Leveling the playing field with Materials Financing

Getting access to cash can be difficult in the world of construction, but if you want to be competitive in your bids and finish your jobs on time – it’s a must.

Materials Financing can help you with all of that and more.

Register for this webinar to hear from Alberto Polanco and Elizabeth Baldera with Polanco Business Solutions and Rane Martin with Levelset about how to:

• Be more competitive in your bids and win more jobs
• Take on more, and bigger, projects as you grow your business
• Finish jobs on time and strengthen your vendor relationships

Join Levelset and USMCA to learn more about how Materials Financing can level the playing field for you and your business.

Speaker 1 (00:04):
It’s I’m so glad y’all joined us today. My name is Andrew Dunn and I’m the vice president of financial products here at level set level set has been passionate about helping small contractors for almost a decade. One thing we know well is how small and going contractors struggle with cash. You have paying general contractors or owners, then you have to pay your crew each week and you owe material suppliers money. There’s a lot of bills to pay. And as a small contractor, the deck is really stacked against you. We wanna level the playing field. And today we’re gonna talk about our materials financing program that we launched to give contractors access to the cash. They need to grow their business and take control of their finances. And some of you may know, level set was acquired by Procore at the end of last year. And Procore has had a long relationship with the minority contractors association. And, and when we joined forces with, with Procore, our, our friends at Procore, couldn’t wait to introduce us to you all, to roll this program out to you. So we’re very excited. So now I’m gonna kick it back to kind hour in rain who helped, who both helped us launch this program and it helped helped lots of subcontractors with financial flexibility. So thank you all for joining today.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
Thank you so much, Andrew. So happy to see you. Thank you so much for the introduction. We’re absolutely thrilled to be here as he said. So really excited to talk to you all about leveling the playing field with materials financing. And I see A’s coming back. I was about to say, where did my friend go? OK, wonderful. So we have Alan here. Again, we are a very flexible bunch. There is, there are wifi issues, there are all sorts of things and we’re just happy to be here. So thank you for joining us. And, and here with us. So, all right. So Alan and ring, the question that I have burning in my soul is why is it so difficult to achieve positive cash in the construction industry? Please explain.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
Yeah, well first of all, I wanna, I wanna thank everybody for being here. I just wanna take the time to say thank you. We’re happy to have you here and we’re happy to be here to present for you and then answer any questions that you possibly have. But yeah, I mean, positive cashflow, the, the odds are kind of stacked against you in a lot of ways it’s to, to develop positive cashflow flow in any business is gonna be difficult and especi in this construction field where it seems like constantly things are just always not in your favor and you’re just trying your best every step of the way to you know, keep your best foot forward and going on the right path. And it seems like every day there’s obstacles that you have to jump through and things to things that come up that, that get in the way of that you have your payroll, you have your labor costs, you have your material costs, which is something that we’re gonna talk a little bit more on today, but you have so many costs that are out there and that are of you.

Speaker 3 (03:00):
And oftentimes you’re not getting paid for, you know, 90 to a hundred days on these jobs that you’re working and you’re, you know, flowing that cash between that timeframe and that that’s that’s what we wanna do. And that’s what we want to be here to help with as well. So, Alan, I don’t know if you have any other things you wanna add.

Speaker 4 (03:19):
No, that sounds perfect. I mean the whole program and the, every everything that we do is out to help customers get paid, help customers do what they need to do. And we’re not like banks, we don’t, we’re not, we don’t work that way. We look at the project, the customer, we look at the entire actual BirdEye view of everything so that we can do everything possible to say yes, and, and that’s what, that’s what we pride ourselves in. We’re gonna do everything possible to make things happen for you.

Speaker 2 (03:50):
Yeah. And I think it might be a good idea to give some really good, but maybe high level comparisons of some of the other ways that this industry can achieve access to cash, whether it be you know, bank loans or personal credit cards or some of these other things. And how does that differ from something like materials financing.

Speaker 4 (04:15):
And actually I see crystal young has her hand raised. So did she have a question?

Speaker 2 (04:22):
Yeah. If anybody has questions, if we could put those into the chat, that would be absolutely amazing. Just a little bit easier for us to keep track of them. But yes, please, please, please bring your questions on. We would love them.

