Getting Paid Upfront on a Government Contract Before You Finish the Work | West Edwards

On a federal construction job the government pays the general contractor within about 30 days, but the subcontractor gets paid only after hitting a milestone and floats the materials and labor in the meantime. West Edwards, a construction and roofing contractor who works Army Corps of Engineers projects, walks through how a subcontractor gets money on the ground early, uses supplier terms to push real payment out roughly 90 days, and negotiates payout timelines with a GC before the job starts. What you'll learn in this episode: The way to get paid upfront on a government job by setting materials on the ground for the inspector to see Why there are no mobilization fees in federal work and how that changes the way you finance a project How to use 60 day supplier terms and a line of credit to stretch your real payment out to about 90 days The conversation to have with your GC about milestones, the G703, and when you can submit for payment Why managing the cash flow matters more than knowing how to do the actual work Chapters: 0:00 - Finding federal contracts across SAM.gov and agency forecasts 0:48 - What going wrong on a job actually means 1:23 - Scope, spec, and the Unified Facilities Code trap 3:04 - The roof observer who was a silent competitor 4:03 - Why you build a margin into every bid 4:40 - Financing the job while you wait for payment 5:18 - How to get money upfront on a government contract 6:40 - Why cash flow beats craft on federal work 7:24 - The payment timeline from material to G703 to payout Mindy gives you the federal opportunities, agency signals, recompete intel, and pursuit briefs that tell you not just what contracts exist, but which ones to chase and how to win them. Sign up for free Daily Alerts and get opportunities delivered to your inbox before the day starts. 👉 Get your free Daily Alerts here 🔗 https://getmindy.ai