I've won a big contract but the client only pays 60 days after delivery

The situation: a big win that creates its own cash problem

Landing a large contract should be good news, and it is, but 60-day payment terms mean the company has to deliver first, absorb the costs of doing so, and then wait before a penny of the client's money arrives. Materials, subcontractors, extra staff time and overheads all fall due in the meantime, on the ordinary schedule your other suppliers and payroll already expect.

The scale of the win is exactly what makes it awkward. A contract big enough to matter is usually big enough to strain working capital, because the costs of fulfilling it land well before the invoice is even raised, let alone paid. Directors often assume growth and cash strength move together; a single large, slow-paying contract is proof they don't always.

The practical options for covering the gap

The first option is simply to run it through existing headroom: if the company holds a cash buffer or an undrawn overdraft or revolving facility, absorbing one large contract's timing may not need anything new. This works best when the contract is genuinely a one-off rather than the start of a pattern of slow-paying clients.

The second option is commercial: push on the terms themselves. Asking for a deposit, staged milestone payments, or a shorter agreed period is a normal negotiation, especially when the client values the relationship. It costs nothing to ask before assuming the 60 days are fixed.

The third option is finance built around the invoice or contract itself, such as invoice finance or a facility sized to this specific piece of work, which converts the receivable into usable cash without touching money earmarked for other jobs. The right choice depends on whether this is a one-off large order or a sign that the client base is shifting towards longer terms generally.

Keeping the rest of the business running in parallel

The angle that trips directors up is treating the big contract as if it were the whole business. If cash gets pulled from general working capital to cover this one job, other clients, smaller but faster-paying, can end up starved of the stock, staff time or supplier payments they need, even though they're not the cause of the squeeze.

Ring-fencing the funding for this contract, whether that's a dedicated facility, a separate cash allocation, or simply tracking its costs and receipts apart from the rest of the ledger, keeps the big win from quietly eating into everyday operations. It also makes it much easier to see, once the invoice is finally paid, exactly what the contract cost to fund and whether the same client is worth doing business with again on the same terms.

What it means for you

A big contract on 60-day terms is a timing problem, not a trading problem, and it's worth treating it as one: work out precisely how long the gap runs, what it costs the company to bridge, and whether that cost sits comfortably against the value of the contract itself.

Whatever route you take, keep the funding for this contract separate in your own mind from the cash your other work depends on. That separation is what lets you take on large, slow-paying clients repeatedly without your day-to-day business ever feeling the strain.