Breathing a little easier with Invoice Finance

Where a previous generation might have been content to open a window when the weather was warm, guaranteeing a dependable internal environment has become essential for both commercial and residential buildings. Spurred on by what is looking increasingly like climate change, the need to provide a controlled environment for delicate computing equipment and health conscious staff - and the demands of Health and Safety legislation - almost every new building needs to incorporate high standards of ventilation.

In industrial premises, it is vital to ensure that enough fresh air is supplied to dilute and remove the dust, fumes or vapour produced. In offices, legislation now demands efficient ventilation to deal with the heat from lighting, small appliances and computers, any sources of pollutants, such as copiers, and sources of humidity such as catering equipment.

Business growth

It all means work for businesses providing ventilation and ducting. At Rangewell, we work with many different businesses across the UK, and we recently spoke to a ducting ventilation specialist about the opportunities and the challenges involved.

“We’re a family business, and we are small. But we are ready to take on any size of project. We have the know-how and the equipment to take on the job.”

He explained that there are several growth areas, including the domestic market.

“We’ve found that the public sector is quiet at the moment. But residential developments are seeing climate control systems designed in. Larger blocks seem to need passive systems as a minimum to deal with solar gain, but we are starting to see ducting being installed even in individual homes. Dealing with steam from kitchens and bathrooms is now being seen as essential.”

He also points to a growing interest in waste heat recovery, where there’s a new government initiative consultation about supporting new technology which will extract the heat from used air and use it to warm incoming fresh air. Other growth areas include the catering market, where increased standards of ventilation are now being demanded by many local authorities to protect the local environment as a condition of planning permission.

“We will soon be getting to the stage where, if there is a new building, it will have ducting somewhere in it,” he says.

But the real barrier to the growth of his business, and many others in the sector is not a lack of opportunity, but finance. His business is small and, like many small businesses, can face problems when dealing with a large client.

Is your business struggling to balance growth with longer payment terms? Apply today or find out how Invoice Finance can help smooth out cash flow.

“With a large client, we can look forward to ongoing work, and there is plenty of it. The problem is, we don’t get paid as fast as the work comes in.”

A building developer might wait months before final payment when a completed project is signed off and handed over to its new owner. In many cases, cash will be tight during this period and many subcontractors will face a delay in payment that can go on for months.

“It’s frustrating. You’ve brought in the materials, done the job and paid the fitters, but you are out of pocket until the customer pays you. You can’t go cap in hand to your bank and ask for an overdraft these days, because you won’t be getting one.”

It can lead to a serious cashflow problem. Waiting for payment for work done has sent more than one small business to the wall.

How Invoice Finance provides breathing space

The answer could be Invoice Finance. Invoice Finance - as the name suggests - allows a lender to provide a cash advance based on the value of an invoice. It offers your business a steady flow of cash when large corporate customers are slow to pay. This can mean that you can receive 90% of the value of each invoice you issue as soon as you issue it. Your business can then receive the remainder once the client pays, less the fees the lender charges for the service. It has become the recognised solution for many types of business who deal with large, slow-paying clients.

“We get paid as soon as we issue an invoice. So as soon as any job is signed off, we have an invoice issued and the cash in our bank account.”

Whatever your line of business, if you work to supply other businesses, a call to Rangewell could help you get Invoice Finance working to support your cashflow. Apply today or simply find out more now.