# Can i get you next week?



## thesidingpro (Jun 7, 2007)

jlsconstruction said:


> Half the times the guys owe me more money then they made by Friday.


Yep, On the other side of the coin I get guys asking for advances all the time.


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## disenchantedsub (Jul 10, 2012)

Yeah I know, can always send the wife back to work if it doesn't work out!  and I've never asked for an advance !


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## eastend (Jan 24, 2006)

I've gone without at times to make sure our employees got paid. Some contractors string along their employees because they don't want to take personal responsibility for their obligations. Totally not right.

It sort of like GC's not paying their subs, and stringing them along too. I think if you hire someone to work for you, you better be damn sure you can pay them when due; or you have no business hiring them in the first place.

Like another poster said- there is almost always a way to get the funds, unless you are a total deadbeat.


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## Inner10 (Mar 12, 2009)

jlsconstruction said:


> Half the times the guys owe me more money then they made by Friday.


The guys that always ask for a few bucks in advance can never seem to catch up.


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## WilsonRMDL (Sep 4, 2007)

Had a company I worked for start bouncing checks. Mine kept clearing while many would have theirs bounce for weeks. Mine finally bounced and I moved on to another company. 

That was 10 months ago, heard that last Friday he shut the doors and nobody got paid for the previous weeks work, glad I got out when I did


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## BFD (Jan 31, 2014)

When our old boss used to screw us sometimes he would come to me and the other younger guy on the crew and ask that we hold off on cashing our checks until monday because he only had money for one of us to get paid and the older guy had a family and bills to pay for (I guess the house I rented and my 3 vehicles don't count as bills because I didn't have any kids yet?)


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## Inner10 (Mar 12, 2009)

BFD said:


> When our old boss used to screw us sometimes he would come to me and the other younger guy on the crew and ask that we hold off on cashing our checks until monday because he only had money for one of us to get paid and the older guy had a family and bills to pay for (I guess the house I rented and my 3 vehicles don't count as bills because I didn't have any kids yet?)


If someone ever tells you that drive directly to the bank and get it certified!


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## jponto07 (Jan 27, 2013)

disenchantedsub said:


> Wow all the horror stories from other guys. I've never not gotten it, but it's annoying when your depending on it. Formula and diapers ain't cheap!!


**Truth!


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## cwatbay (Mar 16, 2010)

As the owner of my firm, I always get paid last. And last means anywhere from 30 to 90 days after the job.....unless it's residential. 

The other thing is.....if it's an out of the way project, then I'll take guys in my vehicle. The pay starts once we get on site. But if I have to stop by a supplier, or, some other delay, then the guys still get paid from when we were supposed to start, rather than when we finally arrived.


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## BFD (Jan 31, 2014)

Inner10 said:


> If someone ever tells you that drive directly to the bank and get it certified!


Loyalty bit me in the ass a lot when I was younger. The good thing is it was a hell of a lesson. When I left the only thing I got screwed out of was my vacation pay that he refused to give. I went on vaca and he was supposed to pay me before I left, no money. Said he would put it in my account. Got home and its not there. Go to work and he says he decided to redo how he pays vaca (after 11 years with him) and I now earned it as the year went on, so instead of 2 weeks I only had 2 days, but because he was nice, he was going to pay me for 3 because I was at 2 1/2 days. He left to do estimates and never came back and I never saw him again. I worked my 8 and went home and looked for another job


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## Chris G (May 17, 2006)

It goes both ways for me. a couple times a year I give advances. About once a year I need to ask who can wait 2 or 3 days. It happens. I don't like doing it, but it is never longer than 3 days. I pay weekly, if I paid bi-monthly I probably would never have to do it. In a seasonal business like mine, cash flow is tight in the spring.


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## jlsconstruction (Apr 26, 2011)

SDel Prete said:


> Sounds like you need better employees


If I could find them i would have them. 

It's the lower level guys that seem to do it. Guys that make over 20 an hour usually are all right. I have no problem helping someone out occasionally but it gets old when it's every day.

My laborer had $70 paid to him yesterday on a 32 hour pay check. He makes $12 an hour.


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## TNTRenovate (Aug 19, 2010)

I understand it happening once. I don't know of any of us that had paid out more than came in and was just waiting for the checks to clear or come in. But that should be the exception and not the rule.

A company that is always behind will rarely actually catch up. They will cycle through a ton of help and will always owe someone.

There was a tough time last year (Jan and Feb) where I had to put all materials on a card. I was out of work for nearly 6 weeks (with the exception of the small one or two day job) and in order to make sure I paid everyone first, I used credit for materials. Fast Forward to this month and those cards just all got paid off. I won't let that happen again. I lose sleep at night being in debt like that. So the next couple of jobs will have a good portion of the profits go into a separate account so that I always have plenty of working capital.

