Agreed.
There needs to be an ante and a CC# on file before we even put it on the schedule.
I like the idea of having a CC on file. Also like the idea of asking for a percentage up front for example a 25% deposit like the article @Garry brought out.
Kinda late to this convo, but one commercial job we do would have a hard time paying on time. It was only net 15, but they’d pay 30-45 days later so we gave them new terms that they didn’t accept and we lost the account. Then, one month later they called back telling us they would pay upon completion with a credit card.
Haven’t had a problem since. I think the OP has gotten lots of good info. Just glean what you want/need from it. Most mean well 
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I have a job coming up in a few weeks that is net 45…
and I have to outlay for $500 lift cost, sucks but I am accepting the job aware of terms, I don’t get to set terms I accept the terms or don’t get the job easy 3k for 2 days work and get paid 6 weeks later, doesn’t really bother me too much, many of my commercial invoices normally get sent out 2-3 weeks after job was complete then takes 2-3 weeks to get paid.
It would not be unreasonable to ask for $500 or more up front. (25% = $750)
It isn’t unreasonable, but unfortunately for some contracts, it’s also not realistic 
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In this case it is not realistic, I am contracted by a service company over 3000km away to do a building in my area.
Even so I feel if I were to ask for lift cost up front it would make me look less successful or experienced. In almost 20 years working commercial I have never ever heard of up front charges.
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That may work well for you and you have no problem with it. That doesn’t mean everybody feels the same way. Respectfully, it is not as rare as you make it out to be.
We cant do up front payment either.
If you cant float a $800 lift job maybe commercial isnt for you
Could, choose not to.
I take it NEST hasn’t changed. I cut myself off from them some years back as they were bad in every facet of business relations. It is one of the few that I have no qualms speaking out about.
Well for what little it’s worth, I have an interesting perspective on this. I own both a Property Management (residential, commercial and HOA) and a large Window Cleaning business. Our contracts and invoices both say 30 days, but in reality, since 80% of our business comes from Commercial and HOAs, I would say that a more realistic expectation is 45-60 days and it’s not uncommon to see three months go by on a large job ($8k-$10K). Residential is closer to 30 days.
Part of the reason is that when we do HOAs, a lot of large bills have to be signed by board members, which can often be at the next meeting, between 1-3 months away. We’ve found that our commercial clients can definitely be slower, but there’s little benefit in harassing them as the reason that they’re successful and can own or manage large complexes is because they’ve developed their own systems and procedures that they’re not going to bend on.
I can tell you that in my Property Management company, we don’t accelerate faster than 30 days for anyone. It may seem unreasonable, but we see around 2,000 bills per month and we can’t accelerate any one bill outside of place. Bills have to be entered, which takes 1-3 days, depending on the time of the month. Then they’re sent in batches to the Property Manager which happens once a week. Then they’re sent back to accounting to write the checks, which takes another week. If someone is out sick or if a bill doesn’t get approved because we have to double check something, tack on another week. So overall, 30 days is a pretty reasonable turn time for a payment to go out.
I would agree with people who say that the likelihood of changing the way they pay you is minimal, so you have to decide if you can float the money. I’d recommend looking at a line of credit or something similar to help you out. For what it’s worth, when you get big enough, it just becomes part of the game. The trick is that once you survive the first month, net 30 isn’t a problem because you’re getting one month’s revenue in right away, it just happens to be last month’s work. If it makes you feel better, at any given moment, I have in between $150K-$300K in AR outstanding, which is about 1.5 months revenue, so I feel your pain. But I would just find a way to stick with commercial, but be able to float for 30 days, because that’s where the good money and stability are.
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Is it so tough to ask for a deposit on labor upfront? Let the profit catch up?
