How do I bill a company for a client?

[triplejumper18]

A local performance shop referred me to a customer who was parked at his hotel and had a hotel contractor drag stuff over the front of his car. The contractor apparently said he will pay to have this repaired. I inspected the car this afternoon and it appears to be scuffs and scratches that should be correctable with compounding/polishing on the left front fender, hood, left headlight, and front bumper.

How many of you have experience with doing work on a car that a company is paying for due to them screwing up? Do you do the negotiating yourself? Do you take money up front or after? Do you have any suggestions that I should say or do?

The client is leaving for home on Wednesday, so he wants this taken care of ASAP, and I want to obviously give the client a great job and get myself paid. Any suggestions or comments are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[arack]

A local performance shop referred me to a customer who was parked at his hotel and had a hotel contractor drag stuff over the front of his car. The contractor apparently said he will pay to have this repaired. I inspected the car this afternoon and it appears to be scuffs and scratches that should be correctable with compounding/polishing on the left front fender, hood, left headlight, and front bumper.

How many of you have experience with doing work on a car that a company is paying for due to them screwing up? Do you do the negotiating yourself? Do you take money up front or after? Do you have any suggestions that I should say or do?

The client is leaving for home on Wednesday, so he wants this taken care of ASAP, and I want to obviously give the client a great job and get myself paid. Any suggestions or comments are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I am not a professional, but you should probably use Google Documents and come up with an itemized bill for this job. I would itemize each area to add up to your total cost for the job. You should include your business name and phone number. This will help document the damage for the customer.

[triplejumper18]

I am not a professional, but you should probably use Google Documents and come up with an itemized bill for this job. I would itemize each area to add up to your total cost for the job. You should include your business name and phone number. This will help document the damage for the customer.

I can do itemized bills through PayPal.

[Stokdgs]

Thanks for wanting and being able to help this person.
What I would do is go directly to the Hotel Manager who should know about this, discuss your Work Estimate, and get a PO number from him to put on your Invoice that you are going to submit to said Hotel Manager.
You need this to protect yourself in case they try to blow you off.
Get a feel for the meeting you have with the Hotel Manager, find out about the chain of Hotels from the Internet, know where their Headquarters are, etc..
Make sure you and and Hotel Manager are on the same page; you are going to do the work for $XXXXX cut the Hotel an Invoice and expect the Hotel to cut you a Check exactly when...
Good luck with this.
DanF

[Trouble]

A local performance shop referred me to a customer who was parked at his hotel and had a hotel contractor drag stuff over the front of his car. The contractor apparently said he will pay to have this repaired. I inspected the car this afternoon and it appears to be scuffs and scratches that should be correctable with compounding/polishing on the left front fender, hood, left headlight, and front bumper.

How many of you have experience with doing work on a car that a company is paying for due to them screwing up? Do you do the negotiating yourself? Do you take money up front or after? Do you have any suggestions that I should say or do?

The client is leaving for home on Wednesday, so he wants this taken care of ASAP, and I want to obviously give the client a great job and get myself paid. Any suggestions or comments are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Yes, the way you deal with this is have the owner of the car pay you and let him chase down the contractor for the money.

Is there anything else I can help you with

[triplejumper18]

Thanks for wanting and being able to help this person.
What I would do is go directly to the Hotel Manager who should know about this, discuss your Work Estimate, and get a PO number from him to put on your Invoice that you are going to submit to said Hotel Manager.
You need this to protect yourself in case they try to blow you off.
Get a feel for the meeting you have with the Hotel Manager, find out about the chain of Hotels from the Internet, know where their Headquarters are, etc..
Make sure you and and Hotel Manager are on the same page; you are going to do the work for cut the Hotel an Invoice and expect the Hotel to cut you a Check exactly when...
Good luck with this.
DanF

It`s the contractor who said he is going to pay, so I am going to contact him.

[Nth Degree]

I agree with Trouble. It would be easiest to simply have the owner pay you and let him do the chasing, but since he is from out of town, he probably won`t want to do that.

I recommend getting everything in writing; from the estimate, the order for the work from the contractor, and the owner of the car. Make sure it states how and when you will be paid. I would worry less about how the bill looks and simply make sure it is air tight before you do the work. Any problems getting the signatures before the work is done is a tell-tale sign someone is looking to take advantage of the situation.

[Old Pirate]

Who ever sends you a purchase order for a job with all information you need for billing, the billing address should on there with the quote priving for the job. It should take 3-4 weeks for you to get a check for it. Remember this is after your written quote, never do this by word of mouth.

[triplejumper18]

So I give him a written quote and then he will give me a PO for the job?

[Trouble]

So I give him a written quote and then he will give me a PO for the job?

You almost have it!

You give him a bill and he gives you a purchase order. Like Angelo said, many times it takes several weeks from this point to get your money.
Have you even made contact with the contractor? I would start shooting him emails now if you really want this job. The documented communication will help should something go awry (he/she stiffs you).
I would be sure and charge retail+ for this job. More then likely it is going to be a one and done relationship. If it were me I would collect from the owner of the car and be done with it.

[triplejumper18]

You almost have it!

You give him a bill and he gives you a purchase order. Like Angelo said, many times it takes several weeks from this point to get your money.
Have you even made contact with the contractor? I would start shooting him emails now if you really want this job. The documented communication will help should something go awry (he/she stiffs you).
I would be sure and charge retail+ for this job. More then likely it is going to be a one and done relationship. If it were me I would collect from the owner of the car and be done with it.

I tried a couple times to call the contractor today and left a message, and I will try again tomorrow a bunch of times, and then Monday if I can`t get him tomorrow. The client is leaving town Wednesday, so the latest I can work on the car is Tuesday. I am not doing work without getting paid, so if I can`t make this work out, then I`ll simply have more time to watch baseball on tv.

[Trouble]

I tried a couple times to call the contractor today and left a message, and I will try again tomorrow a bunch of times, and then Monday if I can`t get him tomorrow. The client is leaving town Wednesday, so the latest I can work on the car is Tuesday. I am not doing work without getting paid, so if I can`t make this work out, then I`ll simply have more time to watch baseball on tv.

If you`ve already left one message, there is no need to call back. The thing to do now is sit back and watch baseball and wait for the phone to ring

Did you say the damage is limited to the hood?

[Nth Degree]

I would put the ball in the court of the owner. He should be pressuring the contractor to get this done before he leaves. If he chooses to wait and have the work done by someone in his home town he will have a more difficult time getting it paid for. He might be stuck paying out of pocket and trying to get reimbursed anyway.

[triplejumper18]

If you`ve already left one message, there is no need to call back. The thing to do now is sit back and watch baseball and wait for the phone to ring

Did you say the damage is limited to the hood?

Front part of hood, left front fender, left front head light, and bumper.

[Old Pirate]

So I give him a written quote and then he will give me a PO for the job?

He should send you a request for a quote or a verbal one so you can provide him your quote in writing. Always do it professional and have a record of it so you can get pay and if you don`t then it`s time for small claims court.