Payment For Services

[Navigator7]

This question of timely payment for services rendered comes up occasionally.
Background:
Most of the time I tell my customers I expect payment at completion of the job. I am blessed to live and work in a small town where people who hire me believe they need to pay me when I have satisfied the task at hand.
I seldom leave the job without a check. When I do I still know the money is golden.

Then...comes a big city company into town. They want this and that and they want it now. You think they are as good as gold, nice trucks, good equipment.....then when I tell them I want a check at completion they freaking hit the wall! I've lost business because of my request.
Recently, I never discussed my reimbursement with a big city contractor and completed the job. Sent my invoice and silence.
It's been 40 days and counting and still waiting for payment.

I'm tired of this:
"We can't pay you until we get paid!" is the cry that only comes from the biggest and the best.
or
"We are not some "fly-by-night" guy working out the back of a pickup truck, we are a multimillion dollar company!"

I find the guys working out the back of a pickup are THE most respectable.

I don't know about the rest of you, but from now on I will demand payment upon completion of the job and if the customer is unwilling to pay up or make some sort of suitable logistics arrangement...I will simply deny service, even if it means losing the job.

McDonalds, a hamburger joint, gets their money before I get my burger....I think I deserve nearly the same respect from my customers.

Any thoughts?

 

[PressurePros]

You are 100 percent dead on brother. When you start out and you get a big name contract you are excited thiking you made it big. Then comes the waiting.. the brush offs. The calls to corporate.. Invoicing six different times..etc etc. I told all my chain accounts to kiss off this year. Good riddance. You live and you learn.

 

[Larry B]

It is simply unreealistic too say to a big corp. "pay me at the end or I don't work", and expect to earn money off of them. There are way to many procedures put place to expect this kind of action. I find that the bigger they are the more they tend to stretch the 30 day net, but that is usually due to procedures and not attitude about not paying. Many corporations only print checks 1 day a month or every other week. Fall in between these times and it takes longer to get a check.
Personally I will take the gaurantee( in as much as any of our work gets a guarantee) of steady work for a commercial customer, over having to hustle up residential work. It is well worth a delay in payment.

 

[Mike Gwas]

Be patient..... This country is built on "BUY NOW PAY LATER"....... Everyone works their whole life to establish credit, in order to afford things that they should not be affording all along..... I was X-mas shopping the other day for a new TV..... I went to Best Buy and the salesman almost fell over when I broke out 35 Franklins to get my set....... He kept telling me that they have a buy now and do not pay until 2009 !!!!!! That's crazy...... The darn TV probably won't work in 2009...... I wash for many major companies and the longest terms I have is 60 days...... What else are you gonna do ????? You have to figure that a "big" accountant in the long run is going to be profitable... It sometimes takes deep pockets to play with the "Big Dogs"....

 

[Dan S]

X-LENT post Mike...............That is how the world is

My biggest account is 45days .like you said >>>>>>>> "What else are you going to do"?

 

[north coast]

You just gotta bite the bullet and let them pay on there terms usually the check does not even come from where you are doing the work. The work is always more steady. We wash for a national refuse company who pays 90 - 120 days. Once you get past the first 90 - 120 days then the checks are regular. The longer they hold onto your money the more they make in interest.

 

[PressurePros]

There are plenty of mom and pop or small, non corporate, chain operations that can keep you in steady work. Those larger chains or national companies are not as steady as some people make them out to be. All you need is a new area manager that wants to cut costs and look like a hero and boom you're gone or stuck working for pennies. Once again, I say, no thanks.

 

[Navigator7]

You just gotta bite the bullet and let them pay on there terms usually the check does not even come from where you are doing the work. The work is always more steady. We wash for a national refuse company who pays 90 - 120 days. Once you get past the first 90 - 120 days then the checks are regular. The longer they hold onto your money the more they make in interest.

Fair responses. Thanks!
The fact I own and operate my own business means it's mine to do with what I want.
Make it grow or drive it into BK.

I'm going to test my theory in about a month.
I was finally paid 45 days after my last job.
My snooping during my wait period, I found my late paying customer is in a penalty phase of some late construction @ $500 per day with two customers.
That's $1000/per day for not getting the job done in time.
They are being sued by yet another.
They will be in the penalty phase of the job I did in another 15 days.

My terms with poor payers...which usually means the second job is: Cash Op Front....and "I" will refund any overage.
Which means...they send me a check prior to the job, I deposit it in my bank. When the funds are deposited then I will go to work.

OR?

They can get someone else.

 

[Mathew Johnson]

This question of timely payment for services rendered comes up occasionally......


I don't know about the rest of you, but from now on I will demand payment upon completion of the job and if the customer is unwilling to pay up or make some sort of suitable logistics arrangement...I will simply deny service, even if it means losing the job.

McDonalds, a hamburger joint, gets their money before I get my burger....I think I deserve nearly the same respect from my customers.

Any thoughts?

I also try to get a check immediatly... But two of my larger accounts (a bank and a convienance store chain) pay net 30-45 days... Sure I have ti wait... but I bill 3-4 properties at a shot... the check for 2-3 grand rolling in makes waiting less painful... I would probably loose the accounts if I demanded payment upon receipt of services. It balances out with my residential services

 

[Dave Ott]

I would never expect payment on services when the job is done or before. Unless in the rare instance it is a builder that I know from other companies like lumber yards or shingle companies that the said person owes them money big time on their credit balance for purchases. All of the cleaning I do for commercial is when the only one out at midnight to early hours are the animals or drunks. Its just common business practices for large companies. Like they say if you want immediate payment stick to residential. Even then I have some customers who are able just to mail payment to us. We stay too busy to have to distrupt our schedule and our customers dinner or work time to look for payment. Especially during the spring and summer. We clean 24 hours a day plus emergency service so I am pretty tired as the rest are running out at all hours during the night and morning.

 

[ericw]

I have been waiting for a $2200 check from a motel here for lawn care service since august , october, and november dont get how they paid september but not the rest? Any of you guys ask for cash ever or give a better deal for cash?

 

[Navigator7]

I also try to get a check immediatly... But two of my larger accounts (a bank and a convienance store chain) pay net 30-45 days... Sure I have ti wait... but I bill 3-4 properties at a shot... the check for 2-3 grand rolling in makes waiting less painful... I would probably loose the accounts if I demanded payment upon receipt of services. It balances out with my residential services

I should probably qualify myself.
Some of my customers I would trust with my wife overnight in a motel.
I'm not worried about a guy I've worked with over the years. They trust me ... or they wouldn't call me...and I trust them as they pay me in a timely fashion.

It's the big shots from out of town that will be here today gone tomorrow.
My only bad experiences have occurred with the bigger companies....and I have ZERO bad experiences with the small guys.