An urban design consultancy in Auckland: paid on the client’s timetable

Design work for city projects

The business is an urban design and landscape design consultancy in Auckland.

At sign-up in April 2023, the business described its work to the FundTap team as urban and landscape design for planning, policy and placemaking projects.

Its clients are the organisations behind those projects. The fee for a piece of work is invoiced once it’s done, and paid on the client’s terms.

The work goes in long before the fee

Design work on a city project goes in long before there’s anything to invoice. The fee follows at the end, and the payment follows the fee, on the client’s timetable.

That’s the gap for a consultancy. The work is finished, the invoice is out, and the money is still some way off.

Funding the project invoices

They signed up in April 2023 and connected their accounting software. In June 2023 they funded their first project invoice.

From there the business picked the project invoices it wanted paid sooner, with the fee shown before each one was committed. Their clients kept paying the business on their usual terms.

The next project, under way

With a project invoice funded, the business wasn’t waiting on one client’s payment before the next project got moving.

They funded 19 invoices in 2023 and 26 in 2024. June 2024 was the busiest month, with nine invoices funded.

Nothing has been funded since December 2024, and the account has cost nothing in the time since. When a project invoice next lands on terms the business doesn’t want to wait out, the account is ready.

In a public review, the business described the service as excellent and getting set up as straightforward.

The timeline

1. April 2023 Signed up and connected their accounting software, with project fees paid on the client’s timetable.
2. June 2023 Funded their first project invoice.
3. June 2024 The busiest month, with nine invoices funded.
4. December 2024 The most recent invoice funded.

In numbers

• 45 invoices funded between June 2023 and December 2024
• 26 invoices funded in 2024, up from 19 in 2023
• 9 invoices funded in June 2024, the busiest month

Sound like your business?

The design work is delivered, the invoice is out, and the client pays in its own time. Fund that invoice when the next project can’t wait, and pay nothing when it can.

Fund a specific invoice when the timing doesn’t work. Pay nothing when it does.

Invoice finance for professional services  •  All case studies