Speaker 3 (04:35):
Yep. And to answer your question, Kara, while we’re waiting on Crystal’s question as well specifically other options that are out there. Yeah. You have the banks that you can go to work with. However, I think we, we’re all familiar that it’s not the easiest thing in the world to go and get a loan from the bank and to get them to finance your not only your business, but your projects as well. Oftentimes they’re looking for, you know, two plus years in business or you know, a certain profitability level before they’re even actually gonna take a look or they’re gonna dive into your buts as well, and really dive in to find out what all is going on. And sometimes it’s hard to get those, but together on the timeframe that the bank needs to get what you want done, and then off sometimes their, their time limits that seed the timeframe that you need for your projects and the cashflow concerns that you have going on.

Speaker 3 (05:33):
So banks are out there though. Banks are, are there to theoretically help as well. You know, there’s other avenues that, you know, and I know y’all are all familiar factoring and things like that. Factoring, they’re gonna be looking at your invoices and they’re gonna be paying you out based on those options or based on the invoices that you have out there. But usually they’re gonna want the ability to take a look at your whole book or a good portion of your book and start paying out invoices on all of that, as opposed to just project to project basis. And that, that’s one thing that really differentiates us from, from some of those other options. We, we truly look at all of your needs on a project to project basis, and we just wanna help. We just wanna to help and we want get you, get you through that stage of your life and that stage of your business and get you to a better spot where you’re more in control of what you’re doing every single day. And we, we wanna provide that financial success. Alan, I don’t have anything.

Speaker 4 (06:31):
I do only the fact that I don’t know about you. I don’t like people to get into my business and

Speaker 4 (06:38):
I, I don’t want, I don’t wanna feel like going to the dentist is a better, more fun activity than going to the, my bank or going to a factoring company. And every time I’ve dealt with anyone in those issues, suddenly they become in control. Once I sign the dotted line, they’re in control of everything. They, they get to ask you all the personal questions and get that to ask you, you know, and control exactly how you get paid, the money that you’re asking for. And, and that’s not what we’re about. We want to give you the control back. So if you wanna see the difference in all of these things, what material financing does for you is it puts you back in control. You know, definitely we have parameters, we set it, you know, not a one size fits all situation. We wanna give you the ability to make some, you know, some good, hard decisions that works best for you and your company. You have a hundred thousand dollars line of credit with your supplier. That’s fantastic. Why not double that? And let us help you pay for those materials. That’s what material financing can do for you. It puts you back in the driver’s seat, you get to control your cash flow the bank. Doesn’t tell you how to do that. The factoring company doesn’t come in, you know, we don’t come in and sweep your bank account. Everything is, is very transparent and we communicate and communicate is the way we win every time.

Speaker 3 (07:52):
Yeah. I feel like that’s a really great opportunity to bring in some of the panelists who we were gonna have today, Alberto and Elizabeth from Polanco and the success that they’ve seen here with us, Alan, I know you have a really great relationship with ’em sorry to put you on the spot with us too. No, you’re not. But could you talk a little bit more about like their journey with us and the success that they’ve been able to see from that? Yeah.

Speaker 4 (08:16):
Polanco business solutions basically does fabrication work in cabinetry and, and they take a raw material such as lumber, anything else in fixtures and turn it into a finished project and, and deliver it to the site. The problem that they were is they were running into GCs that, that they were having to be the bank for the GC, when it should be the other way around, it shouldn’t be all their money, you know, in the game, the GCs had no skin in the game and Polanco was having to front everything. So when, when Alberto came to us and, and wanted to talk to us about what they did, we decided, you know, we were going to, you know, step out with them, cater this to their specific business so that we could make it work for them. And then we tried one or two projects together, and it, it started flowing very well.

Speaker 4 (09:03):
We bought the materials, we worked out how the delivery was gonna be made of those materials. They, you know, they fabricated materials and then they got it on the job site and we developed a flow. And now they’re one of our largest customers who have greater than nearly 20 projects with us. And it’s been a very successful ride. Plus tells us time and time again, how much his business has grown and taken off. It’s also opened doors for him to work with other very mainstream GCs. And now banks are knocking on his door, wanting to see if they can and give financing. And he continues to come back to us because we continue to cater to his projects. And so it’s been a great situation, a great customer for us, a good situation for him, and it’s really taken off. And he is, he is one of the, the big fabricators of that type of office material in Southern Florida. And it, you know, and he’s, and tripling his profits in a short order of time.

