Getting Paid on Time

Get paid before the work starts

A deposit does two jobs. It covers your upfront costs, so you are not financing the customer’s project with your own money, and it tells you the customer is serious. Many trades ask for a deposit that covers materials, with further payments at agreed milestones, and a final payment when the work is done to the agreed standard.

Say this at the quote, not at the door. “Here is the price, here is the schedule of payments” is a normal professional sentence. Customers who bristle at it are telling you something about how the final invoice will go.

Make paying easy and the terms clear

The easier it is to pay you, the faster you get paid. Offer a way to pay by card, bank transfer or online link, not only a check in the mail. Put your payment terms on every quote and invoice: when payment is due, which methods you accept and what happens when payment is late. Many businesses use terms such as due on receipt for small jobs, and a set number of days for commercial accounts.

An invoice should leave no questions. Include your business name and contact details, the customer’s name, an invoice number, the date, a description of the work, the amount, any deposit already received, the balance due and the due date. Send it the day the work is done, not at the end of the month.

Follow up early, politely and in writing

Late payment rarely starts as refusal. It starts as an invoice in an inbox. Send a short, friendly reminder a day or two after the due date: “Hi, I wanted to make sure the invoice from the 3rd reached you. Let me know if you need anything from me to process it.” Most of the time that is the end of it.

If it is still unpaid, call. A real conversation often surfaces a problem you can solve: a missing purchase order number, a change in who approves payments, a customer short on cash this month who can pay in two parts. Put what you agree in an email so there is a record.

• Day 1 after due: friendly written reminder
• Day 7: phone call, then an email summarizing it
• Day 14: a firmer written notice that restates the amount and terms
• After that: talk to your attorney about next steps for your state

Protect yourself on bigger jobs

On larger work, do not get far ahead of your payments. If a milestone is missed, you can pause until it is caught up, provided your contract says so. In some trades, contractors and suppliers have special rights to secure payment on the property they improved, and the deadlines are strict and vary by state. If you do work like that, learn the rules for your state early, before you need them.

Keep every message, change order and photo. If a dispute ever goes anywhere, the owner with clear records almost always has the stronger hand.