A scaffolding contractor in Wellington: winter’s slow payers, covered

Scaffold up, invoice out on short terms

At sign-up, the owner described the business to the FundTap team as a residential and light commercial scaffolding supplier. Shrink-wrap and the other services that go with scaffolding round it out, all around Wellington.

A scaffold goes up at the start of a job and comes down at the end, and the invoice follows. Most invoices are on short terms, with some trade customers on standard trade terms that run longer.

Winter, when some clients slow down

Short terms only help when clients pay to them, and for most of the year most do.

Winter is different. The work slows up, and so do some of the clients. A short-terms invoice drifts, and the business is paying the crew and running the gear while it waits.

When they signed up in July 2024, the owner told the FundTap team the amount needed wouldn’t be big. What mattered, the owner explained, was winter, when the work slows up and some clients take longer to pay.

Funding the slow invoice

They signed up in July 2024, in the middle of winter, and connected Xero. In August 2024 they funded their first invoice.

The idea was never to fund everything. It’s the invoice a client is sitting on that gets put through. The fee shows before they commit, and the client still pays the business on the invoice’s own terms.

Through winter without the chasing

With the slow invoice funded, the crew and the gear don’t wait on that client. The next job gets its scaffold, and the slow payer pays when they get to it.

It wasn’t only winter, in the end. January 2025 was the busiest month, with seven invoices funded, and the business funded 27 across 2025. In December 2025 the funding limit was raised.

The odd invoice, when it’s needed

In 2026 it’s been three invoices to August, and the months in between have cost nothing. Since August 2024 they’ve funded 38, picked when a client was slower than the invoice said.

Most invoices are on seven-day terms and get paid to them, and those don’t need it. The account is there for the next winter, and for the next client who takes their time.

The timeline

1. July 2024 Signed up in the middle of winter, with some clients paying slower than their short terms.
2. August 2024 Funded their first invoice.
3. January 2025 The busiest month so far, with seven invoices funded.
4. December 2025 Funding limit raised.
5. August 2026 Most recent invoices funded, three in the month, after a quiet first half of the year.

In numbers

• 7 days: the terms on most of their invoices, with trade customers on longer terms
• 38 invoices funded since August 2024, picked when a client was slower than the invoice said
• 27 invoices funded in 2025, with January 2025 the busiest month at seven
• 1 increase to their funding limit, in December 2025

Sound like your business?

Your terms are short, but come winter a few clients stretch them. Fund the one that’s drifting and let the others come in on time.

Get paid now for work you’ve already done.

Invoice finance for construction and trades  •  All case studies