Everyone knows the Northeast is old-fashioned. There are many examples of this, and one of them is that LBM business in our area is still dominated by small to mid-sized builders.

By contrast, my friend Otis, who ran a yard in the Atlanta area, says that 10 builders made up more than half his volume. He once told me he wouldn’t have it any other way. “They’re sophisticated, well-financed, and businesslike. I always get paid on time.”

“Wow,” I said. “Always?”

“Well, obviously not 100%,” he admitted. “But the only reason they’re ever late is that, for whatever reason, one of our invoices doesn’t match their purchase order.”

Sounds like a dream. Most of the builders in the Northeast pay their suppliers from bank disbursements that, for some reason, never seem to arrive on time. After 40 years in the business, it’s tough to remember all the excuses customers have given for why they couldn’t pay their bills on time. I could fill an entire magazine if I listed all of them!

However, I’ll just list a few of them. Phil’s excuse was the generator went down and held the project up for a week. Stan’s framers didn’t show up because they had a winning streak going at the casino, and he had to wait three days for them to lose it all. Gil’s siding crew unexpectedly took a few days off to go see the Gravity Games in Providence (like I said, we’re behind the times – apparently gravity was the hot new thing for them back then).

One day I called my buddy Otis to catch up, and during the conversation, he said he had one account in arrears. Though it was a big one, he wasn’t worried. “The framers made some bad cuts, and we didn’t have time to get a Field PO for the fill-in load,” he explained. “We just need to catch up with the super and get the paperwork.”

Many contractors in our area are small to mid-sized, so usually it’s not a problem catching up with them. Our problem is separating the wheat from, well, the wheat that’s already been through the cow. I recall the time Larry came into my office when he found out his account was on hold. He said he wanted to pay us, but he had “lost” his checkbook and therefore had to go to the bank to get temporary checks. I told him we’d take a credit card. Larry said he didn’t want to pay the CC processing fee on top of interest. He assured me he’d be back in a day or two to clear everything up. Ten days later, he showed up and brought his account current.

I used to smile at the lack of ingenuity of some of our customers when it comes to making excuses. For instance, they would tell us that they were in a bad cell area and never received the salesperson’s voicemail reminding them that the next day was the last day of the month.

One of the best was when Dan told me he never received our statement when I ran into him at one of our contractor events. I couldn’t help myself as I said, “That’s strange, Dan, because the invitation for this event went out as statement stuffers.” He just looked at me like a deer in the headlights.

Eventually, they all paid us. But when I called Otis several weeks later, he was still on the trail of his missing PO. Seems the superintendent had quit his job, and the local office cited a strict corporate policy forbidding them to release payment without a legitimate PO. “I’ll get my money,” Otis said. “I finally got the name of the assistant to the assistant to the assistant vice president!” I just laughed.

“What happened to the superintendent?” I asked.

“As a matter of fact, he moved back to New England to start building homes on his own,” he said.

“Really?” I said. “You wouldn’t know how I can get in touch with him, would you?”

Otis told me I wouldn’t want him as a customer because he’s not always straightforward and has a wild imagination.

I told Otis to please get me the guy’s contact info because I was tired of the same old excuses and would look forward to some imaginative excuses for a change.

Mike McDole has 40+ years of actual LBM experience, including being SVP of a large regional pro-dealer. He is the principal of Firing Line LBM Advisors, helping LBM Dealers throughout the US with management efficiencies; sales training; GM improvement; KPI’s; and more. Mike can be reached at 774.372.1367 or Mike@FiringLineLBM.com.