Commercial Contractors: Don’t Make This Mistake When Requesting Payment
Hi there, Greg here from DYB Coach, also Green Pro painting out of Greenville, South Carolina.
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Today, I want to talk to you about that famous phrase that most of you may have heard… “The squeaky gear gets the grease”.
And that’s said across the internet and in conversations, I do not know who has originally said it or how it was originally evolved, so credits to whoever that is.
But, this is pertaining specifically to commercial construction.
When you are first developing your payment process in commercial construction, typically you think it is kind of similar to residential, where you send an invoice and the customer receives it.
They cut a check and they tell you when it is ready to come and pick up, with very little follow-up, but that is hardly the case.
When there is commercial construction involved, you have to have a process before that, to follow up with clients and make sure that you get your checks on time.
This is because people in this day and age especially are overworked, everyone is doing the jobs of multiple people just because of the digital age, and them having access to computers, cellphones, etc.
Everyone is expected to do more than they possibly can in a given time, so you have to keep that in mind when it comes to applying for payments.
In our company, we send a payment application, then we send a follow-up email, making sure they’ve received all of it.
If everything looked as it was supposed to, we proceed with the follow-up, at least once a week minimum, every single week, until the payment comes in.
Make sure they review the process;
Is there any additional work orders?
Did the project manager sign off on those?
Do we have the numbers for them to include in our follow-up billing?
Things of that nature…
So, always keep in mind that the squeaky gear gets the grease.
Stay in touch with these people, stay on top of them, develop your process, and you will get your payments on time.
Thanks for dropping by. If you have any questions, feel free to send me an email at greg@dybcoach.com. Take care. You can do this!
