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  Roy Parker December 27, 2011 at 6:12pm

  for me the only plan is to stay in business for another year i hope i am wrong but i think we going to be in for a difficult year ahead i am having problems with customers not paying some i dealt with for 3 years and never a problem till this last few months 
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  Fenlandphil December 27, 2011 at 6:22pm

  Getting the money is a perenial problem Roy, we are being messed about by an industrial customer who give all the signs of a business in real trouble, we have restricted their credit, only doing new work once they have cleared their outstanding account.

  Have you tried talking to your customes, perhaps taking payments in stages so you are getting some cash flow.
• PRO

  Brian www.mibservices.co.uk December 27, 2011 at 6:35pm

  Roy, this is a problem business wide and like you i think there are stormy seas ahead for all small business across britain. I got shafted to the tune of 20k by one of my biggest customers on a massive commercial soft landscape construction job. I should have made a fortune on it, but they shafted me. As a result of that i will no longer do any construction work again, i will stick to commercial and domestic grounds maintenance only for the future. Its low risk loss work. If i dont get paid, i have only lost a couple of days business costs and if a customer is late paying i wont visit the site till i have the money due, in my bank. Im looking at taking on a few new commercial customers to build up my portfolio and have surveyed a few new sites in december. Have had a second website built running in conjunction with my main site and its brought in a few new enquiries since its launch two weeks ago, so its looking promising for the new year. Head down, butt up and get torn into it is my hope for the new season.
  
  roy parker said:

  for me the only plan is to stay in business for another year i hope i am wrong but i think we going to be in for a difficult year ahead i am having problems with customers not paying some i dealt with for 3 years and never a problem till this last few months 
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  Fenlandphil December 27, 2011 at 6:44pm

  I avoid the building industry like the plague Brian, what little work I do for them is on a pay as you go basis.
  
  www.mibservices.co.uk said:

  Roy, this is a problem business wide and like you i think there are stormy seas ahead for all small business across britain. I got shafted to the tune of 20k by one of my biggest customers on a massive commercial soft landscape construction job. I should have made a fortune on it, but they shafted me. As a result of that i will no longer do any construction work again, i will stick to commercial and domestic grounds maintenance only for the future. Its low risk loss work. If i dont get paid, i have only lost a couple of days business costs and if a customer is late paying i wont visit the site till i have the money due, in my bank. Im looking at taking on a few new commercial customers to build up my portfolio and have surveyed a few new sites in december. Have had a second website built running in conjunction with my main site and its brought in a few new enquiries since its launch two weeks ago, so its looking promising for the new year. Head down, butt up and get torn into it is my hope for the new season.
  
  roy parker said:

  for me the only plan is to stay in business for another year i hope i am wrong but i think we going to be in for a difficult year ahead i am having problems with customers not paying some i dealt with for 3 years and never a problem till this last few months 
• PRO

  Brian www.mibservices.co.uk December 27, 2011 at 6:58pm

  I will be doing the same Phil. Couldnt take another hit like that again i feel like naming and shaming them but will bite my tongue on a public forum, they know who they are.
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  Jen@A&J Owenwindows&gardens December 28, 2011 at 7:19am

  Plan to keep costs down again in 2012 to avoid price rises. We only did a couple of landscape type jobs in 2011 and very slow getting paid. Don't want to get money tied up in materials.

  Pay as you go maintenance, domestic only for us is the way we are going to go, plus window cleaning/gutter cleaning.

  We lost some money in 2011 when people just wouldn't pay up. Nothing huge but still damn annoying.

  However, that's nothing compared to a local chap who runs a general property maintenance firm - he told he lost £60k when this bloke he was doing work for on a development went bump. Nearly finished him.
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  Fenlandphil December 28, 2011 at 8:09am

  It is often a problem with big jobs, the sales costs are lower in as much as you only spend a relatively short time quoting and the general admin to gain hopefully a large sale whereas the time spent on a lot of smaller sales to acheive the same turnover is significant.

  It was only relatively recently that I started to weigh up the time spent per sale and having weighed it all up, can't quite make my mind up on the best way to proceed. We in the main sell products, when we try to accomodate individual clients requirements the sales time can become significant, we like to try and help our customers and ensure they are satisfied with the end result but how to charge for the head scratching time is another matter (or for that matter the time required to remove the splinters from my hands after scratching my head).

  The mantra is always work smarter not harder, I for one have a long way to go.
  
  Jenny@ A & J Owen Gardening said:

  Plan to keep costs down again in 2012 to avoid price rises. We only did a couple of landscape type jobs in 2011 and very slow getting paid. Don't want to get money tied up in materials.

  Pay as you go maintenance, domestic only for us is the way we are going to go, plus window cleaning/gutter cleaning.

  We lost some money in 2011 when people just wouldn't pay up. Nothing huge but still damn annoying.

  However, that's nothing compared to a local chap who runs a general property maintenance firm - he told he lost £60k when this bloke he was doing work for on a development went bump. Nearly finished him.
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  Stuart @ Eco Garden Maintenance December 28, 2011 at 8:15am

  I have had one domestic non payer this last year. They even have the cheek to wave at me when i see them (almost every week) and i just blank them. Have told everyone down that street what they have done and other people who i think might know them. I know most of the local gardeners and have told them not to work for them without money up front. They are having to do their own garden now and it looks a right mess - that is a source of amusement to me along with everyone knowing they are non payers. They own a pub/restaurant and it is struggling yet they still go on holiday and play golf at the local course. Obviously they thought going on holiday was more important than paying me. I will get the last laugh be sure of that.

  Plans for this year include buying more pellenc stuff, finding some more good customers to replace a couple of   people i dont like working for anymore. Should'nt be hard as i have'nt seen much evidence of the recession around where i live.
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  chris nangle December 28, 2011 at 9:43am

  pay as you go for us next year too no money no product on site  and we are now asking for 50% up front,I am sick of people not paying on time ,we try too be fair with all of our customers and have always operated on a trust basis ,alas no more.

  As for next year well first I hope we all do well ,as for me we are bringing some new products out and hope too keep busy
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  Dan Frazer Gardening December 28, 2011 at 9:53am

  I want to run at full capacity with 1 full time staff member, and gain a few more property management and other commercial clients in addition to expanding the lawn care side of the business.

  Oh, and I'm getting married in April.