Contracts and covering my arse?

[FourOneLT]

Does anyone use something as detailed as this? Just wanting to cover my arse on a few things really but might be better to go over the top? Alternatively is it just a case of telling the customer this stuff or should this be included with the invoice before the work is started. Very new here if you can't tell ? any advice is greatly appreciated

 

[Truckcab79]

I suppose the more detail the better but it’s way more than I use for any job. Pressure washing or otherwise.

I issue a very detailed estimate to the client in advance so that they know exactly what is and isn’t included in the job. Once they accept that we agree a date and off I go.

Importantly I have never changed an estimate price during the course of a job unless the client has specifically requested more work than originally quoted for. If I’ve undercooked the price I have to take the hit

Even more importantly I never take deposits. I’ve had projects up to £40k. It means I’m significantly out of pocket if the client were to default on paying. But…it means they have 100% confidence in the work because until the day I leave they haven’t paid me a penny. My accountant thinks I’m an idiot and one day she may be proved right but so far it works really well to instil confidence in client.

Bearing in mind half the pressure washing round my way is probably done by travellers knocking door to door and taking cash, pressure washing jobs would be the bit that concerns me least.

As far as what you are doing basically they expect it to be clean when you’re done. Anything that can’t be cleaned for whatever reason should be highlighted in advance.

Other than that I would have thought that most important thing is to makes sure you have sufficient public liability inductance in case anything goes wrong.

So in short I think that contract is way over the top, but that’s just my opinion. More info for client can’t be a bad thing but probably not necessary either.

 

[FourOneLT]

I suppose the more detail the better but it’s way more than I use for any job. Pressure washing or otherwise.

I issue a very detailed estimate to the client in advance so that they know exactly what is and isn’t included in the job. Once they accept that we agree a date and off I go.

Importantly I have never changed an estimate price during the course of a job unless the client has specifically requested more work than originally quoted for. If I’ve undercooked the price I have to take the hit

Even more importantly I never take deposits. I’ve had projects up to £40k. It means I’m significantly out of pocket if the client were to default on paying. But…it means they have 100% confidence in the work because until the day I leave they haven’t paid me a penny. My accountant thinks I’m an idiot and one day she may be proved right but so far it works really well to instil confidence in client.

Bearing in mind half the pressure washing round my way is probably done by travellers knocking door to door and taking cash, pressure washing jobs would be the bit that concerns me least.

As far as what you are doing basically they expect it to be clean when you’re done. Anything that can’t be cleaned for whatever reason should be highlighted in advance.

Other than that I would have thought that most important thing is to makes sure you have sufficient public liability inductance in case anything goes wrong.

So in short I think that contract is way over the top, but that’s just my opinion. More info for client can’t be a bad thing but probably not necessary either.

I don't suppose you have any examples of your estimates you could show me please? Do you ever do them remotely or do you always visit prior to estimating? As always thank you for the info!

 

[Truckcab79]

I don't suppose you have any examples of your estimates you could show me please? Do you ever do them remotely or do you always visit prior to estimating? As always thank you for the info!

Will send you something on PM. It’s nothing fancy. Just a detailed descriptive brief and price. What is and isn’t included etc.

 

[FourOneLT]

Will send you something on PM. It’s nothing fancy. Just a detailed descriptive brief and price. What is and isn’t included etc.

Thank you!

 

[Truckcab79]

To a large extent your best bet is to just get your machine and start working. Make a few mistakes and repair them after. Start building a client base. Find what works for you.

I know when I started out I had no clue what I was doing. Didn’t know whether I was undercharging, overcharging, no idea how to organise a job, panicking about where the next job was coming from. How long it would take. Could I even do it on my own. Would customers wait if I was slow because I was doing it solo?

Jump in, work it out for yourself as it happens. Work hard. Don’t overthink this.

And do a really good job.

Try to target affluent clients. They pay well for good service, are loyal and generally don’t have time to be spending hours price-matching. Leave the cheap jobs to people who use ‘that bloke they found on Facebook’. They also have lots of wealthy people they recommend you to.

 

[FourOneLT]

To a large extent your best bet is to just get your machine and start working. Make a few mistakes and repair them after. Start building a client base. Find what works for you.

I know when I started out I had no clue what I was doing. Didn’t know whether I was undercharging, overcharging, no idea how to organise a job, panicking about where the next job was coming from. How long it would take. Could I even do it on my own. Would customers wait if I was slow because I was doing it solo?

Jump in, work it out for yourself as it happens. Work hard. Don’t overthink this.

Think I'll be ordering my washer today, get some leaflets on their way to me and start practicing on a few driveways while waiting for a job

 

[Herm]

Does anyone use something as detailed as this? Just wanting to cover my **** on a few things really but might be better to go over the top? Alternatively is it just a case of telling the customer this stuff or should this be included with the invoice before the work is started. Very new here if you can't tell ? any advice is greatly appreciated

jeez, I'm not sure I'd ever use anything like that. I think it's massively over kill. Just get going, get good insurance and learn by your mistakes.

 

[Truckcab79]

jeez, I'm not sure I'd ever use anything like that. I think it's massively over kill. Just get going, get good insurance and learn by your mistakes.

Good advice. Remember, half the population probably have it done by some traveller knocking door to door. Pretty sure they don’t sign in blood first.

 

[ched999uk]

From the contract it looks like you are in USA, this is probably a very different environment to the UK where most but not all on here are based.
For something as basic as pressure washing do you really need 10 pages, who is going to read all that?
Surely you just need to check their water supply pressure and flow when quoting then quote accordingly. In the quote clearly lay out what you are doing and the costs is there much more than that needed?
The above is assuming it's a domestic property not a commercial job as that may well need much more info in the contract plus method statements or RAMS etc.