Late Payment Claim
Claim
Payment overdue? We establish what is due, add any recoverable interest and costs, and pursue it with your main contractor.
Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.
Get a free report on your claim. About three minutes; no obligation.
The problem
The final date for payment has passed, and your main contractor is blaming its client or disputing payment without explaining why. With money still outstanding, you may be considering whether to stop work.
Paid short? See Underpayment Claim. Main contractor insolvent? See Insolvency Claim.
The solution
We check the sums, dates and reasons for non-payment, then draft a demand for your approval and negotiate. You choose whether to settle or escalate.
Suspension and adjudication depend on the available rights and required notices. We prepare the commercial evidence; your solicitor handles legal questions.
What you get
You receive a statement of overdue sums, recoverable interest and costs, with an approved demand, payment deadline and support through negotiations. The final record distinguishes sums paid, settled or decided from those still open.
Includes a Handover Pack: key dates and sources, next steps, likely responses, scope limits and any ready-to-send letters.
Fee: Fixed fee agreed after we see the payment records, before work starts. Suspension or adjudication support each has a separate fixed fee agreed first.
Turnaround: the triage starts the day you instruct; the timetable after it is agreed in writing at scoping and then kept.
How it works
Claim stage: Event
You tell us what is overdue
Start with a free call. Agree the scope, fixed fee and timetable in writing, then send the records listed below.
What you get: A written scope, fixed fee and timetable
- A
The signed subcontract
A complete PDF or scan, every schedule and amendment included.
Where to find it: The order email or the job's commercial folder normally holds the signed copy; if it was never signed, send the last version exchanged and say so.
Why we need it: The due date, the final date for payment, the interest provision and any condition on payment all come from its terms.
How we will use it: It anchors the triage: which sum is operative, when it fell due and what the subcontract allows you to do about it.
- B
The applications or invoices for the unpaid sums, as sent
As originally issued, forwarded as the original email or as dated PDFs, with proof of when and how each was sent.
Where to find it: The sent items of whoever issues your applications or invoices.
Why we need it: The final date for payment runs from the dates these fix, so the debt starts with them.
How we will use it: Each is laid against the contract's dates to fix when payment fell due and when it became late.
- C
Every notice received against them
Any Payment Notice or Pay Less Notice, as received, with the date and route it arrived by.
Where to find it: The email trail with the main contractor's commercial team, and any project portal.
Why we need it: The notices decide which sum is operative, and a Pay Less Notice that worked changes what can be demanded and whether suspension is open.
How we will use it: We test each one and fix the sum that was actually payable by the final date.
- D
The payment history
What has been paid on the job and when: remittances and bank receipts.
Where to find it: Your accounts package or bank statements.
Why we need it: The debt and the interest both run from the gap between what was due and what arrived, and when.
How we will use it: It fixes the principal outstanding and the days late for each sum, which drive the interest calculation.
- E
The chasers and replies so far
The emails and letters exchanged about the unpaid sums, forwarded whole, dates and attachments intact.
Where to find it: An inbox search on the main contractor's contacts and the project name usually finds them.
Why we need it: The reasons given for not paying, and any promise to pay, shape the demand and the route that follows.
How we will use it: We read them for the stated reason, any admission of the debt and anything that has changed the dates.
- F
What stopping work would affect
Only where suspension is being considered: the gangs and plant on site, hire periods and the next programme dates.
Where to find it: Your contracts manager or site manager can list it in a few lines.
Why we need it: Suspension has practical and cost consequences that have to be weighed before any notice is served.
How we will use it: We cost the suspension and the remobilisation for the account, and set it beside the notice of intention to suspend.
Copies are fine. Send what you have and we will tell you what's missing.
- A
Claim stages: Notice, Entitlement, Evidence, Quantum and Assembly
We check where you stand
We confirm what you are owed and the day it became late, check the reason given for not paying and work out the interest. Then we recommend a route.
What you get: A short report with the route we recommend, and a demand ready to send
You approve what goes out
Nothing goes to your main contractor until you have read it and said yes. The demand for payment goes in your name, with a date to pay by.
Claim stage: Resolution
We chase the payment and negotiate
We check the reply and every payment against the demand, answer each reason for not paying and negotiate the rest. Anything agreed is put in writing.
What you get: A written record of what was agreed and when it will be paid
We prepare the next step, if they still will not pay
You choose: stop work until paid, or adjudication, a fast independent decision. We prepare the notice or the figures, and check the money arrives.
What you get: The notice to stop work, or the figures and evidence for an adjudication
We close with the debt recovered and the Handover Pack
Get a free report on your claim
Answer the questions below for a free PDF report by email. Allow about three minutes; choose “Not sure” where needed.
Your report explains where you stand, the next steps to take and the records to gather. It also sets out how we could help for a fixed fee, with no obligation.
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Prevent it next time
Put a routine in place to reduce the risk of this happening again. Late Payment Prevention.