496: Managing Payment Terms For Your Construction Business Clients

<h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style= "color: #0000ff;"><strong>This Podcast Is Episode Number 496, And It's About Managing Payment Terms For Your Construction Business Clients</strong></span></h1> <p><span style="color: #000000;">Getting paid correctly and on time by customers can be a constant frustration for business owners. Communicating your terms is the best way to ensure you aren't out of pocket – or are left chasing debtors.<br /> <br /> Investors, developers, and shrewd business people designed the most popular method - those who understand the concept of divide and conquer - it is when contractors get little or no down payment for a construction project, do all the work, including change orders, and then try to collect their money.<br /> <br /> What often happens is that contractors hate paperwork preferring to keep everything in their heads. Then when it comes time to collect their money, they have to re-sell the job and talk their customer into parting with their money.</span></p> <p>Contractors who finance working capital with their own money and whatever they can borrow will earn less profit and put themselves at a higher risk of failure than contractors who use Other People's Money (O.P.M.).<br /> <br /> <span style="font-weight: bold; color: #0600ff;">The importance of setting your terms of payment</span><br /> <br /> Your payment terms let clients know when and how you expect to be paid. Setting your terms and letting your customers know your expectations gives you better control over your business and a valuable platform for resolving potential payment issues.</p> <p><span style="font-weight: bold; color: #0600ff;">Remove barriers to sale</span><br /> <br /> Setting payment terms shouldn't discourage regular or new customers from doing business with you – there are advantages to giving clients several options.<br /> <br /> Encourage clients to hire your services and remove barriers to the sale by making the purchase as easy as possible through a variety of ways to pay, including:</p> <ul