Finish the job, send the invoice, wait. And wait. Every tradesperson knows the particular silence of an invoice that has stopped moving, and the maths of it: insurer research published this year found around two thirds of UK tradespeople are chasing late payments at any one time, with the average owed sitting around £2,000, and nearly a quarter juggling four or more unpaid invoices at once. Trades are exposed to this more than almost any other business. The work is done before the money moves. The customer is often a neighbour, a repeat client or someone who will talk about you at the school gate. So the invoice sits there, and you sit on the awkwardness, because chasing feels like accusing someone of being a thief. It is not. Chasing an invoice is asking for something that is already yours, and there is a way to do it that keeps every good customer and only ever loses you the ones who were never going to pay anyway. Assume the Cock-Up, Not the Conspiracy Here is the mindset shift that makes every message below easier to send: the overwhelming majority of late payments are not a decision. They are an invoice in a spam folder, a lost email, a busy fortnight, a customer who genuinely believes they already paid. Treat every late payment as an innocent oversight until proven otherwise and two things happen. Your messages come out friendly, and when it really was an oversight, which is most of the time, the customer is grateful rather than offended. The customers who take offence at a polite reminder for money they owe are telling you something useful about the next job. The Escalation Ladder Awkwardness thrives on improvisation. Kill it with a fixed sequence you run on every invoice, so nothing is ever personal. It is just what happens next. Step 0: Invoice properly in the first place Half of all chasing is prevented at this step. Send the invoice the same day the job finishes, while the customer is still delighted with the work. Make the due date explicit (“Payment due by Friday 14 August” beats “within 14 days”), include your bank details on the invoice itself, and make paying as frictionless as possible. If your invoice states late payment terms, that is also where they belong, agreed upfront, not invented mid-chase. Step 1: The friendly nudge (3 days after due date) One short message, warm and blame-free: “Hi Sarah, hope you’re enjoying the new bathroom! Just a quick one, invoice 214 was due on Friday and I don’t think it’s come through yet. Might have missed each other’s emails. I’ve popped it below again just in case. Thanks!” Attach the invoice again. Most invoices get paid within a day or two of this message, usually with an apology. Step 2: The phone call (7 to 10 days overdue) A call is harder to ignore than a message and impossible to leave on read. Keep it light: you are just checking the invoice arrived and asking if there is any problem with it. That last question matters. If there is a quibble about the work, you want it out in the open now, not silently blocking payment for a month. End every call with a specific commitment: “Great, so that will be with me by Thursday.” Vague promises evaporate; dates stick. Step 3: The firm reminder (14 days overdue) Still polite, now formal. In writing: “Hi Sarah, following up on invoice 214 for £1,850, now 14 days overdue. I need to get this settled by Friday 28 August. If there is an issue with the invoice or you would like to discuss payment, please give me a call today. Otherwise I would appreciate payment by that date.” No apology for asking, no exclamation marks, one clear deadline. If your agreed terms include late payment charges, this is where you mention that they will apply from a stated date, calmly, as fact rather than threat. Step 4: Letter before action (around 30 days overdue) A letter before action is a formal notice that you intend to start a court claim if payment is not received by a set date, usually 14 days out. It states the amount, the history and the deadline. It sounds heavy, and that is exactly why it works: a large share of stuck invoices get paid at this stage, because the customer finally understands you are not going to drift away. Step 5: Small claims For most trades invoices, the small claims track of the county court handles disputes up to £10,000 in England and Wales, with the claim started online and fees scaled to the amount owed and added to your claim. Research among tradespeople suggests those who do pursue claims succeed roughly half the time, and the process is designed to be used without a solicitor. It is the last rung for a reason, but knowing it exists, and that you will use it, changes how you carry every earlier step. Business Customer or Homeowner? The Rules Differ One distinction worth getting right before you mention interest or fees. When your customer is another business, late payment legislation entitles you to statutory interest on overdue commercial invoices, currently set at 8 percent above the Bank of England base rate, plus fixed recovery costs, and government reforms announced this year are tightening the regime further in small suppliers’ favour. When your customer is a homeowner, none of that applies automatically. You can only charge late fees or interest to a consumer if your terms said so before the work started, and the amounts have to be fair. This is one more reason the paperwork at Step 0 earns its keep: terms agreed upfront are enforceable, terms invented at week three are not. Protecting the Relationship While You Chase A few rules keep the tone right the whole way up the ladder. Chase the invoice, never the person: “invoice 214 is overdue” lands very differently from “you haven’t paid me.” Always leave an open door for problems, because a customer with a genuine cashflow squeeze who is offered a two-instalment plan usually takes it, pays it and stays loyal. Keep everything in writing or follow calls with a confirming message, so there is never a memory contest later. And never chase angry. If the message is being typed at 9pm with your heart rate up, save it as a draft and send the calm version in the morning. Better still, take yourself out of it entirely. When reminders go out on a schedule from your office rather than from your personal phone, the dynamic changes completely. The customer is dealing with a process, not having a confrontation with the person who tiled their kitchen. That is why bigger firms have someone in the office do the chasing, and it works just as well when the office is a virtual assistant. Frequently Asked Questions Can I charge late payment interest to a homeowner? Only if your terms and conditions said so before the work was agreed, and the charge is fair and proportionate. Without that, your route is the escalation ladder and, ultimately, a court claim for the invoice amount. Should I keep working for a customer who owes me money? Stop new work until the account is settled, politely and explicitly: “I’d love to book that in, let’s just get invoice 214 squared away first.” Working on while debt builds is how a £500 problem becomes a £5,000 one. What if the customer disputes the work? Separate the dispute from the debt. Ask them to put the specific issue in writing, fix anything genuine promptly, and ask for payment of the undisputed balance in the meantime. A vague complaint that only appears once the invoice is overdue is usually a delay tactic, and putting it in writing tends to make it evaporate. How long should I wait before the letter before action? Around 30 days overdue is typical for domestic invoices, assuming the nudge, call and firm reminder have all happened. Sooner if the customer has gone completely silent, since silence after three contacts is its own answer. Get Paid Without Making It Personal Late payment is a system problem, and it has a system answer: invoice the same day, chase on a fixed ladder, keep the tone warm and the deadlines firm, and let the paperwork be the bad cop. Or let us be. VA4Trades runs invoicing and payment chasing for trades businesses every day: invoices out on completion, reminders on schedule, polite persistence until the money lands, and you never have to send an awkward message again. Get in touch and keep your evenings for the family, not the chasing.