Getting Credit?

Adrock1895

I'm in a sticky situation where I am still waiting/trying to get payment from one of my clients and may have to use the legal process soon. Because of this I am running out of capital for my other jobs and need short-term credit asap, before March.

I have no current business credit cards, outstanding loans. What would you suggest?
credit card, line of credit??

i need minimum $20,000 limit
$100,000 limit would be best for me.

BattleRidge

what are you going to buy with this credit? If you have good credit just get a good card if you are gunna pay it back just fine.

Chris Johnson

If you have a signed contract for a large project and need cash flow try the bank (good luck) or find a money man to back you as needed...they are out there and do exist. You negotitate the terms and rate (which can be slightly higher than expected).

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Chris

platinumLLC

If you have signed jobs why are you using your capital to finance them? This could be part of the reason that you got burned in the first place. What kind of payment plan do you have in your contracts? You should at least be getting the cost of materials up front. Sometimes you have to put up a little capital to get the job done but you never should be out that much that you need 100,000 dollars or even 20000 to finance your customers project.

If you are a new business it is hard to establish credit, especially right now. It will mostly depend on your personal credit. The banks have seen to many guys trying to start a business and failing so they like to see an established company before they give out money.

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http://www.platinumcontractingappleton.com

Bodger

I have credit cards and business line of credit. But as was posted earlier, how did someone get into you for so much money? Strict payment schedules and progress payments are what capitalizes my projects, and they are paid by the person I'm doing the work for.

Imagine doing this on every job and they overlap...you could have a hundred grand laid out and be at risk for all of it.

Apply for a busines line of credit, see what they say. But I would not recommend letting anyone get ahead of you for any major bucks.

I've had a-hole homeowners try to use the final payment as leverage to get me to do things for free at the end of a project. Fugeddaboutit.
Rememeber Paulie in Goodfellas?..."F$*k YOU! PAY ME!

Brickie

Why are you waiting/trying to get payment from your client?? What are the contract terms??? How can you be out of capital for other jobs????

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“Ron Paul is one of the outstanding leaders fighting for a stronger national defense. As a former Air Force officer, he knows well the needs of our armed forces, and he always puts them first. We need to keep him fighting for our country.” – Ronald Reagan

Adrock1895

I don't work directly for the end customer, its a large hierarchy of contractors, developers, financiers. Its a large project 3-5 years, a luxury residential community, I get paid in completed sections. After i finish a section, i fax them the invoice, its inspected, and its moved to their finance department which handle payments. The process takes weeks, at most 2 months, this is why i lost money, since i still have to continue working on different sections to finish before deadlines. Everything was fine until now, where i haven't received payments for 4 months, so I pulled out and everytime I contact them, their accountant tells me they're sending payments, but i don't receive.

The main problem i have is, I still have to pay material suppliers no matter what, im completely dependent on them for my other projects.

Bodger

In your contracts, do you have a clause outlining for the client what your re-course will be in the event of non-payment on their part?
And did they sign off on it?

Seems like a lot of risk to take, even if you get paid by completed "section" of work. Aren't their interim payments that they had to make to prevent a stop work from you?

I'm not assailing it, I just don't get the concept. I do "sections" of work in residential, I suppose I cold call them that. I get progress payments accordingly, or the terms of the contract aren't being honored.
And then it's, F$*K YOU, PAY ME!

Brickie

You need to start slapping them with liens asap before time runs out.

__________________
“Ron Paul is one of the outstanding leaders fighting for a stronger national defense. As a former Air Force officer, he knows well the needs of our armed forces, and he always puts them first. We need to keep him fighting for our country.” – Ronald Reagan

modterry

Go to the top, call the president. Explain you are in business too, be polite and firm. Ask what has changed in their operation. Try to ask why payments are delayed longer than usual. You may learn more from what is not said. Go into the sales model and talk to the sales staff. Find out how many units have sold recently , under contract. I bet you that the sales have slowed to a trickle, bank may be looking for reason to pull out. What this means to you - you may be in trouble. You may have to stop - but, this may stop your losses before it is too late.

I thought we were in ok shape for this year. A project ran over budget - ( bid it well over a year earlier ) did not count on gas pricing, material increasing as much, and customer shorting us. I delivered the project anyway, thought we had 3 more in the pipeline and lost all three to the market conditions, - now I am scrambling to pay off our suppliers - For us it is managable but, you need to analyze whether your project is at risk,

Also be proactive - you may need to really get out and sell and not be as vulnerable to one client.

Terry