first I searched for this topic but didn’t see anything specific to my question.
here’s my story…
I recently did my first job as a company.
the lady that hired me needed her gutters cleaned and a few missing shingles replaced.
I went to the house to have a look and to get a good idea of what it was I was getting into before I gave her a price.
the house has a for sale sign in the front yard and the house is empty. at this point I’m already getting a bad feeling about this lady. she didn’t tell me it was empty and she didn’t live there.
I called the customer from her driveway, she’s at work…but did answer the phone.
she tells me they are about to move in, in another few days or week. and the home inspector told her about the gutters and shingles.
ok, sounds legit. I told her I can send her a bill since she said no one will be there on the day I will be doing the work.
ok, here’s one mistake I guess I made, I mailed the invoice before I even went to the job. and didn’t bring one with me thinking no one is going to be there.
well I get to the job and of course her husband IS home. I talk to him and go on with the work. when I was done, I asked if he could pay me. of course he said, “you have to get it from my wife this is her project”.
Of course I knew deep inside my gut this isn’t the last “run around” i’m going to get from these people.
so I leave a hand written invoice with the customer and call the “mrs” to let her know etc. she’s fine with that and asks about getting her basement window replaced too.
I get a good vibe from her but a really bad one from the husband.
now my deal is here it is sunday I did the work on monday. still didn’t get a check etc. which I know isn’t a long time but I just have this gut feeling I’ll have to keep after this person to pay me.
my buddy thinks (of course he has never owned a company etc) I should have gotten paid before I did the work. and thinks I’m stupid and will never get paid since I didn’t get anything signed for aproval for the work etc.
of course this is constantly flashing through my mind now and leads me to making this post.
my question to you pro’s, Did I make any mistake in the way I handled this situation?
anything you guys do different?
do you guys put something to the extent of 30 days to pay on your invoices?
how much time do you give and is there a legal amount of time I have to give?