Built by the trade, for the trade

Why I created TimberWatchR Three of my customers went into liquidation owing over $75,000 to my business — and there was not one word of warning. At the time, I was paying $260 per month to a well known credit reporting agency to receive alerts if any of my customers were reported as being in financial trouble. Small business owners are on the front line and the first to know when customers aren't paying their debts or a reliable customer suddenly becomes uncharacteristically slow. By sharing this information confidentially with other suppliers in the timber industry I believe together we can decrease the occurrence of bad debts and the subsequent burden they place on small business. Early warning gives a business the chance to get their products back, pro-actively chase their debts before they become uncollectable or take legal action while the business is still operational which highly increases the likelihood of receiving something back as opposed to receiving nothing once the business enters liquidation. Alternatively the real time, verified information provided by TimberWatchR can be used to make an informed decision whether to offer a company credit, eliminating the need to rely on potentially biased trade references or outdated reporting from credit agencies. With the exponentially increasing costs in our industry and the risk of incurring bad debts at an all time high, it is more important than ever for small business owners in the timber industry to take precautions to protect their business and ensure longevity. Arm's length reporting from the big credit agencies is an expensive investment and in my case did not help prevent the bad debts. If a system such as TimberWatchR had been in place and the information available to me that a potential customer was not paying their debts elsewhere I would have been able to limit my risk exposure by extending a smaller amount of credit or requesting payment upfront. I believe as business owners working together sharing real time information we have a greater chance of preventing bad debts, protecting our investment and making the Timber Industry stronger.