When an invoice goes past due

For a past-due invoice, check that the correct person received an accurate bill, then ask for a payment date. Use a repeatable sequence of reminders, a call and a written notice. Keep statutory notice deadlines separate; they may require action before this follow-up sequence ends.

Check delivery, billing details and the agreed amount

Before you chase anybody, rule out a mechanical explanation.

• Did it reach someone who can pay it? On residential work, the person whose name is on the account, not whoever was home. On commercial work, accounts payable, not the site superintendent, who cannot release a check.
• Is something missing that their system requires? Commercial payers routinely hold an invoice with no purchase order number, no cost code, or no signed lien waiver for the pay period. Ask AP to confirm what is missing.
• Does the due date appear as a date? “Due August 18, 2026” is clearer than making the customer count 15 days. Click your own pay link while you are in there.
• Does the amount match what they approved? If the invoice exceeds the approved fixed price, find the approved change or allowance adjustment that explains it before sending a demand.

Fix what you find and resend. Confirm the due date under the agreement; resending does not automatically restart a contractual or statutory clock.

A suggested follow-up schedule for overdue invoices

Those intervals are a default. Move them in when the balance is a large share of your month, or the customer is new. Move them out for a commercial account on a monthly check run, where day 3 is pointless and the real question is which run you are in. Record any agreed extension and check legal notice deadlines separately.

One thing not to add is a late fee your signed estimate or contract never mentioned; charging one after the fact gives the customer something to argue about instead of paying. That clause is its own decision, made before the job.

Example messages: a reminder and a written notice

These fictional message examples leave room for an oversight or billing question. No "as per my previous email," no threat, no wounded tone.

Subject: Invoice 1042 — quick check

Hi Dana,

Invoice 1042 for $4,200 was due Tuesday, August 18, and I don't see it in yet. Attached again in case it went to spam.

If something doesn't look right, tell me and I'll sort it out. Otherwise, what day will it go out?

Thanks, Mike

The day-21 notice is a different document: dated, restating the facts, naming a deadline, and saying what follows it without drama.

Subject: Past due notice — Invoice 1042, $4,200

Dana,

Invoice 1042, dated August 3, 2026, for $4,200, was due August 18, 2026. It is now 21 days past due, with no payment and no payment date.

Payment in full is due by September 15, 2026, by check to the address below or by card at the link on the invoice.

If I have no payment or signed payment plan by that date, I will refer this balance for collection.

Mike Reyes, Reyes Tile & Stone

The call gets a date; the email records it

A phone call can clarify a question that the emails have not answered. Open with the fact, then stop talking. "Hi Dana, it's Mike — I'm calling about invoice 1042, the $4,200 from the bathroom. It was due the 18th and I wanted to check where it stands." Let the silence work.

You are on the call for two things: what date and by what method. "Soon" and "when the deposit clears" are not dates. Ask again: "What date should I expect it, and is that a check or a card?" Then repeat the answer back.

If a complaint surfaces, do not renegotiate the price on the spot. Ask for the issue in writing, name a day you will look at it, say plainly that the undisputed portion is still due. Then email the same day: "Confirming our call — you'll mail a check on September 5, and I'll look at the grout line Thursday."

The answer you get tells you which problem you have

“I never got it.” Check the address, resend and confirm receipt in writing. Confirm the due date without automatically replacing the original terms.

"We pay on the 30th." Common on commercial and property-management work. Get the invoice cutoff and the check-run date, calendar both, follow up the day after the run. Then price that delay into your next payment terms with them.

"There's a problem with the work." Pause the sequence and handle the complaint separately. Fix what is genuinely yours, document it, get written confirmation it is resolved. Collecting from a customer with an unanswered legitimate complaint goes badly; a documented fix helps establish what was resolved and what remains due.

"Money is tight." Often solvable. A written installment plan with dates and amounts can be an option — see partial payments and payment plans. Get it signed, and treat a missed installment as a return to day 21.

Silence. Verify contact details and keep the attempts on record. Do not infer the reason; decide the next action from the balance, evidence and deadlines.

When to move from reminders to collection options

Consider moving beyond reminders when:

• 30 days past due with no payment date on record
• Two promised dates missed
• Someone who was responsive stops replying
• A bounced check, or a card payment they reverse
• You hear other trades on the same job are also unpaid

Reminders do not pause notice or filing deadlines. Check the required notice, trigger date and service method for the project and your role before following this suggested schedule. California’s CSLB lien guide illustrates the separate notice and lien process. The deadline to sue on the debt is a separate question for the applicable state law.

What comes next — a demand letter, a collection agency, small claims, or the lien itself — is covered separately, and each works better with the file you just built.

The record that makes the notice easy to write

A written notice needs a checkable amount and reference to the agreement. That part of the record starts in DoneQuote: the estimate and timestamp identify the customer’s recorded approval. Keep separately approved extra work with its scope, price and schedule impact. Use your invoice and payment records to establish the actual outstanding balance; quote approval does not show what has been paid.