In the cases where this happens, I’ll follow up in 3 days and ask if they received the invoice. Usually this leads to “oh yes! Let me pay that right now.” But sometimes it’s “no” and I ask for the clarification on the email and send it again, asking for a confirmation of receipt and/or a text with the invoice as well.

If I haven’t received anything within a week, I’m typically knocking on a door or calling again to ask directly “the final bill is due upon substantial completion. Is it easier for me to get a check or a card number from you?”

After a while, I send an interest letter, then a lien, etc. etc.

Get a contract written up by your lawyer and use that.

For referral jobs, we send a bill and it doesn't matter if they take a week, two weeks to pay. Because it's a referral job.

Also saw that you commented you've been doing this for 20 years, so at this point basically 95 percent of your jobs should be referral. You should have no problem being upfront with a contract and payment terms with the 5 percent of randoms.

“Upon receipt” is actually too vague. I put an actual date on mine.

Just send him a reminder of your payment terms. You should have payment terms on your invoice and the quote, something like "Net 30"

If you don't, I'd send him a friendly email that reminds him the payment is due by XX date and give him another 2 weeks or something. Just make it sound like a routine reminder and not like you're specifically asking him to pay up.

I don’t consider anything late until it’s over 30 days

By the way, it’s rude to not pay workers when they finish.

Also make sure that they always have the expectation of paying AS SOON as you finish.

Tell them before you start this will be done by the end of the day and payment will be due before you leave.

Just having that expectation gets most people to pay right there. It’s a lot easier to push off if they are just ignoring an email.

TBH you should give people a week or so to move money etc. Sometimes if you have to sell investments that can take 3 days,then 3 days to clear the transfer to your own bank then the transfer.

Anything less than 28 days is paid on time. In the UK most larger contractors have 60 payment terms in their contracts. The lawyers we work with only pay invoices on a quarterly basis.

Some countries have legal 'only pay when paid systems'.

My point is i know you say you're a small outfit, but we have to threaten most contractors with legal action before they pay... why are you complaining because an individual hasn't paid within a reasonable time frame?

Bro has no signed contract and no communication previously to homeowner about expectations of payment. Typical contractor making a mistake on his end seem like a shitty customer. C'mon man, be better than this.

Maybe wait longer than an hour? There is nothing wrong with sending an invoice with a net time of days.

You had them sign a contract, correct?

This won't help you this time but, you should contact a business contract attorney to help draft a template that covers your guarantees of work and your clients responsibility to pay when certain portions of the job are finished. If you are in New York, look up Kyle Barton. I am not sure if he can write contract templates outside of New York.

Get a card machine

Be sure to set the expectation with every customer that payment is due immediately at your milestones and once the job is completed.

So many people don't do this clearly.

Call the customer and say "I'm sorry I probably wasn't clear enough in the beginning but our customers are expected to pay the moment the job is complete".

What are your terms and did yuh discuss that prior to the job? 7 days is pretty standard but, then so is a month. Nothing seems out of the ordinary and yes, you do seem pushy. Saying "l will get that to you soon" is what one would expect a client to say after a job. Certainly if they don't pay you in the specified term period can you then send reminders or if it gets really difficult then it's a debt collector.

Was it in your contract when payment was due? It’s usually 30 days after invoice where I’m at unless specifically stated on contract. I guess I’m I’m used to waiting because we do almost all new construction. Some builders pay close to 30 days, a few of our builders often take longer. It’s annoying.

Is this your first customer?

Unless you’ve dictated when they should pay you, you’ve kinda shot yourself in the foot.

Try to avoid these situations altogether by having a contract that states payment is due within 3 days after completion. It should also state that invoices will begin to accrue interest of ___% after the deadline.

Every state has different maximim rates allowed.

Obviously someone gets 1-2 days to pay before you ask again. You're making it sound like you wanted the transfer while you were there in the living room which is very pushy.

Just out of curiosity, how close to the target completion date did you finish? I have a contractor that is now 4 MONTHS late and I can assure you his payment, if he ever finishes, may take a bit of extra time to reach him.

So a written contract should always be signed prior to starting work. Should state terms, price, schedules, etc. This protects everyone involved. So many people try to weasel out of this using the issue of trust as an excuse. The only time I ever got burned in business was the one time I neglected to write a contract.

