Contractors BBB

Teetorbilt

I remember this topic being brought up here or on another site.

I have just spent the last 2 days chasing down final payments. For the wise guys, my EOY is Oct.

I'm thinking of a site that will qualify customers for contractors. Input?

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Mike Finley

The subject has been brought up before and I'm sure it will again with all the pros and cons and why it can or can't work.

No matter what even if the site existed I would still prefer to use the three best tools at my disposal to deal with customers and getting paid. - experience, a strong contract, and an intelligent progressive payment schedule with no more than 10% ever due as a final payment.

ProWallGuy

This idea has already been done. I had the site bookmarked, but due to my untimely hard drive crash, the bookmark is gone. I can't recall the name of the site either. If I find it, I'll post it.

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Wallpaper Hanger St. Louis
Digital Murals Installation

hatchet

The only way I know to qualify customers (and not sure if it would be able to be used in an online setting) is proof of finances at the bank (part of contract Mike mentioned) or credit reporting service. The easiest method of qualifying would, of course, be other people that have done work for them - but not too many people get their floor (or other) replaced yearly, or anything often enough to make it worthwhile to document.
Not sure of what it would cost to set something up with a credit reporting agency and possibly some banks to check credit worthiness of customers. It would have to come back to the contractors as a yearly or monthly payment to use the service.
I would be willing to donate time in coding / setup of the site if we get a plan together.

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Rich
WIT Construction Co.
Superior MT Contractor

Cole

I would love to get the domain name and hosting for it.

Let me know.

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Teetorbilt

Just for giggles let's fabricate the criteria.

Name, the big one, as complete as can be. People move and asking for a SS# is against the Patriot Act.

Address: Semi useful if it matches the name.

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You can't solve you're problems with the same level of thinking that created the problems.

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copusbuilder

Sounds good to me

I have had a few that just would not pay.
"When the sun hits the wall at 10:00 on a partly cloudy day the paint doesn't look right?"
Or....The table that was in the garage had a chemical spill on it that ruined it. That table belonged to my dad King George the III?????

Or the time when I told a non paying customer that we would be going to court. He looked at me and told me "Take me to court and I'll dump a gallon of paint on the floor and you'll be replacing my carpet!"

Write the best contract in the world and those that don't want to pay will find a way...
I can say that (at least in Texas) a corporation has to hire an attorney. $1200 minimum right there. Then you have to pay the guys (and hope they show) to appear in court. Then if it is filed in the customers voting district the locally voted judge will not look kindly at the big mean contractor from outside.

Even the best "second sense" can fail.....

I prefer to have their legs broken

Make a list....Then we can send it to the I.R.S.

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Glasshousebltr

OK Teetor called for this:
1.Name:
2.Address:

Now my add in.
3.Total number of complaints lodged:

4.Complaints
Complaint A
1.GC
2.Complaints logged by GC
3.Type work performed
4.Compaint/description
5.Complant admin notes
Complaint B .........etc etc etc.


It's the CT CCD.....Contactor Talk Customer Complaint Database........Nat, Rich, ..you getting this?

Might be some collection leverage here.

Bob

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Bob

Mike Finley

You are right, but keep in mind your contract is there as a last resort, you need to employ good business practices to avoid having to resort to relying on your contract in court.

Your best defense against getting stiffed is never to let the customer wait till the end of the job to pay you. By then its too late, you've lost your most important advantage.

Break the payments up. If the customer is an ass hole, the time to find out is at the early part of the job while you still have the leverage of not completing the job in your corner. The moment the customer goes sideways on a payment you make the SOB come current AND he has to pay the rest of the job in advance. Doing it this way the worst that will happen is you walk off the job with a minimum of financial damage to yourself.

The conversation with a customer who has done something that throws red flags up on one of the payments is pretty simple: "I no longer feel comfortable financing you project. Currently I do the work, pay for the materials and pay all my expenses in advance and you make a payment according to our payment schedule after I complete a section of the work, basically I am financing your project for you. I can no longer offer you this service in light of the current issues we had in regard to the last payment. At this point you are going to have to pay in advance and I will complete the work after payment. I will need you to write a check for $***X before any more work is completed."

Also never leave more than 10% of the bill for the final day. If the customer is a total scum bag and just wants to stiff you, I would much rather deal with $600 vs $6000. Never leave such a large amount after the work is done to tempt the rare scum bag customer into making it worth it to stiff you.

jproffer

Oh but Mr. Customer, you forgot about....THIS



WAIVER OF JURISDICTION: Client agrees that if court action is deemed necessary by either party, court jurisdiction will remain in Randolph County, Illinois, USA regardless of location of job.


Maybe in a bigger city that wouldn't work, but here there's only one courthouse and only 2 judges for the whole county.

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Jim P.

CGofMP

This idea may have some merit, however I'd get some damn fine lawyers in on this one because you ar dealing with individual families, not companies. Unless this is an OPT-IN from the customer who agrees to have his info put up, you might run into civil problem including real or imagined libel or slander cases. In addition, if it is not a customer-driven opt-in then each state will have laws that differ and what might be oaky. That is to say that what a contractor in Texas might legaly say or do about customers might differ wildly from what the 9th curcuit will hold is okay for those in California to do thereby making one contractor liable for damages agfainst deadbeat homeowners in his state for doing what was perfectly legal for another contractor to do in another state.

I am NOT a lawyer, but I would strongly consider getting someone that really knows their legal feces to be in on the birth of this project if its anything more than chit chat.

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mdshunk

Maybe we could make it so that any person accessing the database would need to know the secret knock and the secret handshake.

Mike Finley

Or you guys could just get together and purchase one of the failing web sites already trying to do this?

Grumpy

for $5 a person you can run a CREDIT check.

There were a few websites that usually get taken down after a year or so because of law suits from the people being listed.

Flimmer

I know we all hate the customers that don't pay, but to think that you have the luxury of asking the customer to fill out some type of credit app or something is crazy to me. I value every potential customer and know that if I did something like this they would go to MY COMPETITOR.. Now I know you will say you have walked away from customers because they just weren't worth the hassles, I have too. But to have a policy within your company that say I will do a credit check is not a good idea in my opinion.. You will alienate the good customers that have the money. I don't believe you want to have a selective method either for the fact that you would be going down a slippery slope of prejudging people based on how they look or where they live. That is not the message I would want to send to the sales staff..

The fact of the matter is this is business and you will always have to chase a few jacka$$es out there, GET USE TO IT!!! I also like Finley's idea keep the final payment low and don't continue work if they do not adhere to the scheduled payments.. I personally keep 25% on the final, but might think about a little less. What about filing a lein on their property, everyone hates to have this over their head, use this as a tool(as last resort) to get your final payment..

Also, you should have something that states you can charge interest if payment in full is not received after completion of the project!

Flimmer

copusbuilder

But I live so far from Randolph County Ill.

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AkA Richard Cranium