Plenty of work coming in at the moment but have spent two days phoning around for Invoices to be settled. . People scream down the phone wanting this done,that done, invoices go in. . .all goes quiet. Anyone else?
I thought this was going to be a thread along the lines of "I have loads of work at the moment, but all I am doing is chasing bl00dy walls"! We have had the first full packed busy busy week for a good few months. A mains upgrade in a busy pub/restaurant/B+B, a mains upgrade to a caravan park & pulling in over 600m of various size cables for a few addional hookups. Due to open for easter, but the quote was only recently accepted. Installing some 32amp TP sockets in a recently referbished butchery - it takes longer to complete the H+S paperwork, be inducted, suit up, back up tools, and then the reverse, than it does to do the job. Looking forward to a weekend, with hopefully no callouts and no wife cracking the DIY wip. (no snide remarks please )
People scream down the phone wanting this done,that done, invoices go in. . .all goes quiet. Anyone else? Same for me mate pi**ing me right off at the moment. Even customers that were good payers in the past, I'm having to chase for payment
if your any good ..in these times you will find its harder to get the money in than the work in .most people love to hide behind an invoice
op what are your terms you work to if you are a domestic chap some I know make up there own and will not leave the completed job without payment you may find getting a hand written duplicate invoice book helps If you are a little bit more specialised then waiting for payment is part and parcel of the whole self employed thing you can run to 60 days with some councils, industrial types etc and if you are big time you may need to get loans to carry you through just get on with it cheers
have you bashed your head mr sills , or is it friday .your comments are more mr sensible ...get well soon
60 - 90 day terms are fairly common with some companies we work for. Some will not pay you for a certain amount of time, while others have a set 'pay' day each month / second month / quaterly etc. If your lucky you do the job a few days before the pay day. We find regular customers are the worst for delayed payments. We are recieving some payments at the moment from jobs that go back to the beginning of last year. The financial year ending seems to spurn them on.
lec if you and the customer know the terms then that is a contract that you have both agreed to now if the customer will not pay after all the terms have been agreed to and obeyed then you are with in your rights to take extra steps to get your monies so whats all this last year bit you must have agreed to it or are soft with your customers cheers
Agree with Lec, some of our best/regular customers don't pay for up to 90 days. However they do not require chasing or statements sending for payment, it's just how their accounts dept is run. We do works at local (geographically that is) premises and submit one pro-forma invoice covering all works/callouts occurring over that month. This is then sent on to head office accounts for the raising of a purchase order (which in some cases is located in other countries), PO is then e-mailed to my chick in the office who then sends an Invoice back to Head Office accounts dept. In some case a PO number can run to 16 digits and if one number is wrong it * up payment for another 90 days! :'( 90 days later (assuming a correct PO No' ;-)) we get paid by BACS. (and girly in office don't get shouted at! ) Tiz a ball ache some may say but the plus side is a decent callout rate and £35/hr thereafter with no quibbles on time spent on-site or quotes for bigger works. Keep peeps happy and they don't argue the * we find! [Edited by: admin]
Could never accept 60-day plus payment terms. Would go under. In all the time I have been trading I have always been paid. I would only agree to 30-day terms if I was desperate. What kills businesses in this country is these ludicrous contracts specifying 60 day terms. Why? Why should anyone who has completed a job have to wait 2 months to get paid. wtf is that all about? Get the money in. Cash is king....
We give 7 days to private customers. On day 8 (if still unpaid) we phone to arrange collection of the money that day. On day 9 (if day 8 is not successful) we start proceedings. The 'Day 9' scenario has never been needed. Try leaving Tesco with a trolley full saying "I'll pay you in a week or two"....
Agree to a lot of the points raised here As for 60-90 day terms, that would kill just about every one man band operating in this current climate. Big boys might be able to run those terms, me forget it! My terms for payment are 7 days max. But very little attention gets taken by it at the moment My issue is, if people have not the money in their hand or moneys tight, dont get things done. All it takes is for someone to 'decide' not to pay you, it can throw the whole cashflow to the wind.
Always give a free 'warranty' with all work, this warranty can be withdrawn if customer is a late payer as they will not have complied with the terms and conditions of the contract. Simples.
Doesn't matter how much you withhold, take action or whatever, its the cash that is important. If you don't get paid its a right pain to go through lengthy proceedings to get it and in the meantime you suffer even more. Don't give 7-days terms either. Payment on completion. What is the point in waiting 7 days? Get paid straight away. Thats waht I insist on. Couldn't wait even 7 days.