It's tough when you start out, so make sure you have enough jobs lined up to keep the cash flow growing.


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## overanalyze (Dec 28, 2010)

I would never do that to an employee. It shows a huge lack of professionalism and organization. Get out now!


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## huggytree (Nov 3, 2013)

tell your boss to get a line of credit to smooth over his lack of money today or id leave

its now how a business should run...I always have enough in reserve to pay all my debts weekly.....and I have a line of credit for emergencies that ive never used


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## bob hutson (Mar 16, 2013)

I know its tough but try to save back as much as you can, and get out as soon as you can. I was working for a house flipper he was into me for $1600, he said do you want a couple hundred to get by? I said no thats just gonna confuse the judge  He got me paid in 2 weeks. if they cant pay or dont care about employes move on to someone that does..imop


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## eddy051 (Sep 12, 2013)

jlsconstruction said:


> If I could find them i would have them.
> 
> It's the lower level guys that seem to do it. Guys that make over 20 an hour usually are all right. I have no problem helping someone out occasionally but it gets old when it's every day.
> 
> My laborer had $70 paid to him yesterday on a 32 hour pay check. He makes $12 an hour.


Can I ask what type of catastrophic screw up happened that you felt he owed you over $600?

This thread and a combination of you jsconstruction sound a lot like my previous boss, except he was blaming small mistakes as the reason why the company is not profitable and he cannot pay us this week. Except half the mistakes were his fault when ordering materials, or trying to rush us around when it was his fault we were behind to begin with.

So whatd' this guy do? The only thing that could warrant withholding his whole paycheck is a deliberate act of aggression.


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## jlsconstruction (Apr 26, 2011)

eddy051 said:


> Can I ask what type of catastrophic screw up happened that you felt he owed you over $600? This thread and a combination of you jsconstruction sound a lot like my previous boss, except he was blaming small mistakes as the reason why the company is not profitable and he cannot pay us this week. Except half the mistakes were his fault when ordering materials, or trying to rush us around when it was his fault we were behind to begin with. So whatd' this guy do? The only thing that could warrant withholding his whole paycheck is a deliberate act of aggression.


He asked for advances. So I should give him money, and not take it out of his check? I've never in my life deducted money from a pay check for someone making a mistake. My company makes the profits, and takes the losses like it should. I think I've made that very clear on this forum what I think about people that charge people for broken tools and mistakes. So please don't accuse me of being like all these scum bag hacks, thanks


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## jlsconstruction (Apr 26, 2011)

And how did you get $600 out of $384?


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## Calidecks (Nov 19, 2011)

jlsconstruction said:


> He asked for advances. So I should give him money, and not take it out of his check? I've never in my life deducted money from a pay check for someone making a mistake. My company makes the profits, and takes the losses like it should. I think I've made that very clear on this forum what I think about people that charge people for broken tools and mistakes. So please don't accuse me of being like all these scum bag hacks, thanks


Looks to me like you were being a nice guy by loaning him money. I've had the same issues, once you loan them money it becomes an ongoing problem, they spend their whole check on paying you back and end up perpetuating the problem.


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## eddy051 (Sep 12, 2013)

jlsconstruction said:


> He asked for advances. So I should give him money, and not take it out of his check? I've never in my life deducted money from a pay check for someone making a mistake. My company makes the profits, and takes the losses like it should. I think I've made that very clear on this forum what I think about people that charge people for broken tools and mistakes. So please don't accuse me of being like all these scum bag hacks, thanks


Ah yes the guy that's always in debt, that's annoying.

My mistake sorry :whistling


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## D.E.P.S. (Aug 3, 2013)

You better move on "disenchantedsub". No good can come from this clown you are working for.


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## aaron_a (Dec 18, 2013)

The last guy I worked for got like that at the end. He was paying us 100 a week and getting us the balance later. That lasted for about two weeks until we came in one morning and he wa so excited to show us the new shaper he bought over the weekend, but still couldn't pay us.

I went out on my own the next week. Now he's out of business I hear.


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## disenchantedsub (Jul 10, 2012)

I've always gotten paid eventually, it just sucks having to wait. I could understand if we were scraping by as a company, but we did about 2mil gross last year as a three man company (boss works mabey 15 hours in field weekly) High end remodeling and new construction. I make about 40k yr, I feel like my check should be there on pay day. I make less at my second job, but it's direct deposit  Well got to get my nose back in the IBC, test in 2 weeks!


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## BFD (Jan 31, 2014)

aaron_a said:


> The last guy I worked for got like that at the end. He was paying us 100 a week and getting us the balance later. That lasted for about two weeks until we came in one morning and he wa so excited to show us the new shaper he bought over the weekend, but still couldn't pay us.
> 
> I went out on my own the next week. Now he's out of business I hear.


haha I worked for a framer for a while and he was constantly broke. On our way home he'd be stopping by the GC's office and saying they were supposed to leave a check and never did. He owed me two weeks at one point and I was hanging out with one of his daughters over the weekend and she was telling me about the new leather living room set he just bought and the big screen TV. I got my money the next week, said thank and walked off the job. I am very sympathetic to honest people, lie to me once and I will leave you short handed trying to put up 20' rafters by yourself when you have a 4 month back log of work and can't get anyone else to work for you.


