Late payment is a construction tradition nobody asked for. You can't control a slow payer, but you can control your terms, your paper trail and your escalation — and those three fix most of it.
Prevention beats chasing
- Put payment terms on every quote and invoice — 14 days is normal for domestic work; don't default to 30 out of habit.
- Invoice the day the work finishes, not the week after. Delay reads as slack urgency.
- For bigger jobs, stage payments — deposit, milestone, completion. Never fund a whole job alone.
- Make paying effortless: bank details on the invoice, correct reference, right contact.
The escalation ladder
Day 1 overdue — a friendly nudge, assuming the best: "Hi John, invoice 0042 for £600 was due yesterday — could you check it's gone through?" Day 7 — firmer, in writing, with the invoice reattached and a specific date requested. Day 14 — a formal reminder mentioning statutory late-payment interest. After that — a letter before action, and small claims court genuinely is designed for exactly this size of dispute.
Statutory interest is real
For business-to-business debts (that includes you and a contractor), the Late Payment of Commercial Debts legislation gives you interest at 8% above base plus a fixed compensation amount per invoice. Mentioning it — politely — moves you up the payment queue remarkably often.
Know who owes you what
None of this works if you're not sure which invoices are actually outstanding. An up-to-date list of what's owed, what's overdue and by how long is the whole chasing system — the awkwardness disappears when the facts are certain.
And when they never pay
A written-off invoice is a bad debt your records should show — and a client you quote higher, on deposit terms, or not at all next time. Your books remember so you don't have to.
This article is general information for UK sole traders and subcontractors, not tax, accounting or financial advice. Rules change — check current HMRC guidance or speak to an accountant about your own position.