Rick Hair, owner of Rick’s Snow Removal and Sprinkler Repair, has a lot of work to do, but has had to spend the last three weeks trying to get paid for jobs already done.

“I’ve heard every excuse in the world this year,” he said. “I may change the way I do business.”

About 10 percent of his invoices for blown-out sprinklers are outstanding, and there are jobs he did last June that he still hasn’t been paid on. He even put a lien on a for-sale property whose owner owes him.

Hair said he has great clients, but some of them aren’t putting checks in the mail, making it hard for him to pay his bills, he said.

Judy Hansen, owner of Whirlwind Cleaning Group, can’t chase down her clients, many are out of state.

But she’s irked that people call her wanting her to drop everything and clean a condominium in time for a party or a nightly rental, but then take 90 days to pay her.

“We working, we’re busy, but people are paying much slower,” she said.

She too, appreciates her clients and knows they will pay her, but when she has to spend time emailing them reminders because checks aren’t arriving, it puts a pinch on paying her own bills, she said.

Hair believes the problem is expressed by an idiom they use on the East Coast: OPM (Other People’s Money). People with tighter budgets are “robbing Peter to pay Paul,” he said. Whoever charges the highest interest gets paid first. Being a nice guy has hurt him a bit, he said.

Brandon Bertagnole of Mountain Top Services said he avoids these problems by making people pay for his services at the beginning of the season. But he knows budgets are hurting because he’s getting more calls from people looking for work than ever before.

Clair Christofferson with C&W Premier Insurance said people are calling with more questions about how to shop around for policies and get the best deals.

“People are a lot more conscious of how much they’re paying, even large clients,” he said. “Things are about the same, but we’re working a lot harder to keep it that way.”

Michael Ward, office manager at Snow Country Dental, said more people are paying with credit lately, and more are dipping into their medical flexible spending accounts.

Other businesses are just seeing people cancel services.

Fran Caughlan with Rick Perry Farmer’s Insurance said she’s seen it all: more credit card payments, more late payments and, unfortunately, more cancelled policies.

Kent Blowers with Park City Lawn Care said he’s expecting a lot more people to mow their own lawns this summer.