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## rex (Jul 2, 2007)

BFD said:


> haha I worked for a framer for a while and he was constantly broke. On our way home he'd be stopping by the GC's office and saying they were supposed to leave a check and never did. He owed me two weeks at one point and I was hanging out with one of his daughters over the weekend and she was telling me about the new leather living room set he just bought and the big screen TV. I got my money the next week, said thank and walked off the job. I am very sympathetic to honest people, lie to me once and I will leave you short handed trying to put up 20' rafters by yourself when you have a 4 month back log of work and can't get anyone else to work for you.



Hopefully you got her to pay your aggravation fee.


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## BFD (Jan 31, 2014)

LOL she made it worth it and said there would be no hard feelings if I left him high and dry as long as I didn't do the same to her :thumbup:


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## Leo G (May 12, 2005)

Had the same issues, several times. 1st one was my first job as a woodworker. I started out in the field doing BS work and in a few months got into the shop. After about 5 years he must have run into a rough patch or was spending more money than he could afford.

He got 6 weeks behind when I finally told him enough, pay me. Working for him drained my bank account. He asked how much it would take for me to stay. I told him all of it and then a steady paycheck. He offered me some money and told me he wouldn't let me quit. I always wondered how he planned on doing that. I found another job at another shop. I stuck the state on him and got my money, 1/2 pay for 12 weeks.

The next guy was a work of art. I was there for 8 months. His brother and partner quit 2 months before I did. After that I was the punching bag. F that. Found another job, I was to run the place. This guy would come in every day with stop watches and notepads trying to make his shop more efficient. He would time one operation from beginning to end and then assume that's the way it would go day in and out. Not figuring breaks and other slow downs. Then he would rearange the shop again and again every other day until I had had it. He was trying to make things faster by changing the way we did things every other day. So everyone was always lost in their tasks. I told him to stay out of my shop. He argued with me that it was his shop. I told him in no uncertain terms that he wasn't allowed to come onto the floor of the shop unless I told him he could.

Amazingly he obeyed for a few weeks. One of the things he didn't mention to anyone was he was up to his eyeballs in debt and making poor deals with companies to just get the business. Went to work one day and the doors were shut. At least I got my tools out before. I got my social security report that year only to find out he didn't pay into my fund, but of course he was taking out of my check. Bastid.

Then I got another job in a shop and it went well. Up until the point when they laid everyone off without notice. I found a kitchen to make and about 1/2 way through they called me back/ Told them I was busy but if they wanted I could work 1/2 days for them. I did that for a week and they pulled me in and told me that I had to either work for them full time or that was it. I said OK. He said see you on Monday. And I asked him why he thought that? He gave me an ultimatum about me or him. And did I mention that he started the company up with a new name, wanted me to apply as a new employee and all my sick days and vacation time were reset to zero. No thanks.

He told me that it would be a big inconvenience to him. Awww..to F'n bad. Like it wasn't a big inconvenience to me to go from 4 bills a week to 150 from UI minus my earnings on the kitchen.

At that point I decided I was on my own. Got a job as a sub from a guy that worked at the 1st company with me. Worked my way from using his shop to renting it to moving into the shop I'm at now.

At times it's hard and I'm glad I have a wife with a paycheck. But if I don't get a paycheck I know who to blame now.


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## Inner10 (Mar 12, 2009)

Californiadecks said:


> Looks to me like you were being a nice guy by loaning him money. I've had the same issues, once you loan them money it becomes an ongoing problem, they spend their whole check on paying you back and end up perpetuating the problem.


I've had guys making good money that could never catch up, and guys making near minimum wage that always had cash. 

But like you said it becomes an ongoing problem. I don't mind really but it does make you feel like an enabler.


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## Ohio painter (Dec 4, 2011)

When i took on my first employee last year i made the decision then to use my accountant to do payroll, i just call in the hours every two weeks. I knew i didn't have the discipline to do it on time every time.
My employee works hard for me and the very least i can do it pay him in full every pay day. All subs get paid in full every time.
It's the basics of running a successful business.


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## MarkJames (Nov 25, 2012)

It's Monday so "next week" is here.


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## blacktop (Oct 28, 2012)

Inner10 said:


> I've had guys making good money that could never catch up, and guys making near minimum wage that always had cash.
> 
> .


