You land the contract you’ve been chasing. Big client. Multinational. Exactly the kind of work that proves you’re serious.
Then you realise what you’ve actually won: 60 days until payment. Suppliers who won’t wait. Payroll that’s due regardless. And a cash flow gap that’s about to strangle the business that job was supposed to grow.
That was the situation for a solar panel cleaning contractor in Hereford last month. Five years trading. No other borrowings. Solid business. They’d just completed a significant project for a large multinational – the kind of client that looks impressive on a portfolio but pays on terms that assume you’ve got cash reserves most growing businesses simply don’t have.
The invoice sat at £40,000. The gap until payment: 60 days. The problem: immediate.
What Most Businesses Try First
They did what most would do. Asked the client to pay early. Corporate procurement policy said no – 60 days was the standard terms, no exceptions, no negotiation. The invoice would be paid on day 60, not a day sooner.
So they approached their bank. Explained the situation. Asked for a short-term facility to bridge the gap.
The bank’s response was textbook: “We’ll need to review your accounts, assess affordability, run it through credit. Could take a few weeks.”
They didn’t have a few weeks. They had supplier invoices due, wages to pay, and a business that was profitable on paper but couldn’t function whilst waiting two months for money they’d already earned.
The Actual Problem Nobody Talks About
This wasn’t just one invoice causing trouble. It was the cumulative effect of multiple jobs all sitting on extended terms. When you’re working with larger clients, 60-day payment terms become standard. Some push it to 90.
For a business doing £500k-£1m turnover, that’s manageable if you’ve got reserves or access to working capital. But for most growing contractors and service businesses, it creates a permanent cash flow lag. You’re always working ahead of your ability to pay for the work you’re doing.
The solar panel contractor wasn’t mismanaged. They weren’t overstretched. They were just caught in the gap between doing the work and getting paid for it – a gap that gets wider the more successful you become.
What Actually Solved It
When they called, I asked one question: “What do you actually need right now?”
Not “how much do you want to borrow.” Not “what’s your turnover.” Just: what’s the immediate problem?
The answer was straightforward. They needed access to the cash tied up in that invoice. Not in three weeks after a credit review. Now.
Within half an hour, we’d arranged funding against that specific invoice. They got the money they were owed – or most of it – immediately. The facility sat against the invoice until their client paid on day 60, at which point it cleared and the facility closed.
No lengthy application process. No affordability assessments based on historical accounts. Just: you’ve done the work, here’s the invoice, here’s the cash.
Why This Works Differently
Most businesses think of funding as borrowing. You apply, get approved for an amount, draw it down, pay it back with interest over time.
This works differently. You’re not borrowing against future earnings or business projections. You’re releasing cash that’s already yours – it’s just trapped in an unpaid invoice.
The facility gets repaid automatically when the client pays the invoice. No monthly repayments to manage. No long-term commitment. The moment the invoice clears, the facility closes.
And here’s the part that surprised them: the facility doesn’t disappear. It sits there, dormant, ready for the next time they need it. No ongoing fees when it’s not in use. No pressure to keep using it. Just available when another large invoice creates the same gap.
What They Said Afterwards
Relief, more than anything.
Not because we’d done something complicated or creative. Because we’d listened to what they actually needed, understood the time pressure, and got them access to their own money without the delay that would’ve caused real damage.
They’ve used it twice since. Same pattern – large job, extended payment terms, immediate cash flow need. The facility releases the cash, sits quietly until the invoice gets paid, then resets for next time.
When This Makes Sense (And When It Doesn’t)
This isn’t the solution for every cash flow problem. If your issue is that clients aren’t paying at all, or if invoices are disputed, or if the business fundamentally isn’t profitable – funding against invoices won’t fix that. You’d just be delaying a bigger problem.
It works when:
- You’re doing work for creditworthy clients who will pay, just not quickly
- The gap between completing work and receiving payment is creating operational problems
- You need cash now, not after a lengthy approval process
- You don’t want long-term debt on the balance sheet
- You want the flexibility to use funding only when you actually need it
Most of the contractors, service businesses, and B2B companies we work with fit that profile. Profitable, growing, working with good clients – just strangled by payment terms that assume they’ve got working capital they don’t.
The Bit Nobody Warns You About
When you’re growing, this problem gets worse, not better. Bigger clients mean bigger invoices. Bigger invoices often mean longer payment terms. And the more successful you become, the wider that cash flow gap gets.
The solar panel contractor’s problem wasn’t a one-off crisis. It’s now a permanent feature of how their business operates. The difference is they’ve got a way to manage it that doesn’t involve panic calls, director’s loans, or turning down work because they can’t afford to wait 60 days to get paid.
If you’re in that position – landed the work, can’t wait for the money – the question isn’t whether you need funding. It’s whether you’re using the right type of funding for the problem you’ve actually got.