A steel fabricator in the top of the South Island: a full shop, paid in stages

Stage invoices at the end of the month

The business is a steel fabrication shop in the top of the South Island. The work runs as jobs, and a job isn’t invoiced as one bill at the end. It’s invoiced in stages, for the work done so far, and those stage invoices go out at the end of the month.

Then the customers take a month or more to pay. So the work done in the first week of a month isn’t paid for until well into the month after next.

Busy again, with the money weeks away

When they signed up, the owner told the FundTap team the shop was busy again after a quiet stretch, but the invoices were stage invoices that wouldn’t go out until month end, and then took a month or more to be paid.

That’s the awkward part of a busy run. The work is all on at once, and the stage invoices for it are still to be sent. After a quiet stretch, the gap between doing the work and being paid for it matters more.

Funding the stage invoices

Their broker introduced them to FundTap, and they signed up in August 2024 and connected their accounting software. In September 2024 they funded their first two stage invoices.

The owner picks the invoice to fund and sees the fee first. The customers pay the shop on their usual terms.

Taking the work as it came

With the stage invoices funded as they went out, the busy run could be worked through without waiting a month or more for each payment. November 2024 was the busiest month, with four invoices funded.

They funded seven invoices in 2024, the most recent in December 2024. Since then nothing has been funded, and nothing has been charged. The next busy run can be funded the same way, one stage invoice at a time.

The timeline

1. August 2024 Signed up, introduced by their broker, with a full book of work and stage invoices due at month end.
2. September 2024 Funded their first two stage invoices.
3. November 2024 The busiest month, with four invoices funded.
4. December 2024 The most recent invoice funded.

In numbers

• Month end when the stage invoices go out, with a month or more to wait after that
• 7 invoices funded since September 2024
• 4 invoices funded in November 2024, the busiest month

Sound like your business?

The shop’s full, the stage invoice goes out at month end and the customer pays a month after that. Fund the invoice and take the next job.

Fund the next order without waiting on the last one.

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