PVF receivables have a rhythm that distributors can't control. The mechanical contractor submits a pay application. The GC approves it, holds retainage and pays a few weeks later. Then the contractor pays you. You can't speed up the GC.
What you can speed up is everything after the contractor has the money. Most of the delay at that point is paperwork: an invoice the bookkeeper can't find, a ticket missing a PO or job number, a will-call pickup nobody signed for, a request for copies to back up the pay app. Each one adds days to a check that was ready to go.
Customers find their own invoices
In the app, customers see what has been billed and what is open. They can look up any invoice and see what's still unpaid. When the contractor's office is building backup for a pay application, they pull the invoices themselves instead of calling your AR clerk.
Order tracking helps, too. When the customer can see exactly what shipped and when, against which order, there are fewer disputes at month-end about a valve that "never showed up" or a short shipment on fittings.
Pay links and reminders that run on schedule
Every invoice can carry a Pay now button. Past-due reminders go out with a pay link in them, and the tone can step from friendly to firm as the invoice ages. Run them automatically or send them yourself.
The collections helper gives your credit team one place for:
- Who owes money and how late each account is.
- Which reminder schedule each account is on.
- A stop-by nudge for the rep who will be at that contractor's shop this week.
- Looking up any invoice and what is still open on it.
The stop-by nudge fits how PVF sales works. Your outside reps visit contractor shops and job sites anyway. If the rep knows a large water heater and fixture invoice is past due before walking in, they can mention it in person, which is often all it takes. A face-to-face reminder from someone the contractor likes usually gets a check cut faster than a third email from the office.
Collect without souring the relationship
Plumbing and mechanical contractors are long relationships, often family businesses that have bought from the same supply house for decades. Automated reminders help keep collections from feeling personal. The schedule does the asking. Your rep stays the helpful one.
Your office gets time back, too. Instead of calling down the whole aging report every week, your AR clerk focuses on the handful of accounts that really need a conversation.
Why it matters
We won't promise a number of days, because it depends on your accounts and terms. The reasoning is simple, though: every day sooner a contractor pays is a day less you are financing their job. That cash lets you keep pipe, fittings, valves and water heaters on the shelf for the next job, and offer terms to the next good contractor who walks into the branch.
The app works with your existing ERP, so invoices and payments stay tied to the account records your team already uses. Start by turning on pay links for every new invoice, then add the reminder schedule for accounts that are already slow.
Book a demo and see it with your branch counter and inside sales team.