A concrete products maker in Auckland: a big council order, made in batches

Slabs made to council purchase orders

The business makes concrete slabs in Auckland. Its biggest customer is a council, and the work doesn’t come as one contract. It comes as purchase orders, raised department by department, each one for a run of slabs.

A purchase order is made, delivered and invoiced, and then the business waits for the council to pay. The next purchase order arrives when the council is ready, not before.

A big order, most of it still to make

When they signed up, the owner told the FundTap team the business had done the bigger part of a large council order, had invoiced that work, and still had a long run of slabs to make on it, with the next purchase order yet to come.

That’s the gap for a maker. The slabs that have gone out are invoiced and waiting on the council, and the slabs still to come have to be made in the meantime.

The council pays as councils do, in its own time. The making can’t wait for it.

Funding the slabs already invoiced

They signed up in October 2024 and funded their first invoice in November 2024, for slabs already made and invoiced to the council. In December 2024 their funding limit was raised twice, and two invoices were funded that month.

The owner chooses which council invoice to fund and sees the fee before committing. The council pays the business on its usual terms.

Keeping the order moving

With the invoiced slabs funded, the rest of the order could be made without waiting for the council’s payment to land first. One run of slabs paid for the next, and the business was ready when the next purchase order came through.

They funded three invoices in 2024 and eight in 2025, the most recent in June 2025.

Between council orders

They have funded 11 invoices in all. Between orders there’s no invoice to fund, so there’s nothing to pay.

When the next big purchase order lands, the invoices on it can be funded the same way.

The timeline

1. October 2024 Signed up with a big council order part invoiced and most of the slabs still to make.
2. November 2024 Funded their first invoice, for slabs already invoiced to the council.
3. December 2024 Funding limit raised twice, and two invoices funded, the busiest month.
4. June 2025 The most recent invoice funded.

In numbers

• 11 invoices funded since November 2024
• 8 invoices funded in 2025, up from three in 2024
• 2 increases to their funding limit, both in December 2024

Sound like your business?

The council pays on its own timetable and the rest of the order still has to be made. Fund the invoice for what’s gone out and keep making.

Fund the next order without waiting on the last one.

Invoice finance for makers and distributors  •  All case studies