State Job, Getting Paid

ELM

I did some sub work on a prevailing wage job at a state university- Ohio. Now I am trying to get paid from the gc. The sparkies on the job said I could go to the University to put heat on the gc or to actually get paid. The gc may have been paid out already. It's been over a month since my work was completed.
Honestly, I don't work a lot of commercial jobs. Any insight?

Thanks

THINKPAINTING

We painted the iron grates and rails that surround the famous Plymouth Rock in August...............still waiting to get paid...

Has the GC been paid already, dont know......

All state and fed work is very risky unless its sub file bidding but even then no sure thing you will get paid.

60-90 days is the norm, plus when did they process your invoice.....

Good Luck....

Kaiser

Not knowing what you did on the job makes it tough to answer your question. Was it something that took less than a month or spread out over a few months?

Most if not all Govt jobs pay slowly. It's the Govt.

Once your work is completed and signed off by the appropriate people with the state the GC turn in a pay application. It can take up to 60 days for the GC to get paid for the work you did.


You can go to the University's Project Manager and put some heat on the GC if it is clear they have been paid for your work but it hasn't gotten to the stupid point yet and I would suggest you stir the pot just yet.

You want to work with this process and get more work in the future. It's good work

It sounds like you have a "We pay when we get paid contract"

What is your GC telling you?

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wyoming 1

My first thought was also what is the gc telling you? Call him and see whats up? I am a local elected offical for my city and big projects like are new water plant is grant money so we get say a $180000 bill from the prime contractor(your part may only be $5000of that or whatever)We donot have that much on hand so we have to turn in our paper work to state they give us 75% of that and then we match the rest. The kink in the system is the govt. at the state and federal level does not move fast. There is also cut off times for example our council meets once a month checks require two signitures and pay out vouchers require three so if our meeting is on the 12th and you turn your bill in on the 13th guess what? Then at the next meeting if the right I isn't dotted and T crossed it gets kicked out. and thats not a just to be mean thing if its not done right the entity appling for the grant can get in trouble. Get the scoop from the gc but don't wait to long to take action after 90 days your options for colection are limited.

nap

Makes no diff if the GC has been paid or not unless that is in your contract. Speaking of your contract; what does it say about payment schedule? That is the controlling document for your pay. If yoou are not getting the money as required, you can file a lein against the building. That usually wakes up the owner and they start pushing from the other side.

may not make any diff as to what or if the GC was paid. ELM's contract is most likely with the GC so GC owes when contract says they owe, regardless of what owner does, unless of course it is stated that sub gets paid after owner pays GC.

ELM

GC is not answering my calls. The work was was some drywall finishing, prime, paint, door hanging and flooring installation. Our agreement is that I would be paid already. I know the GC pretty well which makes this better and worse.

AintNoFun

i would call the "owner" (university) find out who is handling the project on their end. If there is an engineer on the project call them and see what the status of your work is, has it been accepted, submitted for payment. If it has been accepted get it in writing! Also while your on the phone with the owner find out about the GCs bond information, get all that ready so you have something to go after in case this mope doesn't pay you..

ELM

Thanks for all the input, I do think I will get paid eventually but I want some options and I don't think he wants the customer to know about this. GC's have to submit payroll reports and everyone has to earn their respective prevailing wages. Paying them nothing would be a problem I think.

Ivinni

Never a good sign.

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its not going to get better with straps, or new footings or even aroma therapy.

buildpinnacle

My subs get paid whether I get paid or not. Any other way and you won't have top quality subs working for you for long. We agree on schedule we both can live with in a written contract on every single job. On small work, we use a written work order type contract, but it still has terms and conditions and spells out when they get paid. GC's that live off of their subs money make the rest of us look bad.

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Ivinni

Are you commercial work?
If so, you are one in a million and I would go WAY out of my way to make sure you were taken care of.

