Service Business
Meridian HVAC
Phoenix, AZ | 12 technicians | $2.1M annual revenue
The Problem
Meridian HVAC was running a healthy business on paper: a 34% net margin, strong seasonal demand, and a full crew schedule. But their commercial clients paid on 45-to-60-day net terms, which meant Meridian was effectively lending its own revenue back to those clients for two months at a time. By February of last year, the gap between what they were owed and what sat in the bank had grown to $214,000. Owner Victor Sandoval had opened a $75,000 line of credit just to make payroll through the slow winter months.
Victor connected QuickBooks and his business bank account to CashFlow AI in March. Within 72 hours, the system had flagged three patterns he had not been tracking: two commercial clients who were consistently 18 to 22 days late past their stated terms, one residential billing cycle that produced feast-famine cash gaps every eight weeks, and a supplier auto-draft hitting 11 days earlier than necessary.
CashFlow AI's automated payment-reminder sequences went to the two late commercial clients on day 30 rather than day 45. The phrasing was firm but professional, referencing contract terms without accusatory language. One client paid within 48 hours. The other called Victor to renegotiate to net-30, which Victor accepted because the predictability was worth more than the extra float.
By May, Meridian's median days to collection had dropped from 51 to 24. Victor paid down $60,000 of his credit line and has not drawn on it since. The 90-day cash forecast in the dashboard surfaced three upcoming slow patches so clearly that Victor scheduled a major equipment purchase to land between the second and third gap, spreading the capital hit instead of scrambling for it.
51 to 24
Days to collect, before vs. after
$214K
Working capital freed in first quarter
$0
Credit line draws in the 6 months since onboarding
"I knew I had a cash flow problem. I did not know how fixable it was. Turns out most of it was timing. CashFlow AI made the timing visible and then automated the fixes."
Victor Sandoval, Owner, Meridian HVAC