Plumbing and mechanical contractors carry a lot of material cost before they get paid. Underground and rough-in material goes in early. Water heaters and fixtures go in late. Meanwhile the general contractor pays monthly, holds retainage, and sometimes slows down when the owner does. A contractor who can't get reasonable terms from you will get them from someone else, and their next job's pipe and fittings go with them.
That makes credit part of what you sell. The faster you can open a good account, the sooner its first big order comes to you.
Online credit applications
The old way is a PDF printed at the counter, half filled out, signed in the wrong place and faxed back without the bank reference page. Meanwhile, the new contractor is at will-call trying to charge a pallet of PVC.
The app has an online credit application with signature. The customer fills it out on their phone or computer and signs it there. Your credit manager reviews it and can approve terms with one tap. It's complete, legible and on file, and the account can start buying on terms the same day you approve it.
Tax exemption certificates, tracked
PVF distributors sell to a lot of exempt buyers: contractors buying for resale on some jobs, school districts, hospitals, municipalities and water utilities, and manufacturers buying for certain production uses. Every exempt account needs a valid certificate on file, and certificates expire. Most distributors find out about the gaps during an audit, when it's too late to collect the tax from the customer and the bill lands on you instead.
Tax exemption certificates in the app list every exempt account and show whose certificate is missing or expired. Your office can fix the gaps on its own schedule instead of an auditor's.
Extending better terms, safely
Better terms win jobs, as long as you can see the risk. A few things in the app help you offer more credit to the right customers:
- Complete, signed applications from day one.
- The collections helper shows who owes money and how late, so a slow payer shows up early.
- Pay links on every invoice make it easy to pay the day the GC's check clears.
- Customer health flags accounts that are slipping or at risk, which often shows up in buying before it shows up in payments.
- Budgets and approvals let a contractor's owner control what crews can charge.
That last one matters in plumbing and mechanical. Many credit problems start with too many people charging to one account: service techs, foremen, the new apprentice. When the owner can set a monthly budget per buyer and approve what goes over, they are comfortable with a bigger line, and so are you.
Terms as a reason to stay
A contractor who gets approved quickly, can see every invoice, and can pay with one tap when the GC finally pays has a reason to keep you as their main supply house. The app helps you offer terms without taking on risk you can't see, and it works with your existing ERP, so approved terms and certificate status live where your team already works.
A good place to start is your newest accounts and your biggest exempt ones. Send the credit application link to every new contractor who walks into the branch, and have your office work the missing and expired certificate list once a week. Both habits pay for themselves quickly.
See how it works with your own PVF and plumbing catalog.