A joinery business in Auckland: the big invoice that slipped a month

Kitchens built, then invoiced

The business makes kitchen joinery and does carpentry work around Auckland. On a job like a kitchen, the big invoice tends to come at the end, once it’s in.

Customers pay on terms of a fortnight to a month. On a completion invoice the clock doesn’t start until the job is finished. Anything that holds up the finish holds up the payment with it.

“As it is a completion invoice we won’t get paid until completed.”

From an email to the FundTap team, August 2026

Rework pushed the big payment back

Going into the holidays, a customer was due to pay a big invoice. Some rework was needed first, and that moved the payment back a month.

January is a hard month for that to land in. Work slows over the break and the costs don’t. The payment that would have carried the business through it was now a month out.

“...we had a client that was due to pay quite a big invoice this month. But there was a bit of rework done, so it’s been delayed by a month. But because of the January holiday period, it’s left us a bit short cashflow-wise.”

From a call with the FundTap team, January 2026

Funding the invoice that moved

One of the directors signed up in January 2026, connected Xero and chose that delayed invoice as the first to fund. The fee was there to see before they committed.

At sign-up, one of the directors told the FundTap team the point was to cover the business’s costs while it waited on invoices to be paid.

Their customer still paid the business directly when the invoice came due.

The break covered, the job finished

With that invoice funded, the holiday period was covered by the kitchen they’d already built, and the rework could be finished on the customer’s timetable.

Since then, the same move has covered other gaps. When a job’s invoice is going to land after its costs, they fund that one, and the others are paid on their usual terms. They funded seven invoices in 2026 to September, three of them in June. There’s no lock-in, and nothing to pay when there’s nothing to fund.

The timeline

1. January 2026 Signed up and connected Xero, with a big invoice pushed back a month by rework over the holidays.
2. January 2026 Funded that delayed invoice, the first one they chose.
3. June 2026 Funded three invoices in the month, the most so far.
4. September 2026 Funded another invoice, the most recent in the records.

In numbers

• 30 days: the longest terms their customers pay on
• 7 invoices funded since January 2026, starting with the one held up over the holidays
• 3 invoices funded in June 2026, the busiest month

Sound like your business?

The kitchen’s in, the invoice says completion, and the customer’s timetable just moved. Fund that invoice and get on with the next job.

Get paid now for work you’ve already done.

Invoice finance for construction and trades  •  All case studies