Five ways to get paid on time

Late payments are one of the major threats to your cashflow and professional management of payment schedules is vital to the success of your business.

Cash is king, more so than ever in the current financial climate, when borrowing costs are increasing.

At ProQS Chartered Quantity Surveyors, we help construction businesses with cost planning, project finance and contract administration. Here are our five top tips for ensuring you get paid on time:

1.????Make sure you have a contract in place before starting work: Both parties must stick to their obligations and that means your client has to pay up.

2.????Develop a robust payment schedule: It’s a legal requirement to have provision for regular payments in your contract. Our experienced quantity surveying team can help you to ensure your payment schedules give you sufficient elbow room to cover operating costs and ordering materials in advance.

3.????Ensure information is clear, concise and accurate: When we prepare applications for payment, we itemise the work completed and the progress against the activities schedule. We also show any variations – with supporting documents explaining any additional costs and time implications. Your customer needs a clear understanding of the work completed, the materials you are charging for and any variations from the schedule.

4.????Make sure your invoices are correctly addressed and adhere to contract timescales: That means invoices are addressed to the right person in the right division of the company and include purchase order numbers when required. Include clear instructions about how the invoice should be paid. Write to the client if payment is late, don’t let them off the hook - you haven’t agreed credit terms.

5.????Build a strong relationship with the client and provide a good service: Building rapport and a positive working relationship with your clients makes it much easier when discussing payments. Make sure you communicate and resolve any issues or variations in time to include them in your application for payment, in order to maintain your cash flow management. When ProQS works with you, we too will build a relationship with your customer.

Cashflow issues are known to be one of the biggest causes of business failures, make sure you have and adhere to a robust payment schedule.

For cost planning, project finance and all your quantity surveying needs, talk to ProQS. Call us today on 01206 654003.