canadiancontractor
Public misconceptions about why contractors need deposits
Canadian Contractor"We are not your (expletive) bank!" writes contractor Karl Bach
Mike Holmes is to blame. In 2014 he argued in Readers Digest that contractors don’t need large deposits – and soon we even had contractors (who should have known better) asking why contractors needed deposits AT ALL! That thread is still alive, and we just had to repost THIS comment, in which contractor Karl Bach didn’t mince words…
We the contractors are not your ******* bank. Our suppliers want their money upfront. If big companies like Lafarge demand cash then why should small contractors have to put up money on behalf of their clients? McDonalds does not let you eat that Big Mac before you pay for it. You need to wake up and smell the coffee. I estimate that over 75 per cent of all contractors in Canada require a 50 per cent deposit!
Karl Bach
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We used to work without Deposits based on people trust. Nevertheless, it’s a problem with a customer. But when you are a subcontractor for a big company, they will stop your bills and have a Net 90 period. Working with them had a bitter memory a couple of times, burning holes in our pockets because that 90 never comes. For our loyal customers, it’s a different story. We need to pay upfront to our suppliers and for other machine rentals. If it’s one roof going on in a week, we can happily do that collect later. But think if we need to replace 10 roofs in a week that’s where the nightmare is. So 33-33-33 is our policy.