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its not going to get better with straps, or new footings or even aroma therapy.

buildpinnacle

Ivinni,

We do both residential and commercial. I set all of my projects up on a pay schedule with progress billing. I do not do percentage billing on multi trade jobs as it gives the client way too many opportunities to question what percentage is what, where they think we are, etc when I hand them invoices. I take a 10% deposit as a retainer at the minute the contract is signed and break the progress billing into payments due after Demo, rough framing, completed roof, rough ele, rough plm, etc. At no given time is the customer ahead of me. If the billing goes as planned with no problems until rough electrical, I have the monies to pay the electrician for his work even if I don't get my check. I shut down the job within 48 hours of my invoice being submitted and pull my tools after five days if until my invoices are current.

Some contractors pre-bill for trade work on this type of progress billing which is even more guarantee we are not operating as banks. I leave an average of 5-10% on my last invoice for the completed work. I go way out of my way to sit down and look my clients in the eyes before every project starts to make sure they are comfortable with writing large checks, remind them I am not financing their job, explain the payment process, and most importantly reiiterate this is not showfriends it is showbusiness. I couple this with the fact that I will always be blunt and upfront, but they will always know the direction I am facing. 99% appreciate this, 1% get offended. I am not opposed to making lifelong friends in this business, but I make sure we all know that is a secondary part of this process. They are hiring our firm for our expertise, quality, and ability and we don't take our business lightly.

The exception to the above is for small jobs such as a residential re-roof, maintentance type project, etc. Most are billed at 50% at materials delivery and balance upon completion. T/M work on small jobs are billed at completion. I know there are roofing companies that advertise no billing until the job is complete to show financial stability. I don't have a problem with that, but when encountered with the question I simply am up front with them and let them know that I run a business and my business makes money...however, why would I use my money to purchase their materials. No other sales transaction in the world lets you get your product before you pay for outside of financing issues. Needless to say, I do no government work and do not work for other GC's. I have never agreed with the billing and have seen many subs get put out of business b/c they did not get paid for the work they did.

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buildpinnacle

ELM,

Let me preface this post by stating for all that I am not a sub, I am a Contractor.

IMHO, I would start showing up wherever this contractor is...home, office, home depot, jobsite and put the pressure on him to pay you. If that doesn't work, go to the owner. For some reason, we have made up our own set of ethics or rules in this business about collecting our money. You don't want to get the GC in trouble with the Owner, etc. I say BS. If there are no other circumstances involved you are not telling us and you are justly do you money and they are not within the agreed terms....get your money. You did the work! Don't worry about your relationships. How long can you stay in business by working for people that pay you on such stretched out terms anyway. I don't even want to get into the value of 30,60, or 90 day monies vs. their value when they are invoiced. Contractors pay who puts the heat on them and they certainly want to protect that client/contractor relationship. He is wrong, not you....assuming there are no intangibles.

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ELM

After some frank discussion with the GC, I am getting some money this week and some more next week. This is not due to the economy or a slow down of any sort, just bad management on the part of the gc. Thanks again for all the input.

buildpinnacle

Conrats ELM. I have made those mistakes as a GC and will freely admit it. We all learn from our business mistakes and it's easy to come across as a 'no mistakes' contractor on this forum as we only input the words we want. My past mistakes managing 'my subs' money is why I have the policies I have now. If they do their job, as agreed, you don't hold their money. I don't even hold 10%. It's my responsibility to inpect their work and if they are done, they are done.

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vt framer

i do a lot fo commercial sub work most of what we do is on monthly requisition billed at the end of the month to be paid by the end of the next month so thirty days is pretty much the norm. i wouldent go to the customer yet if they find out theyll black list you so fast and youll never work for them again. call your project manager and establish a relationship with someone in accounting they can almost always let you know when checks are being cut and we call almost every month just to be sure. other subs onsite can give you alot of payment info. dont go to the customer unless you know theyre playing games with your money. in the state of vt they have to pay within 5 days of being paid themselves however some know how to manipulate the law by finding fault with work making changes etc. get everything in writing everything! dont trust any body and learn how to play theyre game and you should be fine.good luck