This should be a red flag for you.
I prefer advances to cover materials, but most banks (title companies...a good project is run through a title company to guarantee payment of your contract)won't go along with advances. Therefore, I write in the contract to get most of the money at rough. With a 30 day delay in payment that ends up around the time of final anyway. You don't want to have to wait an extra 30 days beyond that for payment.
I explain to the GC that most of the work and most of the contract is in the rough portion of the job (especially here in "EMT Country").
I figure out what my time and materials will be for the final, and make that the final payment, sometimes even less. It may only be 10% of the contract, but always much less than 50%.
Everyone has a payout at rough. This guy isn't acting business-like and could bankrupt your business. The fact that he even brought it up could leave you finishing the project and not seeing payment for 60-90 days, if ever. Ask what title company he's running the project through and call them to see if you are listed for your contract amount. This is your ONLY guarantee of payment. If there is no title company, or if you're not listed...RUN!
Dave