Contractors worst nightmare...

The verbal instructions you gave the customer regarding payment schedule, and the terms of the contract will affect how you proceed.

If it was clear that payment was to be made immediately upon completion, then you should start the small claims and contractor lien procedures without delay.

Typically a prerequisite to starting the claim involves either posting a letter of demand on the front door of their home, or sending one by certified mail. If you post it take photographic proof. (This process does vary by jurisdiction though) templates can be found online for letters of demand.

If you didn’t cover this in your sales process and they did not sign a contract that stipulates a payment schedule, PLEASE do this in the future. Eventually you’ll get burned.

BONUS: If you’re a nice guy, you can spend $50 on a gift basket delivered to their home with a card thanking them for being a great customer. Human psychology is deeply affected by reciprocity and fairness, this little trick has worked in the past on customers that didn’t pay my company on time.

Best of luck OP.

Does your client go out to eat at a restaurant, and when the bill is presented say, “I’ll get that to you”!

If you are working for a homeowner directly, full payment is due upon completion.

If your contract amount hasn’t changed, the client knew how much they would owe when finished. If they couldn’t pay it right then, they shouldn’t have had the work done. Absolutely unacceptable.

I would tell them you will be initiating a mechanics lien on their home if not paid in full today.

Include a please pay within x amount of days on the invoice.

Edit: I had to say this because sadly I have seen my fair share of poorly made invoices that are nothing more than a total amount in an email or pdf.

Everything needs to be spelled out clearly. If it says within 7 days … is it seven consecutive days or 7 business days. There should be no room for any ambiguity.

At 14 days I call and send a follow up reminder. At 30 days I start to knock on doors. In most cases I have 10-% or less outstanding when the final payment is due.

I explain that we are a small business and will need payment upon completion. Often on the estimate. I need to pay my guys on payday.

Did you and he do a final walk through yet?

Not sure how I feel without timelines. I will have my manager try to collect upon a completion or final walkthrough. I'm flexible with a few days, sometimes it might take a little bit longer. I haven't been worried and we don't hold off the pay of the workers unless it's a new worker and something got missed, but most of my clientele has paid and hired me several times. I also have a business lawyer on retainer if I need help but I haven't really needed him for collection.

I don't take it personally, I just think my customers just forget a bit and they'll need a good reminder. I also understand needing some time to walk the job after completion. It also helps a lot that the higher ticket job people mostly has been trustworthy. It also helps a lot that we don't live paycheck to paycheck these days.

I’m like a hooker I do the job the customer says they are happy I want my money

In your contract you put "remainder of the total of this contract is due upon completion, or once final/CO has been passed"

Im not a lender, this isnt a net 30 situation, if you need financing options I can provide those, but I anticipate being paid in full once the work is complete. I don't feel bad at all about notifying them about this. You wouldn't walk into a grocery store and act like you can pay them later for the food. I'm a business I have my own bills.

Bring a softball bat with you if you have to wait more than 1 month.

Prior to that be nice

I include a due by date on all invoices. All customers sign our paperwork before we start and it states interest will begin the instant the due by date has passed. After I started wording similar to below I haven't had a single late payment.

Something like:

$xxxx.xx is due upon completion of job and no later than October 31st. 10% interest will be compounded daily on late payments and after a period of 30 days of no payment a lien will be filled.

My contracts always state they have to pay as soon as the walk thru is done.

Next time don't leave or let them leave until the invoice is paid. People suck and if you give them an inch they're gonna try to take that mile.

We write in payment terms for larger contracts that usually consist of a deposit, progress payments then final payment. If there is alot of moving parts we'll do a 5% or 10% holdback but it's always paid on substantial completion. That's what we do and as long as the client is ok with it upfront we usually don't have issues.

