# Demand for payment letter



## wallmaxx (Jun 18, 2007)

greg24k said:


> I understand what you saying, and you should be getting paid as the job progress.
> 
> If I am doing one house, and you come to dig my foundation, after you done, I will write you a check.
> 
> ...


Good for you. It should be this way.

I have floated 30 days of work and right now its 18 days past due (30 + 18 = 48 days) because the GC hasn't received money from his customers. I can't afford to be the bank for these projects. 

Thanks for your posts.


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## WoodShop (Feb 21, 2009)

When I write contracts, not only is there a clear written agreement on when and how I am paid, but I don't forget that line about reasonable attorney's fees.


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## greg24k (May 19, 2007)

wallmaxx said:


> Good for you. It should be this way.
> 
> I have floated 30 days of work and right now its 18 days past due (30 + 18 = 48 days) because the GC hasn't received money from his customers. I can't afford to be the bank for these projects.
> 
> Thanks for your posts.


That is exactly my point, how can we stay in business if we don't get paid for the work we do. If any GC call a contractor to do work, and he can not pay him until he gets the money from a customer, that GC does not know how to run a business and should look for a different type of work. What if a customer don't pay him? What is he gonna tell you? "I got stiffed so you screwed also"... That is no way to conduct business. If I do sub work for someone, like a kitchen install or do a house of trim, I ask how they pay up-front...if they tell me within 15 days I will put in my contract "time of essence" within that time period. If they have a problem with that or they tell me "will pay you when we get the money"...I rather stay home and eat my bread without the butter my Friends :no:


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## WisePainter (Sep 16, 2008)

When the binding contract is being stretched out by the GC I like to pay personal visits to any location the suckah may be hiding. It also pays to know where the d00d lives, that always achieves results.
Letters, in the trash and quickly forgotten.


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## DQM (Mar 7, 2009)

greg24k said:


> I understand what you saying, and you should be getting paid as the job progress.
> 
> If I am doing one house, and you come to dig my foundation, after you done, I will write you a check.
> 
> ...


If you are looking for mason I will be happy to bid some work for you.
Ive have had to wait 30/60 sometimes 90 days for money


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## greg24k (May 19, 2007)

DQM said:


> If you are looking for mason I will be happy to bid some work for you.
> Ive have had to wait 30/60 sometimes 90 days for money


Thanks for the offer, my mason been with me almost 30 years, if he has plans to retire, I hope not be before me.:thumbsup:


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## DQM (Mar 7, 2009)

ModernStyle said:


> *Nicky Santoro*: I think in all fairness, I should explain to you exactly what it is that I do. For instance tomorrow morning ill get up nice and early, take a walk down over to the bank and... walk in and see and uh... if you don't have my money for me, I'll... crack your f***in' head wide-open in front of everybody in the bank. And just about the time that I'm comin' out of jail, hopefully, you'll be coming out of your coma. And guess what? I'll split your f***in' head open again. 'Cause I'm f***in' stupid. I don't give a f*** about jail. That's my business. That's what I do.


Thank you ModernStyle for my new collection letter


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## Mr. Mike (Dec 27, 2008)

When you do work for a large gc the only contract is theirs and it states that when they get paid you will get paid. I won't work for all gc's because they don't all like my payment terms.


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## Wolfgang (Nov 16, 2008)

I shower twice daily. I have never seen the word bank or loan company tatooed anywhere on my body. I GC a few remodels every year and pay my subs when they request. The GC's I work for do the same for me. We've got a good group of trades people and have worked together for years. It's all about mutual respect for each other as friends, and businessmen. I would hesitate to work for any other GC who didnt respect my rights to timely payment. There are a few large corporations I do work for and I am always paid in 30 days with no percentage holdback.


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## JSC (Jul 10, 2008)

greg24k said:


> That is exactly my point, how can we stay in business if we don't get paid for the work we do. If any GC call a contractor to do work, and he can not pay him until he gets the money from a customer, that GC does not know how to run a business and should look for a different type of work. What if a customer don't pay him? What is he gonna tell you? "I got stiffed so you screwed also"... That is no way to conduct business. If I do sub work for someone, like a kitchen install or do a house of trim, I ask how they pay up-front...if they tell me within 15 days I will put in my contract "time of essence" within that time period. If they have a problem with that or they tell me "will pay you when we get the money"...I rather stay home and eat my bread without the butter my Friends :no:


 
"Pay when paid" clauses are all about the GC putting all the risk on the subs. It also allows a GC to leverage the hell out of his finances. If something goes south, including any bad blood that develops between the owner and GC, the subs suffer the consequences. Try that one on your supplier or bank.


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## greg24k (May 19, 2007)

JSC said:


> "Pay when paid" clauses are all about the GC putting all the risk on the subs. It also allows a GC to leverage the hell out of his finances. If something goes south, including any bad blood that develops between the owner and GC, the subs suffer the consequences. Try that one on your supplier or bank.


Everybody wants to protect themselves. BUT, If I do work as a sub, I make the rules how I will work and how I need to get paid, if I don't like how someone else would like to pay, I will walk. 

Contractor is the one who must set rules for himself how far he will go before he stops. Same like when you play Black Jack, you play by the rules, you hit when you have to hit, you stay when you have to stay and you will always make money. 

Here is what happened to my buddy. Builder told him his company pays every 30 days, he said No problem, the job is huge, but his problem was he did not counted how much work he could do in that 30 days and how much GC be in to him by the end of 30 days. This was a track job he provided labor only to install trim, so they did a 2,500 SF house complete in one day 4 guys for $1,200-$1500 and they had about 10 houses a month. Thats 12k-15k every 30 days. Now the GC got another development, bigger homes he got 10 more houses there, he got more people now he pulls about 30k-40k a month. Now one month GC told him he is waiting on some closings, or on money transfers what ever, I will give you 10k and the rest with the next check. He didn't raise hell, he got enough to cover payroll, there is 500 more houses left and a few more developments ready to start, not a problem. Now he does 20 more houses by the end of the month he owes him almost 60k+, now he got a 22k check the rest got pushed again. a few more times like this, he was owed over 100k and the builder went belly up. The reason he didn't stop, the work was there, the payroll was covered, much more houses are coming up, and he saw the big $$$ signs. Who knew... Much more guys I know who took a beating on that job because they left theirs principles behind, the rules and common sense, all they could see is big $$$ and they all got screwed. 

Like I said before, I rather eat bread without the butter, then chase someone and look to collect my money that came from the yield of my sweat and labor.

Good luck guys :thumbsup:


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