How long does it take for a contractor to pay a subcontractor after a job?

Answer

I used to work in the credit dept at Sherwin Williams and always dealt with subcontractors who were late on payments because of contractors. Each contractor is different...some will only pay after the job is final and others will pay as phases of the job are finished; some pay within 30 days (which is rare) and some take as long as 90-120 days. My suggestion to you is ALWAYS find this information out BEFORE you start a job for any contractor and ALWAYS do research on the contractor because some of them can be very shady...make sure the contractor has been around for a while and has an established reputation. I had many subcontractors that were sent to outside collection agencies because the contractors never paid them or they went out of business during a job...either way the subcontractors were the ones borrowing the money therefore, were responsible for paying us. If you are borrowing money for a job with a contractor see if you can pay lenders back by joint check...this way, the lenders are usually more lenient with the subcontractors.

First answer by Littlebitty. Last edit by Littlebitty. Contributor trust: 137 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 24 [recommend question]