How much credit to extend to work providers?

[boselecta]

I’m getting more and more work coming from either estate agents or other work providers who insist on paying at 30 days from receipt of the invoice or their next end of month payment date.

I’m finding after 2 or 3 jobs this can quickly add up to a few hundred quid.

I normally put the brakes on at about £150 and insist on payment at this point to limit my potential loss.

I’m just wondering if I’m being a bit naïve here and being too generous.

What is the maximum credit that you guys extend to work providers?

[Simon46]

Re: How much credit to extend to work providers?

Did that years ago. Ended up with cashflow problems on stop with suppliers. Renegotiate terms or drop out of it.

[Andy jones]

Re: How much credit to extend to work providers?

It’s a tough one, for me especially this time of year 90{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of my work is for lettings. If it wasn’t for them I’d probably go under, I just try having friendly chats with them rather than being too formal with letters, emails etc. At one point last year I was owed over £1500 from various agents which was ridiculous.

[timdowning]

Re: How much credit to extend to work providers?

But still, as long as you get it the money within 30-60 days then its still worth it.

[Martin]

Re: How much credit to extend to work providers?

Yeah this 30 day payment is an annoying fact of life but at least payment is pretty well assured. What niggles me is that tenants have to pay them 30 days in advance, so they have a good revenue stream coming in, and can keep back paying out for up to 60 days in effect. 🙁

[stratfordgirl]

Re: How much credit to extend to work providers?

I used to worry about late payment, but now just add £10 to the bill to cover the credit risk. If they are letting agents I’ve not heard of I ask for payment in advance.

[admin]

Re: How much credit to extend to work providers?

Hi Bo

We don’t offer any estate agent credit. We provide a pro forma for the call and then charge for parts once we know what is needed and then its payment whilst on site by bank transfer.Once they have worked with us for a while then it’s a 7 day payment and we haven’t been let down since.
They can’t go to tesco’s and buy their coffee or milk on 60 day terms.

But their again I am a hard nosed bas7et

Bryan

[Andy jones]

Re: How much credit to extend to work providers?

Agree with most of the above
Agents I’ve worked with for years get a little more patience but new ones I tend to be tougher with. Annoying thing is I could condemn an appliance and send in a call out fee, they pay up front to John Lewis or whoever to get a new one but make me wait a month

[EFS]

Re: How much credit to extend to work providers?

I only work for one high end letting agent now and payment comes on the day that rent is collected and the property owner gets the balance.
Sometimes payment is within a week but never over 30 days.
I have another private landlord with 60 plus properties and he is on 7 day terms.
Late payers have been dropped.
Some of these agents however are scumbags and need to be treated accordingly.

Steve

[SAMURI]

Re: How much credit to extend to work providers?

Go careful as some estate agents try not to pay for the job if the tenant fails to pay the rent.

Bob

[pmb]

Re: How much credit to extend to work providers?

I do work for 30 to 40 letting agents, 30 days is to much to expect,
We are happy for up to 60 days, some will pay within days, others will Take 30 to 60 days, we do charge a lot more for invoice work
Which makes it worthwhile.
They don’t all pay the same price,
we had a few who were taking to long to pay, so now those get a invoice with an extra £15 on the labour charge and a offer of £15 discount if paid by (date 60 days ahead.
The extra paper can be a problem if you don’t keep on top of it.

[Brendarran]

Re: How much credit to extend to work providers?

I carry out a lot of work on commercial premises and in holiday homes. I also extend credit to anyone on the island as banking can be fun at times especially if they live out in the sticks (only about6 cash machines on the whole island and 2 that are 24 hours). I offer 15 days credit to everyone but if they let me down once its cash from then on. I would never dream of operating the way I do on the mainland. The great thing about island life is the community aspect. Most islanders wouldn’t dream of trying to get out of paying a bill. The down side is I am constantly owed around the £1500 mark from various sources, which was difficult at first but now I just factor that into my finances. I have only ever had one person not pay and I have told them never to call me again. They have to now rely on mainland repairers that charge a premium to come over on the ferry. Their loss, not mine!!

[Author]

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