Construction professionals at work

Construction Financial Managers Weekly ReviewEvery Friday, we select a few articles from the week that we think are worth your time as a construction financial manager (CFM). We look for compelling articles not only about financial topics, but about business, technology, and life, that challenges you to think about your role as a CFM in different ways. 

The Owner’s View

Property owners have rights too, and regardless of your role as a construction professional, it’s important to understand all parties’ perspectives in order to achieve a fair payment process.

Scott Beatty at The Legal Scoop wrote an article this week titled “How to Pay Twice for Your Construction Project.” He begins with a common scenario: A homeowner is enjoying his newly renovated house, which he has made all payments for, and then there’s a knock on the door. I’ve excerpted the story here:

“…a masonry company is suing you for payment, and threatening to foreclose its claim of lien… Your heart sinks when you hear the dreaded message: ‘The number you have reached is no longer in service….’”

If the owner in this scenario had been in communication with the masonry company, or even known who they were, he might have avoided this situation. Our goal at Levelset is to drive fair payment in the construction industry, such that everybody is compensated properly for work well done and nobody overpays. One way to achieve this is to provide more transparency and communication from the beginning of a project.

> Read the article

The Value of e-Invoicing

Imagine a world with faster invoicing. More connected invoicing. More informative invoicing.

tech.eu published this week the origin story of Tradeshift, an e-invoicing company (and one of our favorites too). The story goes that Christian Lanng got a job with the Danish government. Frustrated by the scale of inefficiencies he saw there, Lanng set about building a universal, standardized invoicing system for any business providing services or goods to the Danish government.

Since 2008, Tradeshift has raised $130 million, employs 250 people, and counts over 25 Fortune 500 companies among its customer base. Consider this quote from Laang about the value transformation of invoicing:

“Yesterday, if I needed to find out whether I could take the risk of approving a buyer’s request to increase their credit limit, I’d ask them for certified documents to back up their request. With Tradeshift, we have access to millions of transactions so we can provide that information on demand, in real time.”

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