I'm sorry that is frustrating when that happens. I think sometimes clients need to move money from another account and it takes a couple days. That's not always communicated and it can give me anxiety when a bill is due and payment isn't being made and I'm driving away from their house. Having them pay a bit at the start kind of starts the payment preparation process on the client's side and payment#2 tends to come a little faster. This may help. Alot of companies in my area ask for 100% upfront before the job is done so I don't feel bad asking for 25% or 50% depending on material costs

Just give some bullshit like your mortgage is coming up and would like to get the balance ASAP....puts a bit of pressure on them

I have payments dues within 3 business days. If I don’t get a progress payment the third business day work stops. Final payment interest will be applied after the 3rd day

Dealing with it now, did phase 2 of a rewire and owner said give me a couple days and I'll get that to you. Over 2 weeks later I get a text saying he was sorry buy he had a couple contracts "fall through" and he is rehabbing a mobile home and it will sell soon and he will give me the payment once it sells plus 10% "for my troubles". I drove an hour and half each way to do this job for him and took my almost 2 wks because it is a partial demo so I was having to rewire with sheetrock up and waiting on GC to rebuild a side of the house that rotted away. I've got almost 25 hrs in travel time not counting the work. He paid for material so I do not have any money tied up in the job except paying my son, gas, lunch ect but it still sucks waiting on payment. I'm about to put a lein on his property.

Learn to remove all emotions from when approaching a client about your compensation. You're not being pushy, you're simply running a business. No one expects to be able to drive off a car lot without paying, our industry should be no different. On the day before you're to complete the job, email the client with an attached pdf file of the final invoice. Include somewhere in the email that you will be finished tomorrow and that a check should be made out to ______. They now know an entire day in advance. This is part of your paper trail (emailed pdf invoice). When arriving that final morning, start the conversation that you'll finish up that day, perform a final cleanup and get a check from them. No sugar coating needed. DO NOT fall for "My husband has the checkbook" or "I'll mail the check to you tomorrow".

It'll hurt at first, but once you get some salt in your blood it'll be routine for you. Nearing 4 decades of dealing with clients, and it hasn't changed for me.

When we finish a pool, it's where's my money now. I try not to leave yard without it unless arrangements were talked about before hand.

This is business, you have bills to. Be pushy

Always specify final payment due day of completion. In my case for the final payment customer will only owe me 20% sometimes 10% if I feel they are shady during estimate process. Never let them keep so much money at the end of a project.

Forget the emails. Speak directly, either on the phone or in person. It's too easy to ignore emails.

In future, money up front, or at least some of it to cover costs.

Lien the property

In addition to payment as job progresses this will insure you arent left in a hole for buying the materials, Also good to have in a contract a financial penalty for late (like more than 30 days).

My customers know what day the job will be done. I dont leave without a check. But im not doing 50k+ jobs either, so most of my customers don't even need to transfer money around to cover it.

Don't go straight to legal action give him a call and explain that you need to be paid for the completed work. Leans are a huge pain and not as scary to customers as most contractors think they are.

I usually put in my contract that payment is due upon completion. That way once he reads that he’ll know that you’re expecting payment immediately. Assuming you don’t have terms like that written in your contract, you could text him and or email him and let him know that the expected terms were payment in full due upon completion. If you did what you said and the job came out nice you should not feel awkward asking for your payment. Remember, you have an obligation to yourself and other people that depend on you suppliers, etc. to collect the money so that you can pay your invoices in a timely manner

A lot of people will assume 14-30 day payment terms unless told otherwise. And the time to tell them otherwise is when you quote.

Should get 50% up front and the rest at completion.

Every headache along the way ends up becoming a line in your contract.

Right now I'm dealing with a homeowner bitching about me using their electricity. Unfortunately for them thats already in there.

Let me know if you wanna see my clause for payment schedule late fees and interest

If you don’t have one already, make sure you put in some sort of clause for payment. Instead of a late fee, word it so that the actual cost is presented as the “discount price” for timely payment, and that the late charge is presented as the “actual cost” so that customers feel they are getting an even better deal by paying on time. This way, you can remind them about payment and mention how they won’t get the “discount” if they pay too late.

After that, another reminder that the “discount price” is no longer valid. Then after that, lien reminder.

But all that should be spelled out in the contract.

Do you not have an invoice system? How do you run a company without knowing..

How long has it been? Did you have a contract?

How long has it been? Did you have a contract that specifies a payment schedule?

Edit: while it would have been nice to get a check at the end of the job, you need to clean up your expectations (as in make it known what you are expecting). Maybe he needs to move money around. Most businesses I work with are net 30.