Speaker 3 (09:59):
And tripling may be even underselling it going into this year for, for him as well. So, yeah, it’s 26 projects to be at Zack at this point in time. That’s how many we’ve done with Alberto. But I, I really love that you focused on relationship and catering to the business cuz that’s, that’s, I feel, I feel like that’s our differentiator here. That’s what we do best. And that’s what I believe will continue to do best going forward as we work with more and more clients and have the ability to work with your businesses as well. We, we literally build an approach that’s gonna work best for you and best for our relationship and best for your or projects on an individual basis. And we’ll work with you every single step of the way. We pride ourselves on being authentic and being genuine and honestly, trying to help you take those net steps for your business and in whatever we can do to make that happen.

Speaker 3 (10:52):
That’s what we wanna do. We have endless conversations that Alan and I had one this morning with the client where we, we, we wanted to have that nets project for them be the right project. And we fortunately with our data, we’re able to see whether projects are safe for you to even take and safe for you to take that net step with if, if, if you should be bidding on this nets project that could come along on bite we’re, we’re able to kind of give you some insights there as well, and to help with that perspective, and maybe even help you make a decision for your business that to protect it on for the long term as well. But but we want to, we wanna see you grow and we wanna protect that business. And we, we take a personal state in that we, we, we really invest in you and that’s this relationship aspect is we is what it’s all about for us.

Speaker 2 (11:40):
That’s right. And it is very much a partnership right there. There’s, there’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes that I think is truly amazing. A lot of which is between yourself and with Alan and even speaking to the supplier, cuz that’s correct. Right. We, we take that on and we are the ones that talk to the supplier and work out all of the details. So in that, not only are we helping free up cash flow, we’re also helping free up time, valuable time that you have to be with your family or be on the job site or, or doing these things that that you need to do. We’re a partnership in more ways than one wouldn’t you agree?

Speaker 3 (12:21):
Oh yeah. And we, and even to push that one a little further, we those relationships with your suppliers, we’re just further solidifying those. We, we want to help you to continue to build those relationships with your local suppliers, the people that you want to use on a regular basis, the people that you’ve used for 5, 10, 20 years, we, we want you to still be able to go back to them and work with them, but also help them because you’re paying them on day one. And that’s, that’s gonna help continue to build your relationship with them and also take out some of the headache that that relationship can come with as well from perspectives. Y’all, don’t have to worry about that finance part of the equation anymore. It’s just gonna be taken care of for you at that point. And y’all can just really focus on building the best relationship possible, which also another low T benefit for you all as well is that you’re getting preferred delivery at that point because you’re a cash buyer now are gonna be getting you your materials faster.

Speaker 3 (13:16):
You may even get discounts likely will get discounts by being a cash buyer as well. That was my next question. <Laugh> see. We’re simpatico right here. So we but those are the two things like you’re, you’re getting better, I guess, relationships and business with by, by utilize in that and taking advantage of it, you’re gonna be paying less money because you’re gonna be getting those discounts on the front end. You’re gonna be able to get, get your job done faster because you’re getting the preferred delivery, which is enable, enabling you to take going more jobs as well. And that’s more money in your pocket at the end of the day,

Speaker 4 (13:50):
Plus, it’s great to be catered to. Yeah. And when you’re, and we are, when you’re the one that comes to the dance with all the money and, and you’re paying for it the very first day, like, like rain had said that that makes you to be able to ask those, Hey, I know I’m not set for delivery till Thursday, but why don’t you try to get that to me on Wednesday, cuz I’ve paid you out front, being able to say those things and have, have that certainty and assertiveness in your voice because you know, it’s been taken care of because you know that your partner has already paid the bill. That that’s a pretty nice place to be.

Speaker 3 (14:21):
Yeah. And, and your GCs are gonna love you. Your materials are gonna be on time and on schedule and you’re gonna be able to do your work probably even ahead of schedule a lot of times. And they’re gonna fall in love with that. And that that’s, it is just a, it’s a cohesive, like amazing process all the way across the board. And it’s been amazing to see genuinely.

Speaker 2 (14:40):
Yeah, absolutely. So gentlemen, this all sounds awesome. Right? This sounds well. And good. Why don’t we talk a little bit about some of the nitty gritty that comes along with financing because as Allen said, you know, there are things that we put into place for us as well, but this is a partnership we do work together and can we kind of walk through we have 10 minutes left just for everybody that’s here. So if you do have questions, get those into the chat. We’ll have a, a, an opportunity to answer those in a couple of minutes. But why don’t we talk through some of the things that come along with materials financing and how we can potentially teach everyone here to pass off some of that onto their customers and build it into their pricing. So if we could kind of start at the top work all the way down, that would be a dream.

