I'm about to ask you a one simple question that will change the way you interact with your builder indefinitely.

The answer to this question is the reason that your relationship with your builder can never make you invincible from the risk of doing business with him.

You already know why you think you need to have a relationship with your builder and/or his staff. You guys tell me every single day that you think you need a relationship in order to win work.

Here's the kicker, the fact that you need that relationship, is exactly the reason the builder doesn't need one at all.

Put it this way, if you're relying on relationships to win work, there are so many of your competitors out there that your builder can pick and choose.

So if the builder doesn't need your relationship, why would he want one?

As an ex builder's CA who is guilty of leveraging the R word back in the day, I'll tell you exactly why...

Your builder wants (not...

I’m sure this post will win me some enemies, but here goes.

The reason you can’t expect your builder to pay you on time EVERY time, in full, is because nobody in business, can expect to get paid on time EVERY time, in full.

It just isn’t a commercial reality.

And I’m not just talking about the construction industry here – unless you have a product that people pay for in advance (say for example, donuts) then there is a very real possibility that you won’t get paid on time, every single time, in full.

When I was about 10 years old my Dad took us on a holiday to North Queensland. It was the longest trip I’d ever been on by car. In some tiny country town along the way, while Dad was filling our tank with fuel, my Mum went inside to order coffees. Dad assumed my Mum paid for the fuel and vice versa. It wasn’t until we were 50km further down the road that my parents discovered that neither of them had paid.

Dad did the craziest U-turn on...