Asking for payment upfront

do you think its reasonable to ask for payment upfront? Or maybe clean half the drive to show the customer the result then ask for payment before you continue?

anyone experienced refusal of payment after cleaning?

you can usually tell if a customer is going to pay. you get that feeling.   on window cleaning    if the person looks  like he will not pay  ill say that will be £xxx  , if he wont pay , no clean

but driveway cleaning is different,    more ££££   to pay upfront .     may tell you where to go.      the choice is yours to make

you can also you had 2 customers who wouldn't pay      told you to call back   but never answered. door.      Only you can make that decision. 

I would not request payment prior to the job being completed. Most customers would not be happy about this.

Its not like for example your selling double glazing and you are forking out thousands for windows measured for the clients house which can't be used on another house. If the client decides to cancel your stuck with frames/glass.....

Even in this scenario I have customers who would not be happy forking out to a tradesman who has not completed the work. I know this because I recommended a tradesman who has worked for me who I recommend to my clients as they did a good job for me. 

Recently they quoted one of my customers for fitting a new porch and wanted half upfront. My client declined their service because of this.

These lads are fitting a internal glass staircase for another of my clients now, not sure but my client may have had to pay some money upfront (product cost)..

Worse case scenario for us, we complete a drive, were out of pocket on petrol/sand/time/labour....

One thing I would be careful about though is - sealer, which if they don't pay that can be very expensive. if anything I would be wanting the cost of sealer upfront. BTW I have ceased offering a sealer service this year so that is no-longer an issue for me.

One other thing to note from my own experience I have customers from areas considered rough who pay with no issues. I have customers in executive new builds homes with more than one merc on the drive who are terrible payers... They eventually pay... But there is hassle involved.

What he said ^

also if they have paid up front and you break your leg the day before the job, you're lying there in hospital all the while somebody’s  out there plastering your name all over every social media site “this cowboy has my money and aint showed up etc etc” next thing you know you’re out of hospital before you know what’s happened and their relatives come along and bust your other leg.

sealants...yes..money up front for the materials. But i dont seal either.

or if the job is significantly far away, maybe something to cover diesel. But best to work local anyway.  

I had a builder do a runner once, it was an FSG clean. Never met him in person he phoned up out of the blue. 

Changed his number, disolved his company, no trace of him whatsoever.

now, everyone gets a written quote, i meet them in person to give the quote at THEIR HOME address so i know their face & where they live, they give me their full name and they sign the quote form if they are happy to go ahead. If any of those criteria aren't met, im not interested. 

If you’ve met them, know their full name, address and theyve signed the form, then if they don't pay, the grounds are good in terms of pursuing with small claims if necessary

mouth to mouth agreements with no written words are dodgey. If they’ve signed it and you both have a copy, it looks official and once they’ve signed they’re much less likely to try and pull a fast one.