I talked to tradesman not long ago that had one of his helpers ask him if he had a safe deposit box..The boss said yeah . Why? The helper said he had some cash that he didn't want to put in the bank. The boss told him to bring with you tomorrow and we'll take it to the bank.
The next day the boss asked him if he brought the cash with him...He said yeah it's under my seat .. It was $35.000 Money he had saved from doing side jobs. The boss said WTF man!! I met the helper a few times ..He is one hard working sob!!!


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## jproffer (Feb 19, 2005)

blacktop said:


> I talked to tradesman not long ago that had one of his helpers ask him if he had a safe deposit box..The boss said yeah . Why? The helper said he had some cash that he didn't want to put in the bank. The boss told him to bring with you tomorrow and we'll take it to the bank.
> The next day the boss asked him if he brought the cash with him...He said yeah it's under my seat .. It was $35.000 Money he had saved from doing side jobs. The boss said WTF man!! I met the helper a few times ..He is one hard working sob!!!


I'd have to REALLLLLLY trust someone to put MY $35,000 in THEIR safe deposit box. 

And by the way, I've never trusted anyone outside my family that much. :thumbsup:


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## BFD (Jan 31, 2014)

jproffer said:


> I'd have to REALLLLLLY trust someone to put MY $35,000 in THEIR safe deposit box.
> 
> And by the way, I've never trusted anyone outside my family that much. :thumbsup:


I don't even trust my family that much  Next thing you know you ask for your money back and you're told some is missing and replaced with IOUs but they swear they will pay it back over time


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## MarkJames (Nov 25, 2012)

blacktop said:


> I talked to tradesman not long ago that had one of his helpers ask him if he had a safe deposit box..The boss said yeah . Why? The helper said he had some cash that he didn't want to put in the bank. The boss told him to bring with you tomorrow and we'll take it to the bank.
> The next day the boss asked him if he brought the cash with him...He said yeah it's under my seat .. It was $35.000 Money he had saved from doing side jobs. The boss said WTF man!! I met the helper a few times ..He is one hard working sob!!!


Sounds like a b.s story or he was a heck of a trusting soul. Then again, if he got wind that somebody was angling for it, and he couldn't get his own box, maybe... 

There was a family in Philly that sold Italian water ice for years. They got clipped for something like 350K from the house.


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## KAP (Feb 19, 2011)

Can I get you next week? Sure, if you pay all the late fees, and payday loans fees I will have to incur (assuming you have no savings) to live...

That should be a couple hundred.... I am OK with next week if you are OK with paying me the extra couple of hundred, otherwise, might I suggest YOU get the payday loan or overdraft loan from the bank and pay me...


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## Okiecontractor (Oct 15, 2012)

I was 27 when I went off on my own. At 28 I had 6 employees and was making pretty good money. My bills were due with my supplier so I paid it still leaving some spending money in the bank for me and the employees. Come pay day I get a call from the bank that a check I deposited from a customer bounced. Well crap. At least I just got a first draw from a job to help me along until I remembered the bank put a 3 day hold on it so it wouldn't be available until Monday. I ran up to the bank real quick and luckily I had the credit to borrow enough to make it through payday. 

Ever since then I make sure to have extra in the bank for a month or two just for pay day because you never know.


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## Jaws (Dec 20, 2010)

The reason for this is usually a lack of discipline by thd contractor. I have a little sympathy for a guy who just started and is a couple days late, I was fortunate I had an excellent mentor who taught me at young age the most important thing a contractor could have is cash in the bank. More important than your house, truck, wifes car, whatever. You get nice stuff after you build up a big reserve. 

Its actually a double reserve. We both have an equal amount of cash in our company that doesnt leave the company as a profit. Its what we start at on Jan 1 every year. It doesnt matter how bad It gets, we may not get a check, but everyone else will. Besides the reserve we have a line of credit and supply accounts. If I cashed out I could almost pay my house off, although it isnt a great house. Lol

The next reserve ( which I havent built much in yet) is personal. Enough cash to buy a flip house or build a spec, buy a lot when I see a good deal, or a rent house. Thats how you stay self employed, by having cash. Its also how to build a rep among subs, prospective employees, suppliers and clients. 

Thats how I see it anyway. Then I will build a nice house. Business first is how I was taught, and the way I do business.


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## Calidecks (Nov 19, 2011)

Even if I didn't have cash in my business, which is no different then me having cash. I have plenty of personal cash to cover everything. If I was that low there is a huge problem to begin with. I front my business money all the time, I trust Myself to pay it back. My bookkeeper writes it down as an owners contribution. That way it doesn't get seem as income to the business. You can do that chit as a sole proprietor.


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## blacktop (Oct 28, 2012)

MarkJames said:


> Sounds like a b.s story or he was a heck of a trusting soul. Then again, if he got wind that somebody was angling for it, and he couldn't get his own box, maybe...
> 
> .


Just telling the story the way he told me. BTW..The helper was Spanish.


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