Guides for the paperwork side of a job
What to charge for a job you sell by its size, how to write the estimate, what to call it, how to follow it up, and how to invoice the job when it is done. Each guide answers its question in its first lines, then shows how, on an example that is filled in.
What to charge
- Brush hoggingA 5 acre field worked through, from the width of the cutter to a price for each acre.
- Mulch installationFrom a bed's length, width and depth to the yards to order and a price for each yard installed.
- Stump grindingAdd up the inches across each stump, then see what the job costs you and what a price for each inch leaves.
- Lawn mowingFrom a lot's length and width to the hours on the mower and a price for each 1,000 square feet.
Guides
- How to write an estimateWhat goes on an estimate, in order, on one that is filled in line by line.
- How to write an invoiceWhat goes on an invoice, in order, with the deposit taken off and the balance due.
- Estimate, quote or bidWhat each word says, what it does not, and what the paper has to say whichever you use.
- Quoting from photosWhat photos can tell you about a job, what they cannot, and which ones to ask for.
- Following up an estimateShort messages for the day after, three days on and a week on, ready to copy.
How these are written
The answer is in the first lines. The rest is the working: an example with its numbers filled in, and wording you can copy where the guide is about what to say.
Where a guide says something about the world outside your business (a rule, what a word means, what a customer has been told), it names who said it, links to the page and gives the day we read it. Where we have no source, the guide says so and leaves the claim out.
No guide here gives a going rate. TailGateBid has no price data, so every price in an example is made up, and says so. What to charge comes out of your own costs, and the free calculators work it out with your numbers.
What to charge for a job you sell by its size starts from those same sums.
None of this is tied to one trade. TailGateBid works for any trade, and Bid Partner is built to price a job in any of them: how it works for your trade.
Related
Know what a job leaves you before you send the price.
What to charge