Speaker 3 (15:32):
Yeah. Yeah. So just a quick, you know, 32nd to a minute rundown of like how the process works. We will work with any supplier. I just to kind of build upon that we, we don’t wanna fracture the relationships that you have in place. We, we wanna just continue to further those. So we will work with any supplier and get them paid up on the timeframe that y’all need for your job. You’ll be able to apply in settings and even in partnership with U S M C a, we have built an even easier platform to be able to just go in through a cobranded process and our Cobra landing page that you’ll be able to access the website and then be able to apply through that link that is on there as well. I believe that’s going out to them after this is that direct Cara.

Speaker 3 (16:16):
Okay. So yeah, appliance seconds that is screaming at you because it’s gonna be in your email ready to go right after this. So and then get approved. We, we say within 48 hours oftentimes we’re able to work those quicker, but we like to save 48 hours just to, you know, get all the projects and all the types of jobs that we could possibly see into the equation. And then from there we do 128 terms. So oftentimes your suppliers are giving you probably 30 day terms if you’re even getting that some of you may be fortunate enough to where you’re getting longer terms and if that’s the case, that’s amazing. And we don’t wanna disrupt that world for you. We we’re here to just help. So any, any the terms that aren’t working for you and the times that you need to maybe go outside of those normal scopes, that those are the opportunities to bring us in and help. Cause we are giving you the 120 day payment terms to, to work with us. So,

Speaker 4 (17:09):
And I noticed that we had a question from Ernest Edwards great question. Actually, most GCs are paid when paid. And this actually makes the benefit of what material financing is all about. Our program is paid when paid up to 120 days like rain just said. So what that does is for your GCs, that string you along to the 60 to the 90 days, this gives you that extra buff for of an additional 30 days. And if it were to go past 120 days, you know, we, we hope that does not happen. We will have conversations with you on what we can do to get that situation going. Finance charges would still apply, but we will work with you one on one to try to secure that and to make sure that you reach and, and comply with your contract with us at the hundred 20th day, or at least close to it.

Speaker 4 (17:59):
But you know, like I said, it’s a partnership or communication is the key. The best thing that we have going is you can pick up a phone. And if you, if rain, if you wanna talk to rain available, if you wanna talk to a salesperson they’re available, even Kara would be available and she’ll direct you to the right person. If she can’t answer the question the teamwork that we have and, and the material finance area is unbelievable. Every time you pick up a phone to talk to somebody, you’re talking to somebody that’s knowledgeable and can get you to the right person. And we take pride in that and that’s a part of being a, a partnership.

Speaker 2 (18:30):
Yeah. And I’ll also add that, you know, if, if you were to go past the hundred and 20 days, that’s a conversation that’s not gonna happen on day 119. There are, there are a lot of conversations that happen before that because Alan, you and team and rain are cont on our, in continuous communicate. See, checking in seeing how the job’s going. I mean, I’ve even heard like friendship, personal phone calls because we’re so ingrained in, in this. And I know like, again, our wonderful Alberto that wanted to be here so badly today, you guys are going to, to wet Miami to go see him in a little while. So, you know, it just it says a lot about the business and how oftentimes as a GC or subcontractor, et cetera, you know, there, there is a lot of responsibility put on that personal connection and that also flows into this relationship as well. Yep.

Speaker 3 (19:27):
And I’ll, I’ll, I’ll go just a little bit further on that. The just to kind of push a little bit more on the relationship aspect. So the 120 day things, I know y’all, y’all both answered it, but communication’s key. So if it’s doing a dopa in 120 days, we’ve been having those conversations and ideally we’re, we’re talking on a regular basis anyways, and we’ll be more aware and of, of the fact that it’s going past that 120 days, and we’ll work with you past that. And as long as you’re properly communicating, and you’re sharing things with us, every step of the way, we’re gonna continue working with you every step of the way. And that’s it, it truly is a partnership. It truly is a relationship based business. So,

Speaker 4 (20:07):
And, and we’re, we’re not naive. We know that in addition to materials, you pro have the ging, you for labor and other things, and you would be amazed in a partnership with us. We’re trying to get you paid for everything. We wanna protect all your money. Not just, we’re not the selfish partner that just sets on the side, like, oh, now we got ours. If we’re out the door, we’re gonna be there to, to, to push a little bit. If we have to, to help, you know, if notices become necessary, we’re gonna communicate with you and we’re gonna, we’re gonna have the best plan going forward. That’s gonna benefit you the customer. So hope I didn’t belabor that point, but I wanted to really drive that home.

