A general contractor in Auckland: the month’s costs before the council pays

A digger for the council, and for hire

The business is a general contractor for the council in Auckland. It owns a digger and other gear, which it also hires out to local businesses.

Council work runs on purchase orders. Nothing can be invoiced until the order is through, and the invoice is then paid at the end of the month after it goes in.

So a job done early in one month is paid at the end of the next. The fuel, the gear and the owner’s own time are all spent long before that.

Stepping in full time

For a while the owner had run the business on the side. Then the council work got big enough to go full time on, and the first big council job was about to be invoiced.

That invoice was the biggest the business had sent. It would also take until the end of the following month to be paid, and the month’s running costs couldn’t wait for it.

At sign-up in October 2024, the owner told the FundTap team the business was about to become their full-time job. The first big council invoice was going out that same month.

Funding the first council invoice

Their broker introduced them to FundTap, and they signed up in October 2024 and connected Xero. In an email to the FundTap team in October 2024, the owner said the job was done and asked to get the invoice funded.

They funded that first invoice in October 2024, with the fee shown before they accepted it. The council paid the business at the end of the following month, as it does on every job.

Full time, with the gear working

With the big invoice funded, the owner could step into the business full time and cover the month’s costs without waiting on the council.

The council work kept coming. In November 2024 they funded two invoices, their busiest month so far. Their funding limit was raised twice that month as the jobs got bigger.

Between council jobs

They have funded 13 invoices since October 2024: five in 2024, seven in 2025 and the latest in January 2026.

When a council payment lands before the bills do, there’s no invoice to fund and no fee to pay. The digger keeps working either way.

The timeline

1. October 2024 Introduced by their broker and signed up, with the first big council job about to be invoiced.
2. October 2024 Emailed the FundTap team once the job was done, and funded that first council invoice.
3. November 2024 Their busiest month so far, with two invoices funded.
4. November 2024 Funding limit raised twice as the council jobs got bigger.
5. January 2026 Funded the most recent invoice in the records.

In numbers

• 13 invoices funded since October 2024, starting with the first big council job
• 2 increases to their funding limit in November 2024, as the jobs grew
• 7 invoices funded in 2025, up from five in 2024

Sound like your business?

The council job’s done, the purchase order’s through, and the money comes at the end of next month. Fund that invoice and keep the digger on site.

Get paid now for work you’ve already done.

Invoice finance for construction and trades  •  All case studies