A mining labour-hire firm in regional Queensland: new subbies on short terms

Supplying crews to the mines

The business supplies labour to mining operations in regional Queensland. It has a small team of its own employees and a group of subcontractors who go out on site.

The work is invoiced to the mining clients, and they pay a fortnight after the end of the month the invoice went in. That’s the agreed term, and in practice it can slide further out.

The subcontractors invoice the business on their own terms, and those are much shorter. The terms vary from subbie to subbie, but none of them wait for the mine.

Subbies due before the mine pays

A subcontractor invoices the business and expects paying inside the month. The mining client that work was for won’t pay until the middle of the month after, and sometimes later than that.

When they signed up in January 2024, the owner told the FundTap team they wanted a buffer between what the subcontractors were owed and when the mining clients paid.

The owner also mentioned that new subcontractors had come on as the work grew, and they too wanted paying well before the mines did.

Funding the month-end invoices

They signed up in January 2024 and funded their first invoices in February 2024, three of them. Since then the owner picks which mining invoices to fund and sees the fee before committing.

The mining clients pay the business on their own terms, end of month plus the fortnight, exactly as they did before.

Taking on new subcontractors

With a month-end invoice funded, the subcontractors’ invoices are paid when they fall due rather than after the client pays. That’s what let the business keep adding people as the work came in.

The funding limit was raised in March 2025 and again in August 2026 as the invoices grew. December 2025 was the busiest month, with six invoices funded.

As the crew has grown

They funded five invoices in 2024, 14 in 2025 and 17 in 2026 to September. In the stretches with nothing funded, nothing is charged. An invoice gets funded when a subcontractor’s pay falls due before the mine’s money lands.

The timeline

1. January 2024 Signed up, with subcontractors on short terms and mining clients paying after month end.
2. February 2024 Funded their first invoices, three that month.
3. March 2025 Funding limit raised as the invoices grew.
4. December 2025 The busiest month so far, with six invoices funded.
5. August 2026 Funding limit raised again, with more people on the crew.
6. September 2026 Funded two more mining invoices, the most recent so far.

In numbers

• 14 days after month end before the mining clients pay
• 21 days from invoice: the terms the subcontractors are paid on
• 36 invoices funded since February 2024
• 2 increases to their funding limit as the crew grew

Sound like your business?

The subbies have invoiced you and the mine pays a fortnight after month end, if it isn’t pushed out again. Fund that invoice and pay your people on their terms.

Pay your team on time, every time, without waiting on your client.

Invoice finance for staffing and recruitment  •  All case studies