As a civil contractor, you have a lot to manage—bids for new projects, industry regulations, equipment hire and sourcing talent during the current shortage. Between projects and all these tasks, you are waiting on clients to pay invoices on completed projects, and your next pay run is just around the corner.
When running a civil contracting company, getting payroll right is critical to retaining your talent and keeping your business in motion. Too many companies struggle to maintain their cash flow while waiting on client payments and find themselves straining to make ends meet when payday comes around.
Cash flow challenges for civil contractors
Civil contractors receive payments of their invoices on terms dating well past completion of a project. This can create a cash flow gap when it comes to paying your staff for work done on the project.
Some of the expenses and challenges that stand in the way of civil contractors closing cash flow gaps include the following.
- Taking on larger projects – Civil contractors need to take on larger projects, and more of them, to grow the business. Bigger projects mean more staff to pay. Payroll funding allows you to pay your employees without waiting on your clients. So, you can bid on larger projects with the assurance that you can pay the staff you need.
- Securing funds for equipment – In addition to taking on larger projects, civil construction companies need cash to pay for equipment. Equipment hire contributes to cash flow gaps because, like people, it is necessary to complete the project before your client pays you. Equipment may require a deposit before use and ongoing monthly payments, which can strain an already tight cash flow.
- Waiting on client payments – It is common for civil construction companies to wait between 30 and 90 days for client payments, seriously straining the company’s cash flow. This will create cash flow gaps that make it challenging to keep up with day-to-day expenses, let alone invest in new projects.
Get a payroll solution tailored to the civil contracting industry
Keeping up with changes as a civil contractor can be difficult. You might be working on a new project but also dealing with unexpected delays or cost overruns. This is where a payroll funding solution tailored to your industry can help.
The first step to closing your cash flow gaps is finding a payroll funding provider that understands the civil contracting industry and can provide a solution that saves you time and money while keeping your staff happy. It can provide many benefits, such as closing cash flow gaps, improving your financial planning and removing the stress of your next pay run.
When choosing a payroll funding solution, select one that offers flexible terms and conditions that meet your company’s needs. With the right payroll funding solution in place, you can focus on growing your business while ensuring that your employees are paid on time and in full. It is also a good idea to choose a provider that offers the following:
Automated solutions
An automated payroll funding solution ensures that you have the right funds to pay every employee on time, every time.
With an automated system, you can eliminate the need for manual data entry, which can help to reduce processing time and errors. In addition, automating processes can help to improve compliance with government regulations, which is especially important in Australia against the Modern Awards and regulations that civil contractors must comply with. And perhaps most importantly, it can help to improve employee satisfaction by providing them with accurate and timely paychecks.
Integration with your timesheeting technology
When you have people working across several locations and on many different projects, keeping that harmony between payroll and timesheets is critical. So, a payroll funding solution with integration to your timesheet software is a valuable feature. You can receive funding automatically based on calculations of the hours worked by your employees, saving time on processing payroll.
APositive has the payroll funding solution you need
When it comes to the financial side of civil contracting businesses, you need to get it right every time to retain and recruit the right staff as you grow. If you are a civil contractor, then payroll funding could be the boost that your business needs to grow and succeed. APositive has the experience to help you take on this challenge.
Our Payroll Funding solution provides you access to the money stuck in unpaid invoices. We also deliver a tech-integrated back-office solution with outsourced payroll options to remove the administrative burdens of managing it yourself.
