Retainer deposit

[CaptainsLS]

Do you ask for a retainer for any of your large commercial lots? I've had to purchase so much sand/salt mix over the last week out of my own pocket, it starting to pizz me off. I'm thinking about adding a retainer in the future.

[cgland]

I would love to get downmoney on commercial projects, but the reality is that you don't It sucks, because on some projects you really have to start tapping into that LOC to get through. One thing you can do is set up draws on larger projects. The GC is getting progress draws, why shouldn't we.

Chris

[lawnkid]

After salting all of our lots one time, we go throuh 14 yards of salt. We were contemplating building a salt dome and having our own loader but after doing the math we wouldn't benefit from doing it. Our salt supplier is next door to our shop and they have locations all over town and we load up after every storm so we're ready for the next. I'm not sure what your salt usage is or what the minimum delivery amount is by your supplier but my advice would be to track your usage and buy as you need. I'd only buy enough for probably salting your whole route 4 times and that's it. No need to have 200 yards on hand if you only go through 4 yards a storm, that's me not knowing how much you go through. And at the end of the landscaping season, you should always have a reserve of money aside for buying salt, getting trucks ready, paying employees, etc. Our top priority is to always have fuel and salt in the trucks, our equipment in workng condition and to pay our employees right away. Because without that you can't make any money.

[CaptainsLS]

Agreed. We use 12 tons for one pass. I just don’t like the idea of money out of pocket. For all other jobs I require a deposit, why shouldn’t snow accounts? I can take a delivery of 33 tons to my house at $60 per ton and I have the loader, but I still think they should pay for it.

[Colonial]

Our big salt customer goes through about 100 tons of salt a storm. Before the storm we sent them an onvice for 100 tons they paid for it then after every storm we send the same one and they pay it right away ( on cc) we then just bill them for applying it.

I was not happy with the notion of laying out 7,000 bucks for salt without getting any money and thankfully they are decent to work with.