Chasing an unpaid invoice

Before the invoice is overdue

Half of the chasing is avoided by the invoice itself. Send it the day the work finishes, addressed to the person who pays, with the client's PO number if they use one, the due date written as a date, and a payment link so paying takes one tap. On a large invoice, send a two-line check three days before the due date: "Is invoice 1041 in your system for payment on the 28th?" A wrong legal name or a missing PO surfaces now, while there is still time, instead of on day twelve.

Day one: the payment reminder email

The day after the due date, send a short message that assumes an oversight, because it usually is one. This is how to ask for payment politely without sounding like you are apologising for asking: state the facts, attach the invoice again, repeat the payment link, and stop.

Nothing about fees yet, and nothing that needs a reply beyond payment.

Day seven: the phone call

If a week passes with no payment and no reply, call. Ask one question and wait for the answer: when will it be paid? Get a date and the name of the person who releases payment. Then send a one-line follow-up email the same day confirming what was said, so the date exists in writing.

If the call surfaces a problem with the work, treat it as a dispute rather than a late payment. Split the invoice: the disputed part is held while you sort it out, and the rest is due now. A client who owes $2,450 and disputes a $300 fitting owes $2,150 today.

Day fourteen: the overdue notice and the late fee

Two weeks past due, the tone changes from a reminder to an overdue invoice notice. It states the original amount, the late fee if one was on the invoice, the new balance, and what happens next. This is the letter the late fee generator writes, with the interest worked out from the date and rate you set. Only charge a fee that was on the invoice or the accepted quote; the late fee laws page explains what is enforceable and what your state allows.

Day thirty: the final demand letter

The final demand letter is one paragraph: the total, a date, and the one action you will take after it. Name only an action you will take. A threat that is not carried out tells the client the next one is empty too.

After the final date: liens, small claims and collections

When the date passes with no payment and no agreed plan, the options, roughly in the order they cost you:

1. Stop scheduling work for the client until the account is settled. Check your contract for a right to suspend.
2. Small claims court. Filing is cheap and you can represent yourself; the claim limit differs by state.
3. A mechanics lien on the property, if the work was construction or a permanent improvement. Lien deadlines are short and differ by state, so check yours before day thirty rather than after.
4. A collections agency, which keeps a share of whatever it recovers.
5. Write it off, and do not work for the client again.

There is also a clock on all of this. Every state sets a statute of limitations for suing over an unpaid invoice, and it is usually longer for a written agreement than for a verbal one. An accepted quote and a signed work order are what make yours the written kind. Whichever option you pick, keep the whole sequence in one email thread, so the dates and the amounts are in one place if anyone else ever needs to read it.

What not to do when a client is not paying

Do not go quiet for three weeks and then send an angry message; the gap is what the client remembers. Do not knock money off to close it unless you have decided that 90% today is worth more to you than 100% next month, which is a decision, not a reflex. Do not keep taking work from a client with two unpaid invoices. And do not resend an invoice with a changed number or date, because the client's accounts team will treat it as a new document and the clock starts again.

Stopping the next unpaid invoice

The invoices that never need chasing share three things: a deposit so the client has paid before the work starts, terms on the quote that the client agreed to, and a payment link on the document. For longer jobs, progress billing puts a due date on each stage instead of one at the end. The late payment statistics show what the wait costs when none of this is in place.

The tools for this

More guides

• Progress billingHow to bill a job in stages: the schedule of values, a worked progress invoice with retainage, pay applications and AIA forms, and the quote wording that gets each stage paid.
• Change ordersWhen to write a change order, what goes on the form, how to price extra work including time and materials, keeping a log, and how an approved change reaches the invoice.
• Deposit invoicesWhen to ask for a deposit, how much, deposit versus down payment versus retainer, the wording on the quote and the deposit invoice, and how the final invoice shows the balance due.
• Invoice numbersAn invoice numbering system that never repeats or skips, format examples with a year or job prefix, separate series for quotes and credit notes, and where the number goes on the invoice.