We are working a large construction site in Florida. It is for one of the entertainment parks. We have 5 projects from medium to large and a half dozen or more contractors. That work is not near me but I have a PSM running things there. Invoicing is beginning to be a problem. He has been filling out work orders and getting them signed. Then he scans them and sends them to the main office for invoicing. Orders for locates and various types of stakeout and whatnot are beginning to come in faster and he is way behind on billing. He has been tracking down the supervisors and owners to get them to physically sign the work order but it's getting harder as everyone is getting busier.
Do any of you use electronic signatures for work orders? I need a better way to get my work orders signed and back into the main office. Any suggestions?
I'm interested in this, too. An app on a smart phone would be very convenient. All of my team has an Android.
We just make sure we have hourly contracts in place with the various contractors, and make sure the crew keeps a good diary. Their timecard tracks the project for billing-
OK, roger that but when you invoice, do you get their super or whoever is in charge in the field to hand sign a work ticket or invoice or do you just send you invoices straight to their office for billing?
It depends on the contractor. One contractor wanted daily work tickets submitted to their super every day we were on site. Sometimes I would submit them two or three at the end of the week if we were out there staking curbs for two or three days during that week. I would either scan them, or take a picture with the phone or tablet, and create a PDF for my file, and leave the original with them. The super would sign them at his convenience. The one we submitted would have my signature on it.
It never was a problem. When we submitted our invoices, I would submit copies along with the usual lien waivers, itemized invoice, and other documents. It worked okay.
I have worked with some contractors that were pretty easy to get along with, and others were a little more strict with the paperwork. The important thing is to get it under control now, because once you get behind on getting in their pay cycle, it is tough to operate on a reduced cash flow, and get them to get the checks caught up.
I found early on a copy machine isn't that expensive these days, when doing work orders on site would turn a copy into their PM's box daily, until they directed me to whomever it was in Billing that would end up with it anyway. That way the field guys got what they needed, it made it to the contractor's billing department before it did to the company I worked for.
Each work order was in fact an invoice, with billable rates up front. I got it signed authorizing the work, and again when the work was completed with number of hours and final fee.
The only times it ever caused problems was when payment would hit the office before existing in house staff had processed the work orders, created some great void in the universe I was told repeatedly would end life as we knew it. After digging they would eventually find where it had been turned in weeks ago but I learned my lesson. Once I got wise, they would only get a copy as well, kept a separate folder with all the originals that would be turned in at closeout.
