Joint Payment Agreements Do Benefit Every Glass Shop With Contract Work

I spoke at the recent Glass Expo in Seattle to a crowd of interested folks. One topic I mentioned was the concept of joint pays. Of the 60 people there, two or three were using them; most people didn’t know what they were. A joint pay is a fantastic tool for contract glaziers. Here’s the info.

You and your general contractor agree to pay a certain amount of money to the fabricator of your glass and/or metal. This relieves you of the credit obligation to your vendor. The vendor will do a credit check on the GC and, if warranted, give them a credit line for the amount you request. Joint pays usually begin at $20,000, but can be for a lesser amount if the vendor agrees.

Most fabricators have this process down pat. When the GC is ready to cut the check, it is made out to you and the fabricator. This doesn’t tie up your credit availability at your fabricator and allows you to continue your everyday purchasing.

The fabricators like joint pays, as they sell more to you as the contract job is carried on a different A/R account. You get the benefit of the fabricator carrying the debt. If, per chance, the GC goes belly up, the fabricator is out of luck, not you.

When you tell the GC how much the joint pay is, you can add in money you owe on your regular account. You don’t want to tell the GC exactly what you paid for your glass or metal.

The fabricator will do a complete credit check on your customer. And if they don’t want to extend the credit, you should be wary extending too much credit yourself.

Call the credit manager at your lead fabricator. I’m sure they will walk you through their process.