Magnum, I dont know what trade your in but in a small business cash flow is the name of the game. Its costing you money to keep money tied up (unless you have so much cash that you are financing these customers out of pocket on a 50% fee simple with The Rock as your collector). And the first time a customer balks on paying a $30,000 materials bill you will wish you had gotten the entire job ammount up front- even the cost of the little basket of wine and cheeses that make a new house warming so warm. And you may think "well I'll just "lein" on it" but my philosophy is that if you ever have to start those kinds of proceedings then you have already lost, no matter how right you are, you still lose.
Now having said all that, if your a large enough company and doing big business like Florcraft then floating a customer's bill of $2000-$3000(with intrest of course) may work. Or you can affiliate yourself with and outsource your financing to a financial company (credit company, local bank, urban development lender). And by doing this you or yours are not in jeopardy and dont lose a meal when the customer donesn't pay. You can also work a deal with the lender that your clients get a little better APR, then on the other end, charge your customer a small "handling" fee ($150,300, 500) just for setting them up with the lender- no this is not wrong, you made it available to them didnt you? You took the time to set up the contacts- you put time into helping them finance their dreams so your time must be compensated. Contact your banker and ask him to set it up. He will be all to happy to set you up a money street that leads right to his door. All you have to say is "Yes I finance" and whip out your chosen lender's credit app., just like the appliance centers do it.
Just my 2 cents, but getting burned once was enough for me while trying to be the nice guy and thinking that I needed to help the customer with financing or I wouldnt get the job.....You dont want or need that job.