Speaker 2 (20:45):
Yeah,

Speaker 3 (20:45):
Absolutely. Its an important point. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (20:47):
And speaking of some of our amazing partners Vivian bell is one of our dearest, I’m going to go ahead and say friends absolutely love Vivian. And she was the first one to tell us you know, we’re so excited that you have the portal now and you know, we can log in in and we can do everything in one place. And I can see all of my projects and you know, she was so vocal. She is so vocal in telling us things that we’re doing well and telling us ways that we can get better because we are not perfect and we value not only the communication, but the feedback. You know, and the one thing that I want to point out here is just that, like this means like if you’re having, if you, if your materials cost a lot, this is a great option for you. And this is a great route. She again, meshes a as a fabrication and millwork company it looks like we have another question coming into the Q and a Mark Smith said, what is the interest rate?

Speaker 4 (21:49):
So since it’s go ahead, I’m gonna let you, you

Speaker 3 (21:52):
Got it,

Speaker 4 (21:52):
Alan.

Speaker 3 (21:52):
Nope. Okay.

Speaker 4 (21:53):
<Laugh> because we are not, everything’s one size fits all. We cater that, even that to the customer and the way the project looks and the way that the customer looks and rain I’ll let you take it from there.

Speaker 3 (22:04):
Yeah. And with the relationship that you all have with the Procore and the relationship between PROCO and U S M C a we will be doing preferred pricing as well. So there will be more favorable pricing on these projects that we work on for you all you know, standard pricing for somebody coming in off the street is gonna be some sort of an origination fee of one to 2%, and then they’re gonna be paying a monthly finance charge as well. That would be some, probably around 3%, but the, you did preferred pricing. This will be last for you as well. But I, I just wanted to make sure that that was, that was stress that in partnership with you all, we wanna invest in you and we want to really build this relationship and, and make something special. So we, we will definitely be offering preferred pricing and you’ll get, you’ll get the better, better options from us for sure.

Speaker 4 (22:57):
That’s right. Kara, one thing, another thing I wanted to say about mesh, I also spoke with the president of mesh Gary grooms. He said recently in a conversation, he goes, this has put us in a situation we’ve never been in before where they’re only because of the volume that they’re able to do with us. Now, they’ve only been able to accept 5% of the 95% of the work that they’ve been offered. So they are so overwhelmed by business right now. They they’re able to pick and choose and take the top 5% contracts that are being offered to them. So they’re, they’re getting ready to expand on a huge scale based on what we’ve been able to, to work with them as a partner. So just in addition to what Vivian said, the owner of the company feels exactly the same way.

Speaker 3 (23:41):
Yeah. And it’s awesome to work with mesh as well. Cuz yeah, that, I kind of to further upon that, like they’re, they’re a perfect example of somebody who doesn’t use us for every project. They use us for the ones that made sense for their business and that they need us for. And we, we work with them on those projects and when they, when they need us to come in and help that that’s when we come in and help and we’re constantly communicating and it’s, it’s been truly an amazing relation ship to build upon and everybody over there is amazing. And we, we love to working with them. I’ll also say, I probably should have said this as well. I did talk about the origination fee, but in terms of the preferred pricing, we will be waving the origination fees for the U S M C a members. So you wouldn’t have any upfront pricing to worry about. So, so I should have thrown that in whenever I was talking pricing

Speaker 2 (24:28):
<Laugh> you snuck it in there. <Laugh> fantastic. And I think, you know, all of this also was made possible because U S M C a as an organization and rev Bullock believes in this product and once the service and, and once everyone and part of the, that is a part of this to thrive and grow their business and take control and finish their jobs and, and be an absolute support to you all. And, and so I just like, I’m gonna get emotional just thinking about it, but thank you to U S N C a for having us here and allowing us to do this. We’re not even done with the presentation, but I’m just bubbling over with gratitude because this is such a great opportu. We did have, oh, go

Speaker 3 (25:08):
Ahead. Right. Yeah, I was gonna say yeah, I wanted to push on that a little bit too. Thank you for having a Reverend bolt we’re, we’re so excited to be here and so excited to do anything we can to help and just be another resource for, for you and for all your members. And we, we wanted continue to build those partnerships. I, I was also gonna bring up the Q and a, that was in there from Mark Smith. Can a contractor get financing when working directly for a homeowner? It does do a little bit more tricky for us. It’s not one of those things we say outright, no to at all. We, we definitely wanna be able to take on your projects and, and work on those. It does get more tricky when there is, it’s just a it to homeowner situation the payment change shortened, and a lot of times lie rights can be a little bit more in question that, and we base a lot of our underwriting upon the lean rights as well. Alan, you may be able to kind of answer a little bit further at that point.

