Need some advice please.

[active1]

Send a bill to the church. Wait maybe a week for the mail and it to get thru the office. Then contact the church office about payment. After 4-6 weeks send them a notice of intent to file a lean with another copy of bill.

I don't know how it works at churches but maybe repairs over a certain amount need to be autherized by someone besides the pastor.

I have had to send many bills and a number of phone calls to what seemed like smaller amounts to churches. I did file a lean on one once. The kicker was all the places I had problems seemed to have plenty of money.

 

[growler]

But seriously, I would find out about the church. Does it have a secretary, elders/deacons, board of directors. I am pretty sure the pastor of my church cannot write checks (which is pretty smart IMO). If its a normal church organization, thirty days is not out of the ordinary. Especially, if you are a new vendor that needs to be set-up into the system.

That's why I always say find out who you are dealing with from the start. A church is not just a "house of God" it's really a business entity, normally a non -profit corporation.

When dealing with any corporation it important to find out the corporate name, which officer or agent you are dealing with and if they are authorized to request work and pay for it. Then the question of when and how they intend to pay for the work should come up before any work starts.

The real secret to getting paid is asking the right questions up-front. There are plenty of people that will tell you right off they don't have the money if you ask them but they don't volunteer the information without being asked.

The time to think about getting paid is at the beginning of a job and not at the end.

 

[Sparky555]

I second what Growler just posted. It's simple in the initial contact to ask "Who's paying for this?", or "Who writes the check for this?". Usually it's a treasurer. Churches typically have a CPA do the books and write the checks.

 

[buzzbar]

I had a similar thing happen to me. We did some work for a church (small remodel), and sent them an invoice. Normally, I don't start calling for payment until 30 days has passed. Well, 30 days went by, and no payment. I played phone tag for a week or so, then they said that they would send the money 'within a week'.
The week went by, no money. This went on for another month or so. I finally asked them to just make payments. They started sending me checks for $300, $450, $600, etc... The bill finally got paid after about 4 months. I didn't charge any interest, but I suppose I could have.

They were nice people, but I wish they would have told me up front that they didn't have the money for the job. I blame myself for not asking this up front.

Also, I'm sure it varies from state to state, but in Washington State, you have to file an 'intent to lien' BEFORE you do any work. Filing a lien after the job is done will not stick in court. Just an FYI.

Andrew