Reply to: payment terms- 45 days versus 30?

[David71]

Morson and Hays are weekly.
Current project going direct via a framework - anything up to 7 weeks.
Current client hasn't set anyone up to approve my invoices so I have to wait for the frameworks 'auto-approval' after 3 weeks, then it's 4 weeks for the money to flow through to me. In theory, I could 'up' my invoice to anything I want rather than stick to my agreed milestone amounts!

[ladymuck]

In practise, on 45 day terms, you still receive a monthly payment, it's not 45 days between payments. Waiting for the first one to come in can feel painful if you've had a long gap. There's also the 'bonus' that you get paid long after the contract has ended, which can help smooth over any break in gigs or early hiccups with a new client.

[ensignia]

I'd prefer to get paid monthly, but am with Hays at the moment who pay weekly.

[cannon999]

Do you turn down a lot of contracts then? Weekly's the same as monthly if you have a warchest...

Imagine turning down paid work for some sense of regular cashflow... I know what I'd do

Never been an issue so far. Is a client really going to go with a different contractor because of payment terms? My skills are pretty niche so goodluck with that.

[jamesbrown]

I've had everything from near instantaneous payment (like, within a few hours of invoice received - small business obv.) to 90 days, the latter involving a couple of layers of subcontracting and, with that one, 10% of all invoices were withheld until all deliverables met - was a cool project, though. So, yeah, varies dramatically. Nothing unusual about 45 days, but perhaps they're leaking outwards with covid cashflow issues, dunno - haven't noticed it myself.

[NotAllThere]

Longest I've had was three weeks. Shortest was next day on receipt of invoice!

[Paralytic]

I've had weekly payments from Search.

[SussexSeagull]

I haven't had anything but monthly for about a decade.

[PerfectStorm]

Payment terms like everything is negotiable. I personally don't accept contracts that don't pay weekly

Do you turn down a lot of contracts then? Weekly's the same as monthly if you have a warchest...

Imagine turning down paid work for some sense of regular cashflow... I know what I'd do

[eek]

As for as I am aware the only agency that is happy to pay weekly is TEK Systems. Any decent sized direct client won't pay weekly due to additional admin burden.

Not true, Hays are setup for weekly billing. Any agency using Sonovate for invoice factoring / timesheet management will also be weekly billing (Sonovate are a pain for me but for different reasons).

Agencies will do things they way they want to. Personally I would expect an agency to pay on 7 or 30 day terms and no later but consultancies and end clients get different T&Cs.

[ladymuck]

I've had a variety of terms over the years.

I generally don't care what the terms are, as long as the client / agency stick to those terms.

I have been very lucky in that the few times payments were delayed wasn't because of client / agency games but just a break down in the process with everything being swiftly resolved with the magic words "I won't doing any more work until you pay up".

[ladymuck]

Recently its crept up to 60 but the agency will usually pay you in 30.

Which one?

[uk contractor]

Recently its crept up to 60 but the agency will usually pay you in 30.

[BigDataPro]

Payment terms like everything is negotiable. I personally don't accept contracts that don't pay weekly

As for as I am aware the only agency that is happy to pay weekly is TEK Systems. Any decent sized direct client won't pay weekly due to additional admin burden.

[Lance]

Two but why does that matter? If they don't agree to it then just don't take the job. As a software contractor in the current market I can find someone that pays promptly and pass on those that drag their feet

So it's very few clients then. Like I said.

prompt payment is not the be all and end all of business. When I work to a SoW I invoice based on deliverables. That often means that I won't bill for months. 7, 14, 30, 45 makes no odds at that stage. I don't have a cashflow problem.
If you're a bum on seat resource, and short payment terms are needed, most clients (not all, there's two that don't) would rather put someone through an agency. Most clients I've worked with wouldn't entertain anything quicker than net monthly as that fits their admin cycles.

And to suggest that these clients are dragging their feet is simply failing to understand how businesses back office functions work.