Paying Subcontractors

Am I out of line here?

I have a large commercial contract that includes a subcontractor who shares most of the buildings. For the past 2 years, I have always tried to pay him the day of the cleaning instead of waiting for the client to pay me first. Recently, that hasn't been the case and I have asked him to wait until the contract paid out.

The Sub was okay with that for the last 2 months, but now demands full payment at the start of the job again. We normally get paid within 2 weeks by the client, but that is no longer acceptable to the Sub and he will refuse to work without full payment up front, which can be several thousands on any given night.

I liked paying him up front in the past, but now that I only have the one income stream, it can be difficult at times to pay 2-3k at a shot without getting paid myself for a couple of weeks.

Am I out of line asking him to wait for his payment or is this really my problem? I don't want to be the Ogre in this matter and would prefer to do the right thing, but it is tough right now knowing that I have to come up with large sums of cash every time the client calls with a job......one of the reasons that I am about to clean another 8k sf of carpet solo in a couple of hours.

I just need some perspective right now.

No, you are NOT out of line. If your sub demands payment up front, then your sub is having cash problems. That is their problem, not yours.

When you are talking commercial work, NO ONE gets paid on the spot. You expect a wait time for payment, and depending on the company, commercial could take months for payment.

Even in say construction, I think it is normal for subs to wait for payment, until payment is made to the guy hiring subs is paid.

Find a new sub to work with.

Thanks for the response Freeemind, I appreciate the support.

There may have to be some changes....again.