From 90-Day Payment Terms to a Scalable Project Office
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How Cable Co used Invoice Finance to grow fast without carrying a massive payroll
Cable Co started the way a lot of contractors do: strong capability, strong contracts, and a cash flow model that made growth feel almost impossible.
They launched to service government work with brutal 60 to 90-day payment terms. As a young business with no property security and no long trading history, funding was hard to get approved for. The company had plenty of invoices, but not enough cash to carry labour and materials for months while waiting to be paid.
“The contracts were there, but the 60–90 day payment terms would have killed us without Brunswick.” - Brendon Hollins, Cable Co.
Fortunately, this was the exact scenario Brunswick was built to help with.
The Payment Term Problem
Cable Co’s story is a perfect example of how contracting businesses get stuck, with a pattern trend of:
The client expects delivery today, suppliers want payment this week, subcontractors need to be paid fast if you want them to prioritise your work, and the customer pays in 60 to 90 days.
That gap in income creates stress and stifles growth, forcing conservative decision-making, which keeps smaller businesses from growing.
Cable Co had the contracts, but the cash flow model was working against them.
“You’re expected to deliver today, pay everyone this week, and then wait months to get paid. That’s where most contractors get stuck.”
When your invoices are bigger than your facility, growth stalls
Before Brunswick, Cable Co’s finance option capped out at $30k. For the size of their invoices and the speed they wanted to scale, it was basically useless.
“A 30k facility doesn’t work when your invoices are multiples of that. We would have blown through it in a week.”
They needed a facility that matched the reality of contracting:
- Bigger invoices
- Bigger supplier accounts
- Larger project volumes
- Ability to ramp quickly when a major contract lands
Brunswick stepped in with a facility that actually backed the business, and within months, Cable Co had tripled their facility, in line with performance and growth.
The results: Growth at speed
With a proper facility in place, Cable Co’s momentum changed fast:
- Revenue jumped from roughly $50k per month to $250k per month
- They’re forecasting $7 to $9 million over the next 12 months
- They purchased new vehicles and equipment outright
- They hired their first staff member and now operate with 3 internal staff supported by 28 subcontracting teams
- They expanded beyond electrical into advanced security
- They won major contracts including Storage King, NSW Ambulance, and other government sites
“We went from doing 40–50k months to turning over 250k almost immediately, and now we’re forecasting $7–9 million.”
This wasn’t slow and steady, It was step-change growth, the kind that happens when cash flow stops being the bottleneck.
The biggest shift: Cable Co flipped their entire delivery model
The funding changed the way Cable Co operates, and allowed for true growth.
With Brunswick’s support, Cable Co stopped trying to be a labour-heavy service company and became a project office.
“Brunswick didn’t just help us grow, it gave us the space to completely rethink how the business operates.”
That means:
- They win contracts
- Manage delivery
- Coordinate quality and timelines
- Leverage subcontractors instead of carrying a huge payroll internally
“We’re no longer a traditional trade business. We’re a project office that wins work and enables other businesses to grow.”
It’s lighter, faster, more scalable, and it lets them take on much larger volumes of work without overextending the business.
The secret weapon: paying subcontractors in 7 days
Brunswick funding allowed Cable Co to become the preferred partner for subcontractors. As they could now offer 7-day payment terms to subcontractors, even when the end client pays in 60 to 90 days.
“Being able to pay subcontractors within seven days completely changed the game for us.”
Subcontractors choose Cable Co over competitors because they don’t want to wait months to get paid. They want reliable work and predictable cash flow.
“Other companies were asking contractors to wait 90 days. We were paying in seven. That alone built our delivery network.”
This created a genuine hub-and-spoke model:
- Cable Co becomes the hub: contracts, delivery, certainty
- Subcontractors are the spokes: they scale their own businesses with guaranteed work and fast payment
Positive cashflow became a competitive advantage that helped Cable Co attract the best teams and deliver faster.
Materials purchasing went from “tight” to “ready”
Funding also unlocked a practical shift that many contractors will recognise immediately: supplier purchasing power.
Cable Co raised their materials purchasing limits from $5k to $10k up to $150k+ with suppliers.
That meant fewer delays, faster mobilisation, less stress, and more ability to say yes to bigger scopes.
“Once we could show real cash flow, suppliers trusted us. Our limits jumped, and suddenly materials weren’t holding projects back.”
Reduced stress means better decisions and bigger contracts
When cash flow is tight, decision-making becomes fear-based:
- Can we afford this job?
- What if payments are late?
- What if the supplier account gets cut?
- What if we need to hire before the money lands?
With working capital available, the fear drops away. Cable Co could move with confidence.
They recently secured a project delivering 200 homes in Bathurst. Without Brunswick, they potentially couldn’t have accepted it. Not because they couldn’t do the work, but because cash flow would have bottlenecked delivery.
“Having access to funding means we can say yes to projects straight away instead of worrying about how we’ll survive the payment cycle.”
What surprised them about Brunswick
Brendon’s feedback on Cable Co’s funding partnership with Brunswick:
- Flexibility and speed
- No rigid, bank-style hoops
- Transparent communication
- A willingness to actually understand the business
- Limits increased quickly as the business proved performance
- Far more agile than institutional options like ScotPac, which he described as slow and bureaucratic
“They were fast, flexible and actually listened. That’s rare in finance.”
“With other lenders, every increase felt like starting from scratch. Brunswick just got it.”
The takeaway
Cable Co didn’t need motivation or better sales. They needed cash flow that matched their contracts.
Brunswick gave them the ability to:
- Take on bigger jobs
- Scale delivery without massive payroll risk
- Become the preferred partner for subcontractors
- Grow fast while keeping control
If your business is stuck waiting 60 to 90 days to get paid, the question isn’t “how do I work harder?”
It’s: How do I unlock the cash tied up in invoices so growth doesn’t stall?
“Without funding, we simply couldn’t have scaled. Brunswick let us move from scraping by to delivering at serious volume.”
Ready to scale without cash flow anxiety?
Reach out to Brunswick today and see what your invoices can unlock. Let's talk!