{"id":1825,"date":"2019-02-06T16:23:56","date_gmt":"2019-02-06T21:23:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/?p=1825"},"modified":"2019-02-06T16:24:10","modified_gmt":"2019-02-06T21:24:10","slug":"payday-how-to-get-paid-what-youre-owed-every-time-in-your-construction-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/payday-how-to-get-paid-what-youre-owed-every-time-in-your-construction-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Payday: How to Get Paid What You’re Owed Every Time in Your Construction Business"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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There’s nothing like putting in a grueling week of work with nothing to show for your effort. Sounds like a bad dream, right? If you’re in the construction business, you’ll know it’s anything but a dream. Subcontractors know all too well that late payments are the norm<\/a> in the construction business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For your business, that “late payment” status quo ends now. There’s no reason to accept late payments as “normal” when in any other industry they aren’t just frowned upon but a great way to lose business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Today, we’re showing you how to make sure contractors pay their bills. With a little hard work and diligent planning, you can ensure your wallet is full and business is booming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting Paid in the Construction Business<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Getting paid in the construction business is difficult for a number of reasons. If you’re looking for a straightforward answer, you won’t find one. It’s easy to blame contractors for being greedy, and while that’s sometimes true, it’s not always the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fact is, contractors deal with supply chain issues, time-management issues, personnel problems, and more. Sometimes your payment is late for a reason while other times greed really is the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatever the problem, it needs a solution. After all, you need to get paid! With a few tips, we’ll have you well on your way to on-time payments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quality Work Matters<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

First thing’s first, you won’t get paid on time if you aren’t doing quality work. In fact, you’ll eventually start to lose business. And when we say quality work, we really mean exceptional quality work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, late payments are a reality of the construction business. It’s not fair, but for now, the only way to beat the system is to exist within the system. You have to fight fire with fire, so to speak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Providing high-quality services ensures contractors can’t ignore your work. If you’re the best they can hire, it’s only natural they’ll want to keep you happy. Congratulations, you’ve created leverage. The better work you do, the more you can pressure contractors to pay you on time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Send a Preliminary Notice<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Preliminary notices are standard practice for contractors, but not for many subcontractors. That’s because the notices often aren’t required by law. However, sending a notice is one of the best ways to get paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The legal reasons you should file a preliminary notice are different than the practical reasons. Legally, the notices are the first step to protecting your lien rights in the event that a contractor doesn’t pay you at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of the lien implications, contractors take preliminary notices seriously. They use them to document who to petition for a lien waiver and which subcontractors have lien rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, filing a preliminary notice shows you’re responsible and professional, and it puts your payment request at the top of the “to-do” list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lien Waivers Leverage<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Lien waivers are a big deal to contractors. They’re a piece of paper that says “we’re legally waiving our right to sue you.” That’s a pretty big deal when tens of thousands of dollars (or more) are involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, contractors want lien waivers. Not only do they provide legal protections, but they’re also viewed as respectful. After all, if you trust the contractor, you’ll waive your right to sue, right? Contractors know you might contact Verhaeghe Law Office<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can use those lien waivers as leverage to get paid. For instance, send the contractor your preliminary notice and invoice (we’ll get to those soon) with a lien waiver attached.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, don’t fill out your section of the waiver. By sending the blank waiver, you’re saying “I’m willing to waive my lien rights,” but only if you get paid first. Do know that if you want to maintain credibility, you’ll eventually need to fill out the waiver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Organization and Invoices<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This goes without saying, but you need to . Your business should document every purchase, every expenditure, and every man-hour. You need to account for every single cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What’s the point of diligent note keeping? Invoicing. Sending a complete invoice dramatically increases your chance of an on-time payment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contractors are trying to make a profit too. They’re interested in making as much money as possible and want to account for every dollar. An invoice shows the contractor a detailed breakdown of each individual cost you’ve incurred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think of an invoice as another form of trust building. You’re showing the contractor why they owe the money they owe while the contractor can see that you’re an organized professional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Combine a detailed invoice with the preliminary notice and a blank lien waive, and you’re well on your way to filling your wallet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Documents Sound Great, But I’m Not a Lawyer!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

That’s true, and you don’t need to contact a lawyer to send a detailed invoice or even a lien waiver. You can create all of these documents on your own or get them from a reputable source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s where we can help you out. Our website is dedicated to helping businesses find the document templates they need to succeed. Whether it’s lien waivers or invoice documents, we have you covered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We specialize in high-quality templates that work well in any professional setting. Our templates can save you time and money. Plus, they’ll free up your schedule and improve your productivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the motto goes, work smarter, not harder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you’re having trouble finding what you need, and we’ll get to work on your documents. We would love to help your construction business create whatever documents you need to succeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There’s nothing like putting in a grueling week of work with nothing to show for your effort. Sounds like a bad dream, right? If you’re in the construction business, you’ll know it’s anything but a dream. Subcontractors know all too well that late payments are the norm in the construction business. For your business, that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1825"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1825"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1827,"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1825\/revisions\/1827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}