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Appreciation post: the guy who paid upfront for my landscaping job and taught me about cash flow | Business Growth - Rigidtalk

rowan593•1h ago

Appreciation post: the guy who paid upfront for my landscaping job and taught me about cash flow

I run a small lawn care and landscaping business here in Charlotte, and a few months back this older guy named Walter hired me to redo his whole backyard. At the end of the first day, before I even handed him an invoice, he pulled out his checkbook and paid me for the entire $3,800 job right there in his driveway. I told him that wasn't how it worked, that he should wait until the work was done, but he just laughed and said "son, I ran a plumbing supply shop for 22 years and cash flow kills more small outfits than bad work ever does." He told me he could tell from my truck and my shoes that I was good for it, and having that money early meant I could buy the mulch and stone without maxing out my credit card. I sat in my truck after that for a good 10 minutes just thinking about all the times I'd turned down bigger jobs because I couldn't front the materials. That one conversation changed how I bid on stuff, and now I ask for half upfront on anything over $1,000. Any of you do deposits like that, or does it scare off too many customers?

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1 Comment

sandra9161h ago

Started doing the same thing about two years ago after getting burned on a $5k job where the guy "forgot" his checkbook for six weeks. Now I take half down on anything over a grand and I've only lost one customer over it, and honestly that guy was probably gonna be a problem anyway. The material thing is huge, I used to put mulch and sod on a credit card with 22% interest and just pray the customer paid before the bill came due. Half upfront means I walk into the supply yard with cash and I'm not sweating it. Funny how the customers who balk at a deposit are usually the same ones who take forever to pay at the end.