I love the start of Craig Martin’s article – Compliance is Key – Proving Your Bond Claim – on his Construction Contractor Advisor blog: ”Bonding companies can make it difficult to pursue your claim.” The statement is unfortunate, but true. Whether the difficulty is created by design or if standard bureaucratic disorganization is to blame, the fact [...]
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Creative Options To Secure A Party’s Promise To Pay
Promises PromisesFielding excuses for non-payment and promises of future payment is a fact of life in the construction and building supply industry. We’ve published two helpful articles about this here on the Lien Blog: (1) Dealing With Excuses When Trying To Collect Your Construction Debt; and (2) Promises To Pay Mean Squat To Your Mechanics [...]
Dealing With Excuses When Trying To Collect Your Construction Debt
“The check is in the mail.” You’ve heard that one before, right? This phrase has become a legend in the debt collection industry, as well as a rallying cry to describe the frustrations one experiences when trying to collect a debt. The frustrating isn’t exclusive to debt collectors. Credit managers, accountants, small business owners and [...]
Are Debt Collectors Worth It?
I had a conversation last week with a client about the value of collectors and debt collection agencies, comparing use of collection services with the use of in-house collection efforts and hiring of an attorney. This is a very interesting topic, but unfortunately not one with a concrete answer. What’s The Different Between Collectors, Attorneys [...]
Can A Collection Agency Help Collect On Your Mechanics Lien?
Collection agencies have a bad reputation, and unfortunately, it’s a bit of an earned one. I say unfortunately because there are some fantastic commercial collection agencies out there who act very professionally and provide their clients with a great service. A few bad apples have tainted the public’s perception of the ARM (accounts receivable management) [...]
What To Do After You File A Bond Claim
Filing a bond claim is an effective way to get paid on a state, county or federal construction project, but it’s very common for things to get very quiet after a bond claim. What is going on? When can you expect to get paid? And is there anything you can do to push your claim [...]
What To Do After You File A Mechanics Lien
Filing a mechanics lien is an effective way to get paid if confronted with a non-paying project, but that doesn’t mean you can just file the lien document and forget about it. Like anything else, follow-up is required. Step 1: Send The Mechanics Lien To Everyone This one is a no-brainer. In many cases, state [...]
Why Some Controllers Never Have Accounts Receivable Problems
Managing money going in and out of a construction or material supply business can be a very demanding occupation. Construction projects are huge cash suckers, and since getting paid often relies on money trickling down through other parties on these projects, collecting money for your furnished materials or labor can require patience. It’s inevitable you’ll have aging [...]
How Security Instruments Can Help Your Collections Procedures
This blog post focuses on how you might be qualified to use security instruments to protect your company’s debts and receivables. As you will see, if a security instrument is available you, it will increase the chance that you’ll get paid. What Is A Security Instrument And How Can It Help? Wikipedia’s entry for “security [...]
A Mechanics Lien Policy Is Crucial For Collecting In The Construction Industry
My particular area of interest is on helping those in the construction industry increase the success of their collection policies. That is done by implementing a strong and disciplined collections system, and strengthening it by securing each debt with your mechanics lien rights. Unique Credit & Collection Challenges For The Construction Industry The construction industry [...]
Guest Post on Using Mechanic Liens for Better Collections at Credit & Collections Blog
Thanks to Michelle Dunn of the wonderful Credit & Collections Blog for inviting me to guest post there. Our post – Using A Mechanics Lien Policy For Collecting In The Construction Industry – published yesterday morning. The subject is a great tie-in for her existing content, which focuses on credit and collections practices in general. [...]
Columnists
Scott Wolfe Jr., JD
CEO of Zlien, and a licensed attorney in six states, he's experienced in construction & corporate credit management laws....Read More
Nate Budde, JD
Zlien's Chief Legal Mind and licensed attorney. Nate is a Stanford & Tulane Grad, a Jeopardy! alumni and more....Read More
Seth Smiley, JD
Construction attorney in California & Louisiana, Seth is an experienced construction litigator and Zlien's COO....Read More
Funding Gates
The world's first CRM for receivables management.Read More
Gretchen Lynn
Operations Genius at Zlien - She writes all the fun stuff here.Read More
Jason Bull
Zlien's Research Giant - He shares tips and info on how to confirm project, surety or construction party data.Read More
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