Building trades: Don’t let payment problems put a block on your business
The construction industry and related trades have been going through a tough time.
House-building has slowed this year and new housing projects are thin on the ground.
Meanwhile, costs for the industry are rising, partly because skilled workers are in short supply.
A government report has called for radical action by ministers, including tax and planning measures to encourage more companies to build properties specifically for rent.
In Nottingham and the East Midlands, we know of plenty of suppliers to the trade who are experiencing the problem at first-hand as their customers are slow to pay or failing to pay at all.
Reasons include:
- payments from government to households generating solar power have been cut, leading to a large drop in the number of solar panels being installed in homes
- competition in the market is driving costs down and squeezing profits
- some large building companies are issuing pay-less notices, meaning they cover, for example, only £45,000 of a £50,000 bill.
Some desperate directors are even shoring up their businesses with their own money or using the equity in their own homes to guarantee bank loans while they wait for customers to meet their bills.
Construction is one of our key areas so if you’re a supplier to the construction business and find yourself struggling to get paid, we can probably help.
We can:
- help sort out short-term cash flow issues
- mediate between you and your client and help agree a course of action
- put you in touch with construction lawyers with detailed expertise suited to your type of work
After that we can help you to review how your contracts and terms of trading are drawn up to eliminate any loopholes.
We can also look at things like the account opening process you have for your clients. Some companies, for example, don’t even note down the physical address of their customers in their records but rely on a web or email address!
We have a strong track record in this area and many of our clients are referred to us by others with whom we have worked for many years.
If you’d like to talk about a construction trade payment problem, contact us at [email protected]