Speaker 4 (26:05):
Yeah. Another great part about us having a part is we’ll have a conversation you you’re, you’re gonna, when you bring something to your salesperson, you bring something to us or you do it online. We’re going to take a look at it and we’re gonna have a conversation with you because we want as being a partner. We’re gonna tell you what we think is safe and what we think may not be quite as safe. So definitely we do those type of deals. We will do those type of projects, but there are layers to a, a situation when a homeowner that may stay in a property for 30 years, obviously a lane on a property where somebody’s not going to, you know, not going to wanna move anytime soon. None of us here wanna be in the process of putting somebody out of their home. So we wanna be very careful and, and we don’t take it lightly when we, when we do those type of projects. So I’m not saying we don’t do those. I’m just saying there’ll be a conversation to qualify it so that we make sure we’re all doing what’s best for that homeowner.

Speaker 3 (27:02):
Yeah. And that I love yeah. I love how you expanded upon that, Alan. I, I see Reverend bull came in with another question for us. Thank you for that. And I’m glad you, I’m glad you brought that up. So does the rate, or does the charges change depend on your credit? If you’ve noticed, we haven’t really talked about credit and that’s on purpose because we don’t really pay too much at tension to it. We, if we do check credit it, it, it is genuinely just a soft pull if it in, if it ever needs to go past that, for whatever reason, whether the project is a risk to your project, or maybe the GC doesn’t have as much data or, you know, something like that comes up, we, we may need to dig a little deeper. But Alan, how many times do you think we’ve actually pulled credit this year?

Speaker 4 (27:50):
Pulled personal credit on a, on an owner maybe seven times in the entire year. Yeah. Because it’s, that’s not the way we, we do things from a, a level that it spreads the risk out over a large, a, a larger I wanna say a larger landscape and it allows us to do things based on the merit of the project and the merit of the actual company. And, you know, we do have people that, Hey, I just started this business three months ago. Can you help us? We have helped those companies. You know, we, we have conversations with you. It’s like, well, tell us a little bit of your background. Is this something that, you know, you opened this company, what did you do before this? You know, if you were a piano tutor before this, and you decided you wanted to wake up and put roses on, Hey, doesn’t mean, I’m gonna say no, I just wanna know, you know, why did you decide to start putting roses on after you’re a piano tutor? Okay. That, wasn’t funny at all, but, you know, I tried to throw a little,

Speaker 3 (28:43):
That was a,

Speaker 4 (28:45):
But no, that’s what, it’s rare that we, we go deep and, and now there have been times for the owner wants us to say, Hey, listen, it’s the new company. We, I want you to check on me and, and put this on my credit more than anybody else’s that that’s fine. We’ll we’ll have that conversation. Yeah. But we’re gonna cater this to you.

Speaker 3 (29:04):
Yeah. And so much of what we do is project at specific independent we’re, we’re, we’re very focused on the actual project. We’re not as focused on the personal credit history or the business credit history. Yes. We do take a 3000 foot view of what that looks like, just so we know what’s been going on and making sure that, you know, there’s not any like streaming red flag as we’re going into the process, but that’s really the extent of it. We’re not, we’re not deep diving there. We’re not you know, gonna go through like, kind of the example earlier, we’re not going through your buts. We’re not doing any of that stuff. It’s I probably should have said this on the last slide. And I’m, I’m glad I’m coming back to it now, but when you do apply for a project it is simply sending us the contract, the signed contract between you and your customer, and then the invoice or purchase order from your supplier.

Speaker 3 (29:56):
And that’s it, that’s all we need. We don’t need anything else. We’re not as team for your tax returns. We’re not looking at your profit and loss statement. We’re not checking your balance sheet and diving deep into that. There may be times where we have to dig a little deeper, but we’ll communicate that in advance, but on, I would say 98% of projects, 98 out of a hundred projects are not gonna get asked that. And, and those should just be based on project size or just maybe the project the GC that’s involved, maybe a little riskier. And so we just wanna make sure that things are buttoned up the way that they need to be. So, yeah, I think rain I’ve only asked you to help me get financials on maybe five total customers. Yep. Five this whole time. And, and, and that was mainly because it was up to a million dollars and you it’s a million dollars. So, you know, <laugh>, it’s what we have to do a