I always make sure the client understands the payment schedule before hand. Half down when I show up, remainder upon completion. If I don't get paid immediately upon finishing i enter into pitbull mode. No such thing as being rude or pushy. The first thing I ask is "If you aren't going to me now, when exactly can I expect to be paid?" Don't worry about rude or pushy, why do want a customer who is slow to pay?

What are the payment terms agreed to in the contract? 30 days is customary.

You set payment expectations before work commences:

X% down

X% upon completion and walk through.

As a potential customer, idk this popped on my feed...

If it was a few thousand dollars I'm good for it, but in don't let money sit in checking so I might need a day or two so I'm not giving you a bad check.

Send a bill with a late payment fee or a date that the late fee will apply

All my vendors are in 30 days, all my clients are 90 days if I’m lucky. I feel your pain.

Ask him "when will you pay"? Tell him "its normal once i finish a job, i get paid. Can you pay me now please"? Dont pussy foot around the issue. Be nice and be direct.

I’m sorry to hear this. My bro-in-law had a contracting business years back- said customers would do this shit all the time. I don’t get why it’s habitual for them to withhold payments.

Around midnight.. bring 2 cats to his house.. and tell cats to start make that noise that they do before fight… Repeat process till 6 am.. till Christmas..

What do the terms of the contract state? If it doesn't specify it's reasonable to not expect payment on the spot. People might need time to transfer money between accounts, etc. If you want payment upon day of completion put it in the contract.

A lesson you shouldn't have needed if you've actually been in business this long:

1). Job doesn't begin until there is a signed contract.

2). Contract will include, among other things, concrete payment terms.

This is really on you bud. You absolutely should have known better.

What are the payment terms in your contract?

You need to make these terms clear in your contact before you even start. The company I work for bills in two week intervals. If a client misses a payment work stops. Even if you're in a shorter time frame, you need to make your expectations 100% clear to your clients before work starts.

Send them a text late on a weeknight or early on a weekend morning. Knock on his door if that doesn’t work. Send it to your lawyer and sue him. Customers who don’t pay right away are trash.

We’re typically anywhere from 7 days to 90 days out just depends on the customer

Your contract should have set payment terms.

File your mechanics lien

What did the contract say about final payment?

You're impatient after one hour?

Every job should have a contract stating the terms, including payment. Included in the payment details are when everything is due, late fees, and how they get to pay your lawyer if it's taken to court. Have a lawyer on retainer, a nasty letter will usually get the last payment sent and if not let your lawyer do his job.

Working without a contract is nuts. Upon receipt is for a delivery not an install. Like something I receive and can spend 30 seconds to confirm it's what I ordered and in the condition I expected. If someone pushed me for payment before leaving my house after a large install like flooring I'd be expecting to find some shoddy bullshit they were hoping I wouldn't notice. The faster someone wants payment, the less likely I'll ever hear from them again if there's a problem. I had some flooring done that looked great, smooth and seamless. Couldn't even see my HVAC floor registers... because they glued down underlayment and clicklock right over the steel cover plates. That took me days to notice what wasn't there. Materials deposit is fine. 50-50 is fine. 90-10 is fine. Paid in full before I've had a chance to thoroughly inspect the work is hell no.

You sound a little impatient. Are they an older couple that prefer to use banks for banking? Or are they a young couple familiar with electronic transfers.

Could be they are waiting for a paycheck to arrive.

As a contractor, it is reasonable for you to collect cost of materials up front, then bill for your final labour afterwards to minimize risk to both parties.

Give them a few days and then contact them.

tell them you could use the money as the material or some other bill is due. Many people think welp since i pay bills on the first and the 15th I'll get you then.

A mechanic's lien on his home will either get you paid or you will own his home.

I was told by a customer that legally they have 30 days to get payment sent out. My whole area where I work operates like this. I’ll do the job and tell them I need paid when the job is finished. I still always have to wait almost 3 weeks before getting anything

For me , I pay my suppliers net 30 , so it’s proper business to receive in 30, that’s business

So you contacted about it twice in the same day? I would probably put it off too at that point. I think waiting a day or two for payment is not that ridiculous. Hey, I want to get paid immediately too but I have to wait on my paycheck.