PRACTICAL SALESMANSHIP 



49 



each way and you expected two men to be used on the 

 job for five days, you would want to charge for eight 

 hours travel time at your usual rates. 



PROFIT 



Just how to figure, in an estimate of this kind, the profit 

 that you should derive is not easy to say. It is not 

 generally considered good form, however, to set down 

 in an estimate any such item as 'Trofit," else if the cus- 

 tomer demand an itemized account he might think this 

 arbitrary amount too large. 



In fact, if you have allowed liberally all the way through 

 your estimate, you should find sufficient profit from labor 

 and stock and, in general, from doing the work more ex- 

 peditiously than was figured. Theoretically, you should 

 be able to show a profit on every job you do, but, actually, 

 you will find that on some jobs you will make much more 

 than was anticipated, while on others you may be lucky 

 to come out even. Making every job come out right 

 is the result only of long experience. 



In doing landscape work there is a method which does 

 insure a fair profit to yourself as well as a square deal to 

 your customer, and that is the doing of the work on a 

 percentage basis. Ordinarily, however, this is not a satis- 

 factory plan, as your client may say that the men are too 

 slow or raise various other objections. The only time 

 when the percentage method is advisable is where the 

 type of work to be done is obviously such as cannot be 

 estimated on, and where you know that your customer 

 is a fair-minded person who will allow }T)u to continue 

 and be satisfied when the job is done. The percentage 

 charged will usually depend entirely on the size of the 

 work and the amount of actual superintendence needed. 