Speaker 2 (30:45):
Lot of dollars. Yeah. So there’s one more, oh, we have a couple questions. This is great. So I do just because we are here at 1 36, we wanna respect everyone’s time. Our hard stop is gonna be at 1 45. I think these questions are fantastic. I wanna make sure that we get them answered for anyone that has to jump because it’s a little after one 30, we totally understand, again, this recording will be sent out in a day or so. But for anyone that can still hang with us, please do please still hang. And I did would just wanna share this one more quote, and then we will dive fully into questions and get everyone’s questions answered. This is our wonderful Alberto Planco who is going to be with us today. And I, what I wanna point out here is, you know, now I send the invoice and level set process as the payment with two to three days, and we can get delivery for those materials.

Speaker 2 (31:38):
It is truly that simple. I promise it is not alluded. It is not, you know, this big thing with all these hidden fees. It’s very transparent. And the one thing that I was really hoping for Cher to be here to answer is the impact that it’s made on not just him, but his team and everyone that works in his building and the things that he’s been able to do for them that an extension of his family, I think Ray Al and, and Alan, I wanna say like his, his son works there, like the it’s a family business. And the fact that that is something that is gives him so much pride. I know is something we can all resonate with that taking care of the people that are there to support you is one of the greatest gifts that something we like this can offer.

Speaker 2 (32:25):
So I will also say we have a wonderful overview of Alberto his business and how we’ve helped them grow that will be coming out in about a week or so. So I’m really excited that we’ll still be able to share that you’ll still be able to hear their story. And hopefully we can have many more of those. So I’m gonna stop talking now. The next slide I have here is questions. And so I do think that we have a couple do you guys mind if I read them off to you,

Speaker 4 (32:53):
Go for it at all?

Speaker 2 (32:54):
Excellent. So the first question Ernest says, does the rate decrease based upon volume? Some of our suppliers give a discount based upon paying earlier. I E 1% discount if paid in 10 days, how quick do you pay? And if it is within the 10 day period, do I receive the discount or does level set? What an amazing Ernest, we love you. This is fantastic. Take it away, gentlemen.

Speaker 3 (33:19):
Yeah. So does the financing charges decrease based upon volume? So it is project to project specific. So it’s really based on the stability of that project of what the financing fees are gonna be. Obviously if it is a larger project and it’s your, your volume is, you know $400,000 worth of materials, we’re gonna do everything we can. And that’s the relationship aspect that comes a part of this to make sure that we’re being fair to you, and it’s not putting you in a spot that is, you know, difficult or hard to maintain. And so we would work on that together and we’d make sure that whatever is getting sent over to you from financing fee perspective is gonna be to work with you and make sure that that’s going forward from that direction. But it, it’s hard to say specific to volume, but I would say specific to project if it’s a super stable project, it gives us a lot more flexibility.

Speaker 4 (34:12):
<Laugh> and then I guarantee you, I guarantee you if, if we’re putting $400,000 out the door, those larger projects, and we qualified that project, you’re gonna get preferred pricing. Cause I mean, obviously we already know that the risk is gonna be, we already know what the risk is going to be on that. So absolutely.

Speaker 2 (34:30):
And Ernest correct us if we’re wrong. I think he may be asking if the supplier is giving him the discount, like he gets that discount, right? Like that’s not something that we’re gonna say, Nope, you have to pay regular pricing. Like, that’s one of the benefits of this is we want your supplier to give you discounts. We want you to have to pay as the least amount possible for these materials. And that is why we’re here. And then he also asked, how quick do we pay? And the answer is

Speaker 3 (34:58):
Can give,

Speaker 4 (34:59):
Get done, pay one.

Speaker 3 (35:01):
And that’s the, yeah. So to, yeah, any discounts we’re able to get from the suppliers we’re always passing those on to you. So if you send us an invoice for a hundred thousand dollars, but because we’re paying day one or because of the relationship that we’re able to build with that supplier in the payment process, we’re able to switch here the same materials for 95,000 instead of the hundred thousand you’re, you’re gonna be paying 95,000. We’re giving you that $5,000 discount. We’re passing that on to you. That’s not we, we’re not interested in that. We’re, we’re focused on your business and we wanna see you succeed and anything we can do to help that. And if it’s, if it’s as simple as getting a discount from the supplier, that’s what we wanna pass on to you because we’re invested in you in, in your business.

