An e-learning developer in Auckland: the big contract, paid in halves

Online learning for big organisations

The business designs and builds e-learning in Auckland: online training courses for councils, hospitals and companies.

Projects are staffed job by job. The owner told the FundTap team the business brings in subcontractors as a project needs them, and pays them per project.

The client is billed in halves: a deposit when the project starts, and the balance when it’s finished. Each of those invoices gives the client a month to pay.

A month to wait on each half

When they signed up in February 2024, the owner told the FundTap team they had just picked up a big contract.

A big contract is good news with a timing problem built in. The deposit invoice goes out at the start, and the client has a month to pay it. The final invoice goes out at the finish, with another month on it.

The subcontractors on a project are paid by the business, per project. On a big contract, that can land before the client’s month is up.

Not waiting out the client’s month

They signed up in February 2024, connected Xero, and funded their first invoice that month. The owner picks which invoice to put forward and sees the fee before committing.

The client pays the business a month later, the same as on any other project.

Taking the contract on its terms

With an invoice funded, the big contract could run on the client’s terms. The business paid its subcontractors per project, as it does, and the client paid the deposit and the final a month after each invoice.

They funded two more invoices in July 2024, their busiest month, and one in June 2025. Four in all, with nothing funded in 2026 and nothing charged for the quiet stretch.

The timeline

1. February 2024 Signed up with a big contract just picked up, billed half up front and half at the finish.
2. February 2024 Connected Xero and funded their first invoice.
3. July 2024 Funded two invoices, the most in a month so far.
4. June 2025 Funded their most recent invoice.

In numbers

• Half up front and half at the finish: how each project is billed
• 30 days the client has to pay each half, the deposit and the final
• 4 invoices funded since February 2024, the first in the month they signed up
• 2 invoices funded in July 2024, the busiest month

Sound like your business?

The deposit’s invoiced, the subcontractors are on the job, and the client has a month to pay. Fund that invoice, and pay nothing on the projects where the timing works.

Fund a specific invoice when the timing doesn’t work. Pay nothing when it does.

Invoice finance for professional services  •  All case studies