[Ian Gourlay]

I thought we had a similar discussion recently regarding Fire and Flood ie sub contractors not getting paid until main contractor does

[AshWhite]

Ask one of the suppliers on here if you can have a load of chemicals, and if you can pay them when (and if) you get paid.
See what response you get ;P

[Neil Williams]

In a good market I might be tempted to sign it knowing there was plenty of other work to cover it should it all go t-ts up.
But this is not a good market place and with companies going bust on a weekly basis this would be one not for signing.
OCS etc might consider it a risk worth taking on but as a sole trader? Not for me.

[Helen]

Would be interested to get the thoughts of some of you on this and if any have seen it before.

I do alot of work for a local cleaning firm of a fair size. This includes carpet cleaning and builders cleans. They are good payers and never had a problem with them in that respect. Having worked for them a few years they are now introducing a new subcontractors contract.

In the contract it states that if they do not get paid for a job by one of their clients for a job I do then I will not get paid. This does not relate to not doing the job properly or anything like that its just a black and white clause.

I was gob smacked when I first read it. What do you think?

Pete

Pete, I think you need to go and sit and talk to the person who is in charge of your contract at this company. Maybe they have had their fingers burnt and have still paid their subbies and are now just protecting themselves against it happening again.
Due to the amount of work you do for them and your loyalty shown to them there may be room for negotiation, but I would be vary wary of signing a "one way" contract such as this.
They are covering themselves obviously, but someone else mentioned that it seems they have got "wind" of it happening and want to cover all angles.
You do work for them and are entitled to be paid for that work, even if they have not been paid by their customer.

[John Kelly]

This is quite common in fire & flood work. If the insurance company refuses to pay then we don't get paid. They do need a bloody good reason not to and it hasn't happened yet.

[Tony Gill Carpet Smart]

Pete if they thought Highly of you they would not put you in this very arkward position.
Hope you don't have all your eggs in one basket or they have you over a barrel.
Good luck you never know they might say ok if you say you arn't signing it.

Tony

[homenclean]

See if they will agree to a percentage payment if they dont get paid. This would cover your out of pocket expenses.

If they value your service then surely they will want to maintain standards and agree to this.

They probably receive stage payments anyway so they wont be out of pocket and it will allow you to maintain cash flow.

Cant be in their intersest to keep chopping and changing contractors customers dont like this.

John

[fenman]

This has been part of the construction industry for years where it is called " pay when paid ".
It is a sign of the power that the main contractors have over the smaller sub contractors when they hand out work.
I would certainly talk to them about it, you never know they may agree for it not to apply to you.
It is a commercial decision whether you can afford to take the risk if they dig their heels in.

[wynne jones]

If you have a good relationship with someone there then they will fight your corner for you if you raise the concern.

It won't be them who are trying to screw you to the floor it will be the bean counters. If you don't get anywhere, is it worth the worry and the stress of that hanging over you? Would they still be a good client if you accepted it?

[bennymon]

hoe did it go pete

[clarkson]

ask them how many clients in the last year  have not paid

work out what percentage you would lose which might be 10% so increase your prices by 10% to insure against any future losses.

shops increases prices by 5% to cover theft, banks build into their charges an amount to cover bad debt

you need to do the same

hi
or you could add 3 or 4% and the use a factoring company to take all the risk. i dont like factoring myself as it is expensive, but if the choice is walking away from a client who gives you 5 figure jobs it might be worth thinking of.

 cheers

 john