Payday

silverstilts

Things sorta drifted off into another subject on a different tread , so I would like to start this topic and just get some more feedback on when do you guys out there feel the right time is to get paid for your work ??? Do you treat GC different than homeowners as far as a time frame for final payment ?

Custom Drywall Svc.

hah, i was just about to do this! you beat me....

brdn_drywall

the bulk of my workload is for a single developer who pays on the 1st and 15th of every month as long as the invoices are in 5 days prior to those dates. everyone else is payment upon completion which is discussed at the bid, i don't chase em for it though usually give em 15 days before i start inquiring and 30 before i start demanding, and it normally doesn't happen but 45 before legal steps are taken.

rckslash2010

I would complete the job sooner if I knew I was going to get paid as soon as I finished, but if I have to wait 2 months to get paid, I could care less anymore if I finished it or not. How about those drywall contractors that sub work out, and when you finish the job they get a draw off of the job and pay for their own personal **** or past expenses, and you have to wait. What do you think I should do about that?

brdn_drywall

sounds like your being taken advantage of rckslash, do they discuss these terms with you prior to your start, or are these normal working conditions imposed by the higher powers in your area and if ya want work you have to put up with it, regardless i would be more upfront with your payment terms before the start and hold em to it when completed, don't know the work situation out there but if this happens regularly i would start looking for different subs/builders that appreciate honest work for honest pay.

rckslash2010

No, I put up with wayyyy too much ****, and for some reason I do it with a smile on my face.

brdn_drywall

i too put up with wayyy too much **** but getting paid is not one em, maybe that's why i put up with the **** because once paid all is forgotten/forgiven

Custom Drywall Svc.

exactly.

in the simplest terms, this is the same way my company operates.

Mud Dober

Paid who gets paid? They are all goody, goody to you until you get the job done and when its time to do the punch list. Take some advice don't do work for a privet developer or a track home builder. the only one that will make money is the attorneys!! Be careiful out thair evin a small dog will bite.
I will scat on this note this year has ben the hardest I have seen it in 27 years to collect what we work so hard for.

Mud Dober

We would give them an old fashen a$$ wipping. The people that pay their bills are people like the working man. How about the contractor that gets a new Ford F-350 around the 25th of the month and says he cant pay due to the owner has not paid him what do you do?

Mud Dober

Amen Brouther

rockdaddy

spot lots get paid on a 50/25/25 basis and we are out after we sand and mop. Builders get better consideration but if I can get the $$ up front I will. Production guys get 30 days. I like dealing with the bigger publicly traded builders because they have to pay. The wait is a trade off for the volume.

Mushin Drywall

I'm working for a big outfit right now and I'm on a 30 day pay schedule. At 30 days I have to remind them, about 5 days later its in the mail. I can live with this. I'm just happy to have consistent work. In this economy I find myself accepting things that I would have challenged a couple years back.

Custom Drywall Svc.

great post.

i feel the exact same way.....things i THOUGHT i would never put up with, i find myself now tolerating.

devol_drywall

In years past it was I give you a bill you cut me a check. Past several years it's been contractors that pay once a month, twice a month etc (usually the 1st & the 15th) As long as you're busy thats fine but the way things have been this year it's "I need paid ASAP"

With foreign labor constantly driving the price per sq foot it's hard to build any capital in this business anymore let alone make enough to pay the bills.

Stormy_Ny

When did this wait for your money X amount of days after you have finished start anyway?

Sitting here broke on a Holiday weekend ..... I would have bet a 100 dollars this guy would have been there yesterday with a check. Last week he gives me a partial check without even asking.

Go figure .....

Custom Drywall Svc.

well, the main reason for 'terms' or waiting 'x' amnt of days is mainly cash flow reasons.

nothing wrong with it.

the only thing wrong with this is -- if they dont pay you.

haha...even my business, we pay our vendors strictly on the 1st and 15th.

the thing about times like now, is builders arent honoring subs terms, and this is the main problem in itself.

for example stormy, your terms to the builder mightve been payment upon completion....net 10, net 15, whatever......

bottomline is builders shouldnt sign our contracts unless they can honor our terms specifically, but they still DO.

if it is very important for you to get paid immediately upon completion stormy, you should make that VERY clear either on your contract, vocally -- or both. and further, you can demand 50% upfront, etc etc.

right now, ive gotten a BIT more understandable, and will wait up to 30 days on some to get paid. but after that, i start getting on the phone.

my company is fortunate enough where i have enough cash flow to be able to do this. but this phenomenon of builders and customers not paying on time is one of the ugly things arising from this recession, i know.

Darren@Partners

Hey, Stormy, also have noticed that if a holiday falls around when your check is due, count on the builder or bank using that as an excuse to be another week. The interest on your money, say 10K at 7.5% is $14.42 per week. Twenty or subs x's 2-3 weeks x's X# of jobs per year. Draggin' us out like that makes their lake house/boat payment.

__________________
www.partnersconstruction-drywall.com

Custom Drywall Svc.

yea, hahahhah this is great btw........

a one day holiday, and builders love to act like how their system shuts down for a 2 week block.

rockdaddy

When homeowners, builders, customers balk at putting money up front I always tell them that they wouldn't walk into their local bank and tell them that they wanted ten thousand dollars in credit and not fill out a credit app.
That is your money thats being tossed around and floating in the street. You have a fiduciary responsibility to make sure that your terms are clear so as to insure that if you are going to get burnt its not for that much.
Make them pay in installments. Short of that, get a credit app and find out if they are a deadbeat or not.