im not advising anyone to do the following , but after many years of chasing money thru solicitors, the courts, knocking on doors etc etc i have literally tried everything possible and like most people on here have heard many a story of what others have tried to recover debts to no end result.
A) try getting paid up front for as much work as possible
B) try getting a percentage up front if the above dont work
C) before accepting a job try negotiate a weekly or fortnightly payment scheme
D) like the animal says employ the right man to collect your debts , dont go round threaten to break his legs if you dont intend breaking them when he doesnt pay , it just makes you look stupid and weak , either you or someone hard enough knock on there door tell him if he dont pay you gonna break his arm, then if still no money break it and tell him he got 72hrs before the other one gets broken, then his wife will be next.
sounds harsh but gets results, at least 75% of non payers are chancers taking the piss, the other 25% probably having a ruff time , you need to keep constant contact with the latter at least 2 times a week making sure they know this debt needs paying one way or another and its not going away, try sort a payment plan out thats workable and insist deadlines are met.
the legal system is total waste of space dont even go there , you have to pay everything upfront , a friend of mine was owed £30,000 pound off a surgeon getting paid £104,000 a year basic at the local hospital, the court ordered the surgeon to pay £50-00 a month, this was 2 years after job was finished.
construction is one of the only sectors that gives 30 days plus credit to people , how many times has anyone on here needed work doing by local authority or utilities people and had to pay upfront.
a good book to read is a book called The Guv,ner co written by a man many people will have heard of on here, his name Lenny Mclean, hard as nails and if you knew lenny was coming to collect you feckin well made sure the money was there for him :laugh:
