Introduction
You did the work. The customer was happy. You sent the invoice. Three weeks later, nothing.
You send a polite chaser. Another two weeks. Still nothing. The materials bill is due. The van insurance is due. Wages are due.
Cash flow problems are not price problems. They are payment-timing problems. And they kill more trade businesses than slow seasons ever do.
The good news is, most late payments are preventable. Not with legal threats. Not with debt collectors. Just with five small operational moves you can start using on the next job.
Why Late Payments Happen
Customers do not usually mean to mess you about. Most late payments come down to three things.
No clear deadline. “Please pay within 30 days” sits at the bottom of an invoice and gets ignored. The customer reads it as “any time in the next month or two.”
No deposit. When the customer has nothing already invested in the job, paying the final bill drops to the bottom of their list.
No follow-up. The customer forgets. You forget. Time passes. The invoice becomes awkward to chase.
Fix those three and most of your late payment problem goes away.
Move 1: Take a Deposit on Every Job Over £500
If the job is over £500, you take a deposit. Not optional. Not just for the new customers. Every job.
20% is a fair number for most trades. 30% if the job needs materials ordering up front. Some trades go higher.
Two reasons this works.
It filters time-wasters. A customer who refuses to put down 20% on a £3,000 bathroom is telling you something important about how the final payment is going to go.
It commits them to the job. Once they have paid something, the job is real. They will not cancel the day before. They will not haggle on the final price. They will not vanish when it is time to pay.
How to ask: at the point of accepting the quote, send a short message. “To book you in, we take a 20% deposit. Once that lands, I will confirm the date in the diary.”
Most customers expect this. The ones who do not, you probably did not want anyway.
Move 2: Write Payment Terms in Plain English
“Net 30” means nothing to most homeowners.
Replace it with: “Please pay within 7 days of the invoice date.” Or even better: “This invoice is due on [exact date].”
A specific date is harder to ignore than a vague window. The customer knows when they have to act.
While you are at it, put the same line at the top of the invoice and the bottom. Some people only read the top of an email. Some only scan the bottom. Hit both.
A short payment terms section on your website also helps for bigger jobs. Two or three lines is plenty: deposit, payment due date, how to pay. Customers who read it before the quote never push back at the invoice.
Move 3: Invoice the Day the Job Finishes
The job finishes Tuesday. The invoice goes out Tuesday evening. Not Friday. Not next week. Same day.
The longer you wait, the more the job fades in the customer’s mind. The £400 invoice that lands the day after a job feels obvious. The same invoice three weeks later feels like a surprise.
It also signals you are on top of your business. Customers who see a tidy invoice the same day know they cannot drift on payment without it looking deliberate.
This one change usually pulls average payment time down by a week or two on its own.
Move 4: A Polite Chasing Sequence That Works
When an invoice does drift past its due date, the chasing is where most trades feel awkward. The script below is friendly, short, and works.
Day 1 past due, text message.
“Hi [name], just a quick reminder the invoice from [job description] is now due. Could you settle when you get a chance? Bank details on the invoice. Cheers, [you].”
Most late payments get sorted at this stage. The customer genuinely forgot.
Day 7 past due, email.
“Hi [name], hope you are well. The invoice from [job] is now a week past due. Please could you let me know if there is a problem, or if I can expect payment this week? Thanks, [you].”
Asking “is there a problem” is the magic phrase. It gives them a graceful way to explain (cash flow on their end, awaiting their own payment, whatever it is) without you sounding cross.
Day 14 past due, phone call.
A short, friendly call. “Hi, just chasing the invoice from the [job] in [month]. Is everything OK there?” Not aggressive. Just an unmissable nudge that the invoice is not forgotten.
Day 14 is also when you stop accepting new bookings from this customer until the previous one is paid.
Move 5: When and How to Escalate
Most late payments do not need escalating. The four moves above sort 90% of the problem.
For the rest, you have two real options.
Small Claims Court. Free to file online up to £10,000. Designed for non-lawyers. The threat of it alone clears a lot of invoices. You do not need a solicitor to use it.
A debt collection service. Some trade-friendly ones charge a percentage of what they recover, so there is no upfront cost. Useful for stubborn cases over £1,000.
Both of these are last resorts. Most invoices that get to this stage have been ignored repeatedly. By the time you are filing court papers, the customer relationship is already over.
A small note: keep every invoice, every chaser, every reply, in writing. If you do end up in Small Claims, the paper trail is what wins the case.
The Bigger Picture
Cash flow is the silent killer of trade businesses. Not bad work. Not bad pricing. Just money owed and not yet paid.
Five moves. Deposits. Plain English terms. Same-day invoicing. A polite chasing sequence. Last-resort escalation if needed.
Most trades fix this in a week and never look back. Their books look healthier. They sleep better. They stop dreading the inbox.
If you would like a longer list of practical operational wins like these, we have put together a free guide called 31 Things You Can Do This Week (Right Now) To Build Your Trade Business. Cash-flow tips, lead-handling routines, and small marketing moves all in one place. You can grab a copy at 31things.wearebrightr.com.
If you would like a fresh pair of eyes on the rest of your business, we offer a free Marketing Flight Check. We look at how your business is set up, where leads are coming in, how customers move through your process. We will tell you honestly what is working and what is not.
And if invoice chasing is eating your evenings, the Brightr Growth Engine automates the deposit, the invoicing, and the polite chasing sequence so you do not have to think about it. The same routine. Less of your time.
Get in touch if you would like to find out more. We are always happy to help.
Related Reading
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it legal to charge interest on late payments?
Yes. UK businesses can charge statutory interest of 8% above the Bank of England base rate on commercial late payments under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998. For consumer (homeowner) customers, the rules are different and depend on what your contract or quote states. The simplest move is to put a clear late-payment clause in your written quote.
Should I always take a deposit?
On jobs over £500, yes, every time. 20% is a fair benchmark for most trades, 30% if materials need ordering up front. Smaller jobs can usually go without. The deposit filters time-wasters at the start of the relationship and commits the customer to the date in your diary.
What is Small Claims Court and when should I use it?
Small Claims is a free online court process for debts up to £10,000. It is designed for non-lawyers and most cases are decided on paperwork without a hearing. Use it as a last resort, after polite chasers have failed, and only for invoices that are clearly past due with a paper trail. The threat of it alone often clears stubborn invoices.
Can I refuse to start a job if a deposit is not paid?
Yes. No deposit, no diary date. Be friendly but firm. A customer who refuses a 20% deposit on a £3,000 job is telling you something important about how the final payment will go. The polite line is, “I just need the deposit landed before I can lock the date in. Once that is through, the date is yours.”
