like their term that you can't cancel, then re-employ them? Solves the whole issue of "you didn't do a lot for the money in December", when they have forgotten you spent half your week there in June...

    I wouldn't go down this route: most people are going to need a hard-sell when you tell them they are way off that initial offer price. But, it is an interesting idea?

  • i can see the advantages with this as the cash flow problem would be much easier i think it be hard to sell to customers .
    i am thinking along the lines of the contract maintenance idea but not payment in advance , but it has to be written in a way thats clear that it cover some many visits per year and some many hours per visit max anything above is then chargeable

  • PRO Supplier

    Some customers like to know exactly what they will get for what price, and those customers that have price as a priority may like it as they wouldn't have to ring for a quote!

    With all the ad-hoc work that is carried out on site it would probably harm the company's balance sheet or upset the customer when saying 'that's not included in the price'.

    Bit of a minefield!

  • Apart from payment in advance, this is exactly what we offer - an all inclusive 12 month maintenance programme with 12 equal monthly payments. Regarding 'how do you quote etc'.......careful planning in the quotation process, clear specification and careful planning during the year......most importantly, experience. It really is the only way forward with regard to garden maintenance. At the start of each year, I know what my minimum turnover will be for that year.

    Gardens4u.co.uk said:

    small/ tiny gardens it may work .. £39 a month zzzzzzzz examples.

    how do you estimate pruning all trees/ where do you draw the line to crown reductions, initially strimming a meadow,

    mares tail.

    major weeding huge borders that may take 7 days plus ongoing.. ??

    lawns, paths, patios, strimming, weed and feed etc yes you could do for £30+ a fortnight and stop in winter. i dont get how you can accurately quote for 'ALL' shrubs, trees etc / it depends on growth or expectations of quality/ frequency... rain and many factors. access/ holidays..

    how do you 'catch' up in bad weather for months unless you have staff standing about ready to jump and flog there guts out as soon as its sunny & dry !

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