[Gavin Reardon]

If there is one thing I hate about commercial work is getting paid!

I nearly always give credit (time to pay) but 3 out 10 jobs will take the p*ss
I have a lot of money owed to me for jobs that should have paid by now.

So I am thinking long  hard about how many days I should give others to pay

Cheers

Gavin

[Musicman]

For some reason the bit you click on to vote has disappeared.

28 days from date of invoice, or they are hit with late payment sur-charges.

http://www.payontime.co.uk/index.html

[Chris Bailey]

Hi Gavin

My invoices states strictly 30 days, I start chasing 1 week after and usually get paid within a week of the chase so I give 30 days they take about 45 days.

I have had some customers who like holding on, if I don't receive payment after 60 days of invoice they are put on hold and I chase on a weekly basis.  After 90 days I pass the debt to a debt collection agency, only had to do this once though and no, I don't deal with that customer anymore, my choice.

When recovering debt you are allowed to charge up to £40 costs for up to £1000 and did so.  As long as you have the following in your terms and conditions..

We reserve the right to charge interest on the unpaid amount of any invoice in accordance with its rights under the Late Payments of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998.  We will charge an administration cost of £40.00 for the recovery of debt up to £1000.00 and any legal costs incurred.

To make customers aware of this then obviously the credit terms, i.e. 30 days, is printed on the front of the invoice and my 'Standard conditions of business' are printed on the back of each invoice so they have no excuse.

We may be cleaners but we are also business men & women!

Hope this helps

Chris

[John_Flynn]

Next time you quote for a Job and thay ask for credit, ask them where they do their Supermarket shopping, then ask how long they are given credit there!!

Then ask them to treat you like the Supermarket treats them!!

CASH ON COMPLETION PLEASE!!  never failed for me.

[Ken Wainwright]

I give 30 days. But many companies accounting systems will process as 30 days after, for example, the last day of the month. So it may turn out to be upto 60 days.

Certainly with my regular clients, this doesn't cause any concern as you know the money will come and when. The larger cheques will go straight into my savings account to pay for things like Income Tax and Capital Purchases, so it's not required for day to day expenses and drawings.

Safe and happy cleaning
Ken

[Ian Rochester]

28 days from date of invoice, always ring them the week before payment is due to check that we are on their next payment run.  Try getting the Accounts Payable Clerk to put you on the weekly payment run if they have one as opposed to the monthly payment run. 

Always make sure your banking details are on the bottom of the invoice so that payment can be made by BACS, this means that there is not the delay of having to get 2 or more signatures for the cheque (further delays).

We do have one regular large business that works on 90 days before they pay invoices!  However we have factored it into the price of the job.

Just spent last half hour chasing up payments from 2 hotels and an OAP home all done just after the New Year.

The richer they are the worse they are to pay and they more they whine about the cost.

Ian

[Macarthur]

Hello Gavin,

I usually give 14 days and have been lucky so far in retreiving payments on time, although there is one company that keeps me waiting for 30 days each month.

Nigel.

[Len Gribble]

One of my customers pay the day after depending on amount, may have to split the bill in two and go back following day, but the same customer different location invoice goes to HO very quick in paying but always phone them a few days later to check if invoice is received.

One of medium size customers Accounts Payable dept is in India that takes a bit of time to get back to me, I don’t phone them!

Agree with Ian supply your bank details for Bacs transfers but if they pay from overseas also supply your banks SWIFT address.

Len

[Cloverleaf]

Most commercial customers will pay within 30 days. Some may forget and you'll have to remind them.
Some will pay on the beginining of the next month plus 30 days and you'll have to wait.

Do not give more than £500 worth of credit to a company you know little about or have not been going more than 5 years, it's not a lot to loose. I lost £1200 to a building company who had been in business 4 years for three jobs and little did I know, were going down the drain.
Recievers called in and I was at the bottom of the list, wont do that again

On the good side most commercial custards are a well earned bonus

John

[Mark@Eco-Powerclean]

As someone who's spent their entire working life (up until last March) as a Financial Controller for a fairly large company, I've always been on the other side of the fence. There are a couple of things to point out here.

Firstly, if a company is of any decent size, they will normally have a Facilities Manager who will be responsible for ordering the work, and subsequently signing off the invoice. He is normally under pressure to obtain the best possible service at the lowest possible rate. In fact, the Facilities Manager at my last company was on a bonus for reducing establishment overhead costs.

Then, there's the purchase ledger clerk/superviser, responsible for paying the bills. These people are normally quite thick skinned, as they're inundated with calls and threats from credit chasing companies or credit control departments and are as immune to hard talking as traffic wardens.

When you send in an invoice, it's usually sent straight to the accounts department. It will be logged on the system and sent to the Facilities Manager. He'll possibly hold onto it for some time, just in case he gets any complaints about the clean from senior management. Eventually, he'll sign it off and send it back to the accounts department.

It will generally take a month or so from there for it to be included in a cheque run, hence the near two months wait. If the company is suffering cash flow problems, a small company will generally be pushed even further back in the payment queue.

If you become beligerant with the purchase ledger person, chances are they'll love the fight and it will become a battle of wills. It's much better (although never easy) to try and befriend the person paying the bills. I was FC at that company for 18 years, and the Purchase Ledger supervisor was there for 14 years. We were still never really friendly with each other, so it can be difficult. She was one stroppy so and so, who just about everyone in the company steered well clear of.

[Derek]

Hi

30 days net from date of invoice.

The 'net' stops some of the cheeky blighters deducting 'trade discounts'... builders tried it at 5%

I say..."My terms are 30 days NET" on the quotation which you have accepted...usually sorts 'em out

Derek

[Scott Martin]

If you want the business you have to wait to be paid, its a way of life in our game!

I sometimes use the right to charge fee and interest under late payment of commercial debts act but if their is scope for repeat business then you really have to think before you go down that road.

I have also credit checked companies out for sales of higher amounts and this generally costs £15.00 per search, better to be £15 out of pocket and knock them back or be £1k down after you do the work!

Blame old governments for this situation but we must all realise that if you target commercial work then you have to, more often than not, agree to your customers payment terms.

If this poses problems for you then you can go down the road of invoice finance or factoring your invoices, available through your banks for a small fee, usually they give you 75% of invoice as soon as you raise it then once they get paid they will pay you the other 25% minus 4/5% fee, sometimes more. If you use this rooad then just add 4/5% onto your direct costs.

All worth the hassle when the check arrives and usually your residential portfolio will keep the cashflow smooth!

Cheers
Scott