Collecting a fee 8

[AELLC]

I am a one-man shop specializing in structure design for tract and custom home builders, and a small custom home project I invoiced almost a year ago is still not paid ($1200)...the invoice was to the General Contractor for the house construction.

What would be a good next step, to notify my State Registration of Contractors?

 

[AELLC]

Steel,

I see nothing unethical about that.

I actually wish I could be more formal, what with contracts and all. But no one in this niche of the business seems to understand or tolerate all that.

Fortunately, with the tract/custom home builders I mostly deal with, I have been dealing with them for more than a decade. They always pay, no matter what - they always get retainers up front from the potential home buyer that covers my fee.

There is never any contract between us.

The unlicensed res dsgnrs I deal with, that's a whole different animal. Talk about a mess.

 

[MacGyverS2000]

I agree with Ron, if you wanted to collect the best way to go was through a lien.... but at a year you are out of luck. I had a client who took my plans and ran off... was an old coworker. As far as I know the project never went forward and that was the excuse for not getting paid. I knew he was going to do it to me and I was out $1,000. Well, when he comes crawling back, and he will, I will tell him to find someone else.

Maybe I'm a bit petty at times, but if someone was willing to do that to me, I'd see if there was a simple way to do it back... like accepting a project (no contracts, just verbal), but don't really do any work. Claim I'm working on it for a while, but never waste any actual time on it. Eventually they'll be in a desperate situation, at which point I'd say "Sorry, I've been pulled away and can't complete your project right now."

If they're willing to throw away a personal/professional relationship for $1k, no reason why I shouldn't feel the same towards them.

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[AELLC]

I am in a much better mood today anyway because I took a 3-hour work break this AM and completed two major redesigns on two large custom homes, all easily because it was mostly computerized calculations.

So today I did $780 of billable w/o hardly breaking a sweat.

 

[SteelPE]

Would that be ethical Dan? I'm not sure, I suppose if you didn't accept any money then you would be OK. That's a little too complicated for me. Just refusing to do work for him is good enough for me. Nice and clean, and I don't how to stoop to his level.

 

[MacGyverS2000]

I wasn't born an angel, but I try to do right by people whenever possible, at least the ones who show they deserve it. Is it immoral to do what I suggested? I'm not pimping drugs to a pre-schooler, but it certainly isn't a saintly thing to do. Still, if some people can't concern themselves with the trouble they cause me, I can at least amuse myself at their expense to even the karma scale. It's a 50/50 shot at whether or not I decide to simply move on, as you said... if I'm in a cranky mood, I'll punk 'em.

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[TomDOT]

Or, just tell them to come up with the $1k + interest they owe you before you talk about a new project.

Then, if they pay require a retainer in advance for the new project.

 

[SteelPE]

I am probably a little ahead of myself when I said they would come crawling back. I will probably never hear from the client again. Probably for the better as he always had a way of stretching normal construction practices.

 

[glass99]

Dead beat clients needs to see consequences. You have all kinds of liabilities in the business, and you need to be compensated.

If you send it to collections, and this client and others are put off by that, think if it as a way of filtering out future dead beats. You can decide now that you don't think its worth the conflict, but you are actually exposing yourself to more conflict down the track.

And - you have my sympathies! Debt collection sucks!

 

[AELLC]

Please respond to this, or I will take action by contacting a collections agency. Thank you.

My fees have been historically low because I have faith in my clients to pay. But I will not allow any abuse of this trust.

 

[AELLC]

WOW-

I just got an email reply from the deadbeat in question, and I can't even copy it onto here, it is so vulgar.

LOL.

 

[AELLC]

I replied diplomatically (remembered the Dale Carnegie course) and he is now apologizing.

 

[glass99]

AELLC - You nailed it!

General contractors yell at people for a living, so there is nothing out of the ordinary.

Stay rational, follow through on your threat, and don't take sh*t from clients now or in the future.

 

[glass99]

The thing I find amazing is how quickly folks recover and forgive after the whole late payment discussion. You light someone up with a tough email on the 300th day anniversary of birth of your invoice, they fire back about how outraged they are that you would have the gall to make such demands, they feel guilty, they pay, then you happily do the next job together. Its like this dance we do.

 

[AELLC]

I never has a major late payment until this.

When I was an employee I was aware of major architectural deadbeats - we always joked they learned that in college to cheat engineers.

 

[glass99]

AELLC - lucky you! I have slow payments all the time. I have been in business for four years, and have multiple instances of bills being >1yr late for six figure sums. I am a two person shop, and at any time I have enough in my accounts receivable to buy several Porsche 911's. Popular reasons for retardation of payment include:
- client being an architect
- me being at the bottom of a tree where everyone has a pay when paid contingency
- someone in the payment chain having financial difficulties (a very fashionable choice with the recession!)
- under resourced accounts payable departments

They always pay in the end though.

 

[AELLC]

I do only small-time residential projects, by comparison. But a LOT of them.

There must be a hugely different dynamic.

For example: One regular archi (high-end customs) is begging me to agree to some shady bulls**t because he is losing money on this job.

I tell him, if the Owner pays me directly, before Plans Submittal, I will give a discount on my fee.

Now I may have maybe reduced the fee 8%, but I got it quickly and it is in the bank with no grief. I hate grief, it slows down my work.

 

[glass99]

Agreed that money grief sucks the life out of you. Also agreed that its better to be directly contracted with the owner. Architects just don't care about money, so don't put any effort into making sure its taken care of.

Most of my work is small slices of large projects, like the entrances to the World Trade Center, or a glass stair in a museum. I do a lot of structural glass. I am frequently working for a supplier to the glazier, so am 3+ subcontracts away from the owner.

 

[AELLC]

LOL, did you see that recent TV docu on the building of a hi-tech tower in Shanghai. Right up your alley.

It was some advanced idea where the inhabitants live and work in the same bldg., to cut down on pollution and commuting time.

A major deal was the exterior glazing.

 

[glass99]

That Shanghai building sounds Jetson-y. Facades are super important these days, and there is a lot of engineering in them ranging from blast resistance to daylighting.

 

[AELLC]

They showed the pollution and the traffic there in Shanghai. Ugggh.