Maybe after I’ve been around as long as you guys I’ll be able to be abrupt too, without being told it’s “throwing a fit.”
Part of being a successful business owner is learning when to be humble.
Act like a bull in a china shop, and your business tends not to be very successful. No one want to help people like that, much less customers want to work with someone like that.
But, in the end, doesn’t matter to me. Not my problem…
I get that. But you have to admit you came on a little strong. I’m here asking for help and you’re telling me to give it up. Obviously I haven’t been in business as long as you, so yes I do have some things to learn. I’m sure you have a lot of experience and I appreciate any constructive and helpful advice.
I get that I came off strong. I felt your post needed a strong reply. It’s no secret, commercial is a wait to get paid, game.
There is NOTHING you can do, other than wait and appropriate time frame for payment. 21 days (not even) is too soon to complain and demand.
Redirect your energy into getting more business. Preferably something that will pay you now, instead of wasting your energy obsessing over one job. Dwelling on negativity robs you of positive motion. Push forward and grow.
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Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind. Great advice
Typically when a commercial client tells me they do net30 , the check usually comes in 45-60 days . So just a heads up
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Thank you! Do you do a lot of commercial work? Do you typically see net30 as their terms?
I don’t do much commercial , but that’s what Ive seen . I just got paid saturday for a job I did in March , and it was net 30
I appreciate the heads up on that. Thanks for your input.
Wanna know the truth. That contact didn’t mean nothing to this guy that’s why he signed it. He probably laughed after you walked out the door, An said is this guy for real. Next time you do a commercial job ask what the net is. If you don’t like it don’t do it. Tats how commercial goes. Half the time I don’t even ask any more. You looked real unprofessional having him sign a contract for 21 days. An that’s the truth like it or not.
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Companies that pay Net 30 pay Net 30. All that you can do now is wait for their 30 day crap. They sort of hold the power on this one because of their payment power (holding the purse strings) against your wanting to get paid (holding your empty hand out). Be sure to talk to the one who signs the check about your terms; they often conveniently overlook it if you don’t directly point it out to them.
In the future when you state your terms be sure to repeat and point out often enough in the conversation that you DO NOT DO NET 30 - if the conversation continues after that declaration.
If they insist on paying Net 30 and you still want the job, then you are in essence setting up a loan for them, and since you are generally not in the business of extending a line of credit - but forced into it - treat it as such.
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There is a charge for that.
I disagree. Because hungry people have accepted these terms it has taken on the assumption of the norm. There truly is no reason a companies A/R department can’t make payment on the 2nd or 3rd week of the month. Sure, the longer THEY can hold payment the BETTER for them - and that can at times extend to 60 days or more. Very poor business. Admittedly I do very little Commercial for this reason. The ones I do, understand that I expect a reasonable time frame with which to get paid for services rendered, and they pay within two weeks.
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You can ask for a credit card to keep on file or even require it. Then if they do not meet your terms you charge the card. That way they will take your invoice serious. But as many have stated most commercial jobs pay slow. We work with 5 different commercial property managers and have for many years. I have found that building a good relationship with them gets me paid on time. During the last financial crunch in 2008 if sure paid off for me.
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Great point. You could always try something like this, to incentivize earlier payment (some large AP departments even require that payments are made early to get such a discount):
You could pad your price by 2 or 3 percent, offer a 1.5%/10 net 30 arrangement, and come out ahead either way.
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1% is not much on a $1,000+ job ($10).
Charge the going rate for a line of credit lights a fire under slow payers.
For grins you could also steer the terms to - "Go ahead and submit your “Net 30 request” to A/P and I’ll be back in 30 days to do the work and collect payment at that time. 
Same thing, just reverse benefits. 
Alex, thank you. I did not ever think of this as an option. It might give them a reason to pay more quickly.
Thanks for that Garry. Looks like I’m going to have to get used to net 30.
Ok guys, so since everyone is basically on the same page about this contract being worthless, let me ask this. Do you have them sign an agreement at all? Or are you just saying the payment terms shouldn’t be included? Because what happens when you show up and do several thousand dollars of work and it happens to be for a client who never intended to pay. I know, this will probably never happen. But do you at least write something up so you know you will EVENTUALLY be paid $xxxx for xxxx work?
What is the going rate for a line of credit? The article you linked was mostly about payday loans. I have no interest in becoming a loanshark, lol.
If I adopted this, I would probably do 2%/7 net 30. But the bookkeeping becomes a bit complicated when you start messing with credit terms.
At any rate, 1% on 20 days (30-10 days of free credit) is still a much larger “loss” than could be recouped in investments or whatever else large companies see fit to do with the free money they borrow from their vendors.
It is more of a way to negotiate reasonable payment terms. I will pad the invoice to my advantage if a credit seeker is seeking credit. If they want the job done for the lesser price then they must show me that they will pay in a reasonable time. It just takes one time (of lyng to me) to be taken off the schedule and me continue my job of filling the schedule. I know many are willing to just accept Net 30, and line those jobs up; I just simply am not. I find plenty of folks willing to “Pay at the pump” as it were. Within 10 days? No problem, I’m good. Take advantage of me? We’re done. But also, I am not a large company with several employees and approaching a million dollar payroll. I’m also not living from paycheck to paycheck, but I do need timely payments. So, I’m sure that it works for some folks or it wouldn’t be such an often visited subject. There are also plenty of reasons not to get caught up in that mess.
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