The Contractor's Guide to Getting Paid Faster

Why contractors wait to get paid (and why it's mostly avoidable)

The average trade contractor waits 30–45 days to get paid on a completed job. Some wait longer. A significant portion of that wait is self-inflicted.

Here's the typical timeline. Job finishes on a Friday afternoon. Contractor is tired, drives home, tells himself he'll do the invoice over the weekend. Weekend comes, he forgets. Monday he's on another job. Invoice goes out Tuesday or Wednesday. Client is a small business owner who pays invoices on Fridays. Now it's two Fridays away. Invoice lands in accounts payable on a Thursday, too late for that Friday's run. Payment arrives three weeks after job completion.

None of that delay was necessary. The job was done Friday. The invoice could have gone out Friday. Payment could have been received within a week.

Speed of invoicing is the single biggest controllable lever on payment speed. Every day you wait to send the invoice is a day you add to the wait for payment. This sounds obvious, but most contractors don't invoice on the day the job is done — they invoice whenever they get around to it, which averages out to 3–5 days later. For most contractors, that delay is the difference between getting paid this week and getting paid next week — and it costs nothing to close. The second biggest factor is friction in the payment process itself. If you send a PDF invoice with your bank details and the client has to initiate a bank transfer manually, you've added friction. If you include a button that lets them pay by card in 30 seconds, you've removed it. Payment friction is why invoices sit unpaid for weeks — not because clients don't intend to pay, but because they keep meaning to get around to it. Fix both and most invoices get settled within 10 days of the job finishing.

Invoice the moment the job is done

The goal is to have the invoice in the client's inbox before you drive away. Not later that day. Not tomorrow. Before you leave the driveway.

This sounds ambitious, but it's achievable if invoicing takes 60 seconds rather than 10 minutes. If you're using QuickBooks on mobile, it probably takes 5–10 minutes to create an invoice from scratch. That's too long. You're tired, the client is standing there, you just want to leave. The invoice gets deferred.

If you've built a quote before the job started — which you should be doing — converting it to an invoice should be one tap. The line items are already there, the client details are already there, the total is already calculated. You hit send, the client gets an email with the invoice and a payment link, and you drive away.

The psychological effect on clients is also significant. An invoice that arrives while the client can still see your van in the driveway signals professionalism. It shows the job is complete, the relationship is tidy, and payment is expected. An invoice that arrives three days later signals that invoicing is informal — which often translates to payment being informal too.

Include a payment link — not just your bank details

Bank transfer is the default for most contractors. Send the invoice, include your BSB and account number or routing and account number, wait for the client to log in to their bank and make the transfer.

The problem is that bank transfers require deliberate action at a specific moment. The client has to be at their computer, logged into online banking, have your invoice open, copy the numbers, initiate the transfer. Most clients mean to do this and keep not getting around to it.

A payment link is different. The client taps a button in the invoice email, enters their card details, and it's done in 30 seconds from their phone. No bank login, no number copying, no specific moment required — they can pay from the couch at 9pm on Sunday.

Payment links work because they eliminate the deliberate-action requirement. A bank-transfer invoice asks the client to log in to online banking, locate your account details, and initiate a transfer — a sequence that keeps getting deferred. A payment link in the invoice email asks them to tap a button and enter a card number. That reduced friction is why invoices with a payment link typically get settled 7–10 days faster than those relying on bank transfer — a pattern that holds across residential and commercial clients alike. Stripe is the standard setup for contractors: it takes about 20 minutes to configure, generates a unique payment link per invoice automatically, and charges 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction. Most contractors who track their payment timing find the fee modest relative to the improvement in cash flow and the removal of awkward payment-chasing calls.

Payment reminder templates you can copy and use today

If you're not following up on unpaid invoices automatically, you're leaving money on the table. Most contractors who don't receive payment on time don't chase it because chasing payment feels awkward — especially with clients they'll see again or who they want to keep. The instinct is to wait a little longer, give them the benefit of the doubt, and hope it resolves itself. It usually doesn't. The solution is to take yourself out of the loop entirely. Write the reminder emails once, set them to send on a fixed schedule after the due date, and never think about them again. Three messages — at day 7, day 14, and day 30 — resolve the vast majority of late-payment situations without a single phone call. Done professionally, automated reminders don't feel aggressive. They feel like standard business practice. Clients who work with contractors regularly expect them.

Here is a three-message sequence that works. Copy these, adjust the specifics, and send them consistently.

Reminder 1 — Day 7 (friendly)

Reminder 2 — Day 14 (direct)

Reminder 3 — Day 30 (firm)

Three things make these work. First, they sound like a person — not a system. Second, they always include the payment link so acting on them is frictionless. Third, the tone escalates gradually without becoming accusatory, which preserves the relationship.

→ Fieldpaid automates this sequence — day 7, day 14, and day 30, cancelled automatically the moment the invoice is paid.

Payment terms, deposits, and habits that change the baseline

Beyond the tactics above, there are a few structural habits that change what "normal" looks like for your cash flow.

Require a deposit on larger jobs. On any job over $1,500, ask for 30–50% upfront. This isn't unusual — clients who've hired contractors before expect it. It covers your materials cost and signals that the relationship is a business transaction. Clients who resist deposits on large jobs are sometimes worth being cautious about.

Set explicit due dates, not vague terms. "Net 30" on an invoice means different things to different clients. "Due by March 15, 2026" is unambiguous. Specific dates perform better than open-ended terms, particularly with residential clients who don't deal with invoices regularly.

Invoice at milestones on multi-day jobs. If a job runs three days, invoice at the end of day one for materials, at the end of the job for labour and balance. Don't wait until the entire job is done to send a single large invoice. Partial invoicing keeps cash flowing and avoids a single large payment sitting unpaid.

Know who pays slowly and price accordingly. After enough jobs, you'll know which clients or client types pay in 10 days and which ones take 45. Factor payment behaviour into how you price for those clients. A client who reliably takes 45 days to pay is effectively borrowing money from you interest-free — which is fine if you price for it, and a problem if you don't.

Good payment hygiene isn't aggressive — it's professional. Clients who work with contractors regularly respond well to it. It sets expectations clearly, it makes your business easier to run, and it frees you from the awkward position of chasing money you've already earned.