Bigger contracts

[Marc]

23 minutes ago, skyhuck said:

Not necessarily. I'm in the fortunate position that I get offered far more work than I want to do. So I'd sooner work for those who pay in a timely fashion. What would be your cut-off point? 6months? 1year? 2years? 

 

As I say, for me its the principle, 30 days should be plenty long enough for anyone, IMO. 

It’s a double edge sword, perhaps my comments are based more upon where you see yourself going. As we’ve grown so have our clients.

 

Often I think it’s better to just stay small...

[Mark Bolam]

That's a good point Marc.
As a one-man and his dog type of outfit I'm lucky enough to be able to choose my jobs.
If I employed a dozen blokes with mortgages there's no way I'd be so picky.
Huck also has a good point though.
If everyone flat-out refused any payment terms over 30 days things would change pretty quickly.
Big companies can pay quicker if they need to.
My mate put up a fence for Tesco years ago, cheque on completion agreed with store manager.
He finished and was told it would be 180 days. He went back outside and started taking the fence down, very slowly.
Police were called and he explained the situation. The Sergeant asked the Tesco's manager if he'd paid for the fencing materials?
'Errrr, well no.'
'Carry on then son'.
The manager appeared with a cheque within minutes, my mate tacked a couple of boards back on and left with a smile.
Classic.

[Marc]

@Mark Bolam

I think this is the main point, I am sure that some of our clients I could push for 30 day terms, I don’t because we can.

 

I think those that complain or find themselves in trouble by it have to proportion some of the blame on themselves, rarely are these contract terms hidden.

 

Its important to have these details nailed down, you can’t simply state 30 day’s on your quote or invoice if the clients terms are 90 day’s. If you don’t read their small print they will not read yours.

 

Get it agreed in writing.

 

When I was on the tools and my boss got into a sweat when he realised it was 90 day terms upon completion and invoicing to be harsh it was his fault for not reading the contract procurement forms.

 

The 90 day’s works for us now as we are at the stage where we are riding the wave so to speak.

 

But it is stressful and I question the sanity of taking these jobs on, my most recent project tender was £250k and I am praying I don’t get it let the big boys have it. If we do with that amount I will be insisting on new payment terms as we cannot accept the liability, I mean maybe we could weather it but... just no...

 

Our largest tender is out there at £650k... this will be broken down into part payments as we progress.

 

50k is our limit on 90 day’s at present.

 

Profit margins don’t change though, we made just as much on tonking apple trees as we do smashing down big trees.

[roseyweb]

One I got shafted on was retention for site clearance. 

I jumped balls deep into a 20k site clearance and didn't read the purchase order, my fault at the time, we was flat out and reading stuff was something I didn't have time for. 

Invoiced got paid minus 5% until completion of stage 1 of the development. Whoops was all there in the print. 

They've still not finished it, I still made money on the job and I've gone on to do loads more work for said firm only now I read the purchase order. I'll get it one day and I can still afford to eat 

[Marc]

11 minutes ago, roseyweb said:

One I got shafted on was retention for site clearance. 

I jumped balls deep into a 20k site clearance and didn't read the purchase order, my fault at the time, we was flat out and reading stuff was something I didn't have time for. 

Invoiced got paid minus 5% until completion of stage 1 of the development. Whoops was all there in the print. 

They've still not finished it, I still made money on the job and I've gone on to do loads more work for said firm only now I read the purchase order. I'll get it one day and I can still afford to eat 

Yep we have a few of those, nice bonus when they come in

[arbogrunt]

I  agree Skyjack...I've got enough work not to have to wait 3 months to be paid....its stressful enough as it is paying out wages and plant hire costs before being paid for big jobs. I've also asked for 50% up front on big jobs from slow payers...it helps a lot when you've got freelancers and MEWPs on hire.

 

[Stefan Palokangas]

This bigger firms seem to have dates they deal with invoices. Just need to like the situation [emoji3]