Homes pay now, businesses on the 20th
The business does pest control across Auckland, for households and for commercial customers. Just over half of its work is for other businesses.
Households pay when the job is done. Commercial customers work differently: most of them pay on the 20th of the month after they’re invoiced.
That’s standard in commercial work. It just means the job, the invoice and the payment can sit a long way apart.
Close to two months out of pocket
The timing bites hardest at the start of a month. A commercial job finished in the first week isn’t paid until the 20th of the month after.
At sign-up in August 2022, the owner told the FundTap team an early-month job could mean carrying its costs for close to two months.
Those costs don’t wait for the customer. The technicians, the vans and the running costs of every job are paid long before the commercial money comes in.
Funding the commercial invoices
They signed up in August 2022 and connected Xero. In September 2022 they funded their first invoices, eight that month. Households have already paid, so the invoices worth funding are the commercial ones.
The business picks which invoices to fund and sees the fee before it commits. The commercial customers still pay the business on the 20th, the way they always have.
A new technician on the road
In October 2022 the business took on a new technician, the kind of step that grows a pest control business.
A new hire is paid from their first week. Their scheduled work takes time to build, and the commercial invoices for it aren’t paid until the 20th of the month after.
The owner asked the FundTap team for more room to carry that stretch while the new technician was trained up. Their funding limit was raised that month, and in November 2022 they funded 35 invoices, their most in a month to that point.
“We have just hired a new technician and it is just to have a cashflow buffer in place as we train them, there is always a lag time of two to three months with the revenue they can generate from doing scheduled jobs by themselves.”
From an email to the FundTap team, October 2022
Busy years, and a quiet stretch
The work kept growing. Their funding limit went up again in May 2023, and 2024 was their biggest year, with 409 invoices funded. July 2024 was the busiest month, at 98.
From December 2025 to May 2026 they funded nothing at all, and those months cost them nothing.
In June 2026 the commercial invoices started going through again, and in August 2026 their funding limit was raised once more. Over four years they have funded 896 invoices, all of them for work already done.
The timeline
- August 2022 Signed up, with commercial customers paying on the 20th of the month after.
- September 2022 Funded their first invoices, eight that month.
- October 2022 Took on a new technician, and their funding limit was raised to carry the wait.
- May 2023 Funding limit raised again as the work grew.
- July 2024 The busiest month so far, with 98 invoices funded.
- August 2026 Funding limit raised again, after a quiet first half of the year.
In numbers
- 20th of the month after: when the commercial customers pay
- 896 invoices funded since September 2022, all for work already done
- 409 invoices funded in 2024, their biggest year
- 98 invoices funded in July 2024, the busiest month
Sound like your business?
Your commercial customers pay on the 20th of next month, and the job was done in the first week. Fund the invoices that are holding you up, and leave the rest.
Get paid now for work you’ve already done.
Invoice finance for construction and trades • All case studies
