You’ve just saved someone’s basement from flooding, spent hours under their house fixing burst pipes, and presented them with a fair bill for expert work. Then they smile and deliver the five words every tradesman dreads: “I’ll mail you a check.”

In my 15 years in business, I’ve learned that the biggest challenges aren’t always staffing or competition. More often than not, it’s customers who don’t pay their bills. The increased integration of credit cards into billing software has changed the game and ensured that small business owners like me can get paid easily and on time.

Now there are efforts at the State House to make credit card payments more difficult and complicated. These efforts not only threaten the convenience that helps tradespeople get paid but could also completely upend the system of credit card rewards that benefit millions of consumers across Massachusetts.

Collections were strangling me for my first decade in business. I’d send a two-person crew to tackle emergencies or install water heaters, deliver flawless work, send bills, then spend countless hours chasing payment. Some customers paid promptly, but others vanished entirely, leaving me holding the bag for parts and labor. I spent hours weekly making collection calls instead of actual plumbing work. We had to factor bad debt into pricing, meaning reliable customers were essentially subsidizing the deadbeats.

Everything changed when I started integrating credit card payments into my accounting system. What seemed like a minor change completely revamped my entire operation.

Here’s the game-changer: the guys who pay with credit cards now are some of the same guys who used to stiff us on bills. The cash flow difference has been transformational. When I send an invoice they can pay online instantly, it gets processed immediately instead of sitting in a mail pile for months. That means meeting payroll without breaking a sweat, paying suppliers on time, and investing in cutting-edge equipment.

It also means that good customers who have plumbing emergencies but don’t have cash immediately available can still get the service they need and pay their bills. The old system was hemorrhaging money in hidden ways, but electronic payments eliminated that administrative nightmare, meaning I can focus on what I do best instead of chasing money.

Rewards play a key role too. I started using my business credit card for everything: Parts from suppliers across the South Shore, equipment from vendors in Boston, even office supplies. When you’re buying pipes, fittings, water heaters, and tools regularly, those purchases generate enough rewards to cover things like truck maintenance or insurance premiums. It’s like earning cash back on everything I need to run my business. Plus, every purchase creates an ironclad paper trail that makes bookkeeping infinitely easier during tax season.

The bills being considered at the State House would turn this system on its head. Some would essentially require me to negotiate with every individual bank behind any customer credit card (not Visa or Mastercard, but whichever bank or credit union actually issued the card), while others would restrict the standard processing fee that protects me from fraud and funds the rewards programs. These are bad proposals for small businesses, and bad proposals for the consumers who support us.

Here’s what I wish I’d understood 15 years ago: the difference between surviving and thriving often comes down to turning your biggest weakness into your greatest strength. Credit cards transformed my worst customers into my most reliable payers and my necessary expenses into profit centers. Every tradesman who’s ever held an unpaid invoice knows exactly what I’m talking about.

Joe Nadeau owns J.S. Nadeau plumbing, serving Southeastern Massachusetts for 15 years.

According to the author, the increased integration of credit cards into billing software has changed the game and ensured that small business owners can get paid easily and on time.(Metro Creative Services)