Speaker 4 (35:51):
You can even get multiple discounts. I mean, literally it we’ve seen the situation, you know, you do business with Procor, you get a special discount, it lows. Then on top of that, you might get a discount because you’re paying first day. I mean, you can layer up on layer discounts that we’re not gonna take from you, that that’s for you to leverage. And you know, what, if I were, you don’t tell, don’t tell your who your hiring party or anything else use this. Like you’re going to buy a car for cash. I mean, you, you want to, you wanna get in there and negotiate the best of the

Speaker 2 (36:20):
Excellent. I think we have the most perfect final question here. Rose says, let’s say, hypothetically, we wanna pilot this opportunity on our first large project. How do we start? Is there a cap on the project contract price for materials and does the supply to material vendors and equipment vendors. So let’s start with, how do we start,

Speaker 3 (36:48):
Alan? You may be best for these questions to start, and then I can add some additional context.

Speaker 4 (36:53):
It, it, as far as getting started, everything that rain said before is exactly where it gots large project. There is no cap. We, we’re not, we’re not coming in and saying, now, if you come to us and need 1.2 million worth of materials, it may take a few days longer for us to get our due diligence done and get that done. But it’s not gonna take that much longer when it comes to equipment, we don’t do rentals. It would be anything that equipment’s gonna be hard because what we’re only doing is the materials that are gonna stay at that specific project site and never leave. So, so that’s why at this point, we may down the road offer more in the way by way of equipment, as lean laws are starting to change and all the states, but at this time it’s mainly materials. That’s, that’s what we’re doing.

Speaker 4 (37:38):
That’s what we’re doing this project on. So it’s material financing only. So I hope that answers that question. As far as getting started, it’s very simple and, and rain will loo this again, we just need a signed contract with your hiring party. We need a valid invoice or quote it’s sometimes it’s a quote that has to be converted. And once we have that along with your basic information, and rain will tell you how to do that online, or a salesperson can talk to. So that’s as simple as it is. And then we’re off to the races of getting you underwritten.

Speaker 3 (38:07):
Yeah. Yeah. And you, you said it perfectly. Yeah. yeah, that link that’s gonna be coming out after the webinar. That’ll take you directly to the apply now feature and that’ll filter over to myself and to my team and we’ll be able to out to you. And honestly, if you wanna reach out to me directly and just go ahead and start talking about this, do it, I love it. I would love to just start talking to you and that, and we can bypass the whole clicking only apply. Now call me up or email me and let’s right, let’s go ahead and start working. But it once we’re having that conversation, it’s just the contract between you and your customer and the invoice and the materials that you’re needing. And yeah, I’ll, I’ll just go ahead and kind of put it out there again, there’s not a cap on a project contract price or anything like that. We, we want you to have those big contracts, so go out and find ’em and then come to us for the materials and we’ll, we’ll, we’ll be there to help. So

Speaker 4 (38:59):
We always encourage you to do your due diligence on your side for a project. If it seems too good to be true, the profit margins seem too good to be true. They probably are. So I, we always want to go into this, like, we wanna be your partner and there’s gonna be sometimes where we tell you, Hey, you know, you gotta tell ’em that the baby’s a ugly sometimes. And that happens from time to time <laugh> so, you know, so we know how important those projects are and, and we wanna say, yes, we’re, we’re gonna do everything we can to say. Yes. And this is exciting. I’m really happy with all the, the people that are asking questions, because that makes you a great customer of ours. That means we want you

Speaker 3 (39:34):
That’s, I’ll, I’ll double down a, on that. I love all these questions. This is, this is what I find the true value of doing these webinars. We, we did a chance to actually talk to you and to address things that you’re thinking about. And I, I love it. I, I love being here to answer your questions and that’s why I’m, I, I reach out to me. I I’m always available to answer any questions that come and I’m happy to do it. I, I wanna make myself available to you as much as you want, or maybe as little as you want. I don’t know either way, whichever it’s

Speaker 2 (40:04):
About it’s up to you.

Speaker 3 (40:04):
<Laugh>

Speaker 4 (40:05):
The three of us, the three of us are so shy. It’s hard to get. It’s hard to get Kara rain and I to talk. We, you know, oh

Speaker 2 (40:12):
My mercy <laugh> once we get going. Well again, I, I, here we are right at time. Thank you all so much for being a part of this. We’re so grateful to be here. It is an absolute joy, a pleasure, and truly one of the most wonderful things I think we’ve done as a team since this started. And thank you so much to U S M C a Reverend Bullock to, to everybody that made it possible for us to be here. We’re so grateful. Thank you all again.