What Tradie Doesn’t Want To Get Paid On Time?

5 Ways To Get Your Customers Paying

Let’s be honest, as a tradie in business getting clients to actually pay on time can be a nightmare. It’s even worse when you have to waste valuable time chasing those payments.

So how do you cut down on the stress and management of late paying customers?

Check out our tips.

5  Ways To Get Your Customers Paying

1. Research your clients carefully

Just as a customer may do background checks on you, so should you.

Be weary of customers that call you in to “finish off” a job that some other tradie has started. Perhaps the tradie never came back because he was not paid? Drill down into what happened and why the job is only partially complete.

Particularly for larger jobs, see if they have worked with other tradies in your area and even ask for references.

2. Send invoices in stages

Why take the risk by waiting until the end of the job before asking for payment?

The best protection is to stage your payments according to the work completed.

This includes an upfront deposit, and a payment plan, which may allow you to invoice for every 10%- 30% of work completed. This should be signed off between you and the customer upfront.

3. Prioritise invoicing

Cash flow is the heart of your business no matter how big or small it is. Make sure you send out client invoices timely. The sooner you send out the invoice, the higher chances of getting paid.

4. Automate your invoice and statement process

The right invoicing software sets up automatic payment reminders saving you time and effort. A great tradie bookkeeper or accountant can help set this up for you.

5. The ultimate protection is rock solid… terms and conditions

Unfortunately the “tricky” customer that is looking to “not pay” their tradies, usually preys on tradies that do not have legal protection.

The best way to protect yourself is to include a clause in the terms and conditions about the consequences of unpaid invoices. These may include a late payment fee, interest charges, stopping further work and/or passing the account to a formal debt collection agency. Make sure the customer understand these and signs the terms and conditions.

A good lawyer can help you establish these.

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