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Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 9:29 pm
by lutonlagerlout
a lot of big companies we do work for work on 90 days from end of month,but we know this in advance and price accordingly
also if you have a good relationship with them they will often release interim payments
that ROK look another slippery bunch to me,its difficult to recruit the right men on a local level ,how they expect to do it nationally is beyond me
borras is another fair size one round here,they seem to specialise in doing pug ugly civic buildings
all the workers from site agent down are agency (eastern europeans)
LLL
Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 9:33 pm
by ilovesettsonmondays
the carr with the ilion are another bunch of very dodgy bstrds .avoid at all costs
Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 9:43 pm
by bobbi o
Depending on how the relationship goes with BB,it would be something we would have to look at. margins are generally so thin though,that i would be reluctant to give away any profit,though of course that is better than running out of cash!
we're around 14 employees as well.you do wonder if its worth all the hassle in the current market conditions. if you could just get paid on time,life would be so much easier. i've just taken on an employee with the remit just to simply chase debtors and nothing else. that has certainly helped,but is a sign of just how bad things are.
Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 10:33 pm
by lutonlagerlout
a lot of medium sized firms use factoring bobbi,my missus used to use it for her care agency where wage bills could be 25 k a week
they charge you a very low percentage as long as the invoices are in correctly
LLL
Posted: Thu Sep 09, 2010 7:40 pm
by mickg
I was told today that a large double glazing company what had been trading for more than 30 years in Bolton has gone into liquidation because they were owed a lot of money off Connaught
just goes to show when one of the big boys goes down it has a knock on effect down the food chain
Posted: Thu Sep 09, 2010 8:40 pm
by hondacrm
i work for a large construction company. Begining of the year, standard payment terms were extended by 30 days so depending on when the cheque run happens and the invoice hits the system, payment to material suppliers/subcontractors will be between 60 - 90 days.
Back in the 90's, when i had an operational role, I made sure all of our suppliers/subbies were paid on time because;-
1. they were due their money and
2. we relied on them to supply materials/carryout works so that we could complete our own works and get paid as the main contractor. without this relationship we would have struggled as we were continually calling in favours but the guys knew they would get paid.
In addition to other duties, we had a person chasing invoice payments , with particular emphasis to the run up to Xmas. We started chasing money in October knowing that 3 months of continual pressure would have a beneficial result to bring the cash in before the year end. Of course, from our side the accounts dept were doing their best to hold on to as much cash as possible.
One method our subcontractors used to improve their cashflow was to submit a valution, not an invoice. I can't remeber the exact mechanics but an invoice has to include VAT which the company becomes liable for once the invoice has been raised whereas a valuation excludes VAT and the VAT does not become payable until the valuation (including the amount for VAT) has been paid which helps with cash out. Not sure if the is still applicable as it was 10 years ago.