Invoices

I just finished my first commerical job.

How do yall do your invoices? Do you break it down cost per window? What about unexpected costs? Misc costs?

Or do you make one line on it, "Pay me this much for tint.....$XXXXX"?

I usually go and measure the job and give a quote for xx dollar amount.
I only break up the costs when doing the book keeping at the office.

Anything that comes up during the job I expain to customer and also let them know before hand if I think something will come up.

Let them be prepaired for the extra charge in case I have to add anything to the bill.

Well the price from the original quote nearly doubled. LOL.

The added windows, subtracted, added, and subtracted, added, and subtracted one more time.

So not only did I end up doing nearly twice as many windows as originally, but I also have a lot of "pre-cut and didn't end up using waste."

This company works on PO/Invoice systems. So I wasn't sure if just one line for "tint" was good enough.

Did you give them a quote ? If so it should state the terms. Upon completion is the way I go but most larger companies usually wait thirty days or for the next payables cycle. Government work can take longer. If you expect misc or unexpected cost you should include them in the quote or specifically exclude them and define a T&M cost to cover it if it occurs thats the way I do it anyway. It's always a good idea to get the proposal signed too by someone that is authorized to do so. I list the number and size of the glass panels in the quote so there is NONE of the " I thougt you included those too" BS when it's time for them to show me the money and beware of the " we only want do do these now" crap. I have on all my quote sheets " This quote is based on the entire job smaller quantities may increase the cost"

go to office depot or staples and get a contractors bid or proposal book and you can also get and ivioce book too.

they are generic so you have to put yer name and all that stuff on the forms.

i just put sale and installation of what ever film and then put the price.

The original quote consisted of me measuring 6 windows or so and saying, "This much" and him saying, "Okay, do it."

Then, a call from him every other day adding and subtracting windows and no more requoting.

This company just spent over a quarter million in remodeling for this share holders meeting (easily $250k). The guy I talked to really doesn't care about my few hundred. His exact words were, "That's it? Do it."

I was just curious if I should break it down or not.

The nice thing is I'm now tinting that guy's trailblazer and cavalier. =)

those jobs get to be a pain in the arse. im a firm believer in once the price is given for x amount of square footage on x panes of glass, thats the price, im not going to keep my price the same if the customer is gonna change his mind, over and over again.

luckily it sounded liek this guy was pretty cool. its nice when they can sh!t money like that. but just forewarning... these are typical gypsy tactics. get your head spinning with new numbers over and over, multiple bids, then they say they agreed to the cheapest one. im assuming that you bought a roll (at least for the size of the job) you chose your roll size by the largest measurement. had you not pre-cut you wouldnt have lost out on this one (trust me im sure you'll find a home for it eventually to make it up later)

the safest way to bid these ones, you have a ball park of what the footage is gonna be. as long as the roll isnt all precut up you can use the excess almost anywhere else. buy your roll, show up, rebid the job on the spot. have a bid for him to sign before you start the work, aproving the price, and an invoice to follow, that sould be identical.

If possible ask to speak to the accounts payable person prior to doing the work.
See if they have any forms that are policy...to get paid.

The California Hiway Patrol sat on my invoice for like three months then asked:
Are you a corporation?
Waited a month and asked:
Federal Taxpayer ID # or SS#.
Waited a month then asked:
Where is the State Tax on the materials?

I said I don't tax the materials, they said "You Will On THIS JOB..or you won't get paid".

Also in the case of larger operations list both the PO # AND your contact AND the person who authorized the work.

I'm still learning, but those are some of the things I've run across.

so... shouldnt the chp be tax exempt? why would you have to itemize tax on their invoice? i just pay the tax when i order the film, im a one man opperation, and in a field where 90% of what you charge is installation, i find no need to stay up night after night come tax time sifting and reorginizing invoices (im kind of compulsive) to prove that the state got every dime, i just assume nip it in the bud and pay the tax myself. how much do we make per car/job? we more than make it up.

They are also common sense exempt.
They would also like to replace all the sheriffs who, have a habit of giving out Concealed Carry gun permits, that other more political agencies don't like.