Credit management for HVAC distributors.

HVAC and plumbing supply is seasonal in a way few other trades are. Account applications arrive in bursts, the contractors behind them range from one-truck operations to regional mechanical firms, and the equipment on a single order can be worth more than the customer's entire history with you.

That makes the two ends of the credit process matter most: opening accounts quickly when the season starts, and watching them when it slows down.

What credit looks like for hvac distributors

• Bursts of applications. A dozen new accounts in a week, all wanting terms before the first hot day. Manual reference chasing doesn't scale to that.
• Equipment-sized exposure. A rooftop unit or a boiler order can be a large limit for a small contractor. The limit has to be based on something.
• Contractors who come and go. Seasonal businesses, sub-contractors on someone else's job, and trade names that don't match the registered company.
• The slow months. Accounts that looked fine in July go quiet in January. Someone has to notice before the next order.

How Credlab fits

• Applications that chase themselves. The online credit application collects the references and the signature and sends its own reminders. Trade references get a self-service link, and a Credlab analyst calls the ones who don't reply.
• A limit with reasoning. The Credlab Report gives a suggested credit limit, when to expect payment and a risk level, with the public record on file and the references listed item by item, so a large equipment order isn't approved on a hunch.
• Bank verification for the bigger limits. Where you require it, the applicant connects their business account through Plaid: balance, up to 24 months of transactions, deposits and NSFs, read-only.
• Monitoring after the decision. Scheduled updates keep watch on the accounts you've opened, so the January silence shows up in the file, not on the aged receivables report.

The pieces, in more detail: the online credit application, business credit reports, trade references and bank verification, and the workspace that holds them together.