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Chase the day it's overdue, not the month after

Chase an overdue payment the morning after its final date, because every week it ages makes it harder to collect. Your main contractor learns fast which subcontractors let things drift. Polite, immediate, consistent chasing is a commercial habit, not aggression.

Updated: . By Jack Butler-Kettle, Construction Claims Consultant.

Why it matters

A sum 1 day late is an admin slip. A sum 6 weeks late is a negotiation. Main contractors pay in order of priority, and the subcontractor who chases the day after every final date goes to the top of the next run. The one who waits a month teaches the accounts team that its money can wait, and that lesson sticks for the rest of the job.

How to do it

  1. Put the final date for payment for every month in the diary, with a reminder on the day.
  2. Email your main contractor's accounts contact and QS the next morning if the money has not landed by close of business.
  3. State the sum, the date it was due and that it is now overdue.
  4. Phone the accounts contact the same day to find out where the payment is in their process.
  5. Follow up in writing every 3 working days until it is paid, in the same civil tone each time.
  6. Log every chase in the tracker with the date and the reply.

Example

Illustrative example. The scenario and figures are invented.

The facts

A subcontractor's third application, for £44,000, is certified in full. The final date for payment is the 20th. On the morning of the 21st nothing has arrived. The subcontractor's credit controller runs a fixed chasing routine.

What happens

  1. At 9am on the 21st she emails the main contractor's accounts contact and QS. £44,000 was due on the 20th and has not arrived: please confirm when it will be paid.
  2. She phones at 11am and learns the payment run is on the 23rd and the sum was missed off it.
  3. She asks for it to be added and confirms the call by email.
  4. The £44,000 arrives on the 23rd and the tracker is updated.

The outcome

The payment is 3 days late instead of a month. The accounts team learns that this subcontractor notices the day after, and the following payments arrive on the date.

To have this set up for you, see our Late Payment Prevention service.