Tradesman chasing for payment

[CharlesIsQueensHorcrux]

Hi - I had a tradesman in last week, finished Friday & invoiced Friday night with email and message. Since then has messaged another five times chasing me! By the way I wasn’t ignoring him I messaged back saying I was out but would deal. Is it me or is he unreasonable to chase me all weekend for an invoice issued on Friday night? I was happy with the work but not sure now I would use him again as I feel a bit ick like there’s a suggestion I wouldn’t pay or something. Aibu?

You implied you would pay soon so why haven't you paid on Fri evening?

Either he needs the cash asap or he has had problems in the past and just wants to mark it as paid. Its a small business. Why you wouldn't pay at the first reminder is really unkind.

Years ago, my friends boyfriend done a fair bit of work at a big house, for an up coming wedding in the grounds. He continually chased payment but was fobbed off and ignored for weeks.

Day of the wedding cames, him and his labourer turned up and started taking things down and loading onto van.

There was uproar, bride in tears, police called etc, father of the bride was livid, but my mates bf produced receipts showing he paid for items, policesaid nothing thry can do as civil matter..

He got paid there and then, including an extra weekend rates days wages for him and his oppo.

A lesson was learnt that day ...

Yeah sorry, I misread it and reported my post straight away.

My point does stand though (just not about PP's husband) - if you invoice on Friday night and things are so dire that no payment over the weekend means problems then the business isn't viable or is poorly run.

Or someone’s self employed with bills to pay.

When you say "pay ASAP" do you mean "stop the zoom meeting with work and pay right now" or do you mean "pay at the end of the working day even though your kids are literally screaming for their dinner" or do you mean "pay when the kids are in bed even though you are completely shattered? Or do you mean "pay first thing the next morning before breakfast, even though the kids are fighting over what to watch" or do you mean "pay them at 9am having told the kids you won;t be taking them to football this weekend because you've got a bill to pay"... etc etc. FFS, if companies want money on the spot they need payment facilities - if not then life gets in the way and it could easily take two or three days to have time to sit down and log onto the computer and internet banking, and then set the payment details up etc etc etc.

Being self employed makes no odds. If there isn't even 24 hours of wiggle room it's not viable.

What exactly makes tradesmen different to any other freelance job? I had to carefully plan out my finances to make sure I could get by while waiting for payments for jobs...why can't they?

It's a fair question, though as said it doesn't alter the point that if instant payment's in the T&Cs you either go with it or don't hire them
Usually someone says they have to buy materials upfront, but that raises two issues - first that any tradie worth their salt will have accounts with suppliers, and second that many others also to pay for materials but don't expect expect immediate settlement

I do agree that playing fair can encourage them to come back, but even this this a flipside, in that if problems crop up, someone who's been paid in full has less incentive to fix them eyes dripping carport whose fitter now ignores all messages

In terms of payng an invoice I think "I'll pay soon" means "I'll pay in the next few days".

You should have paid him immediately.

Not necessarily. The last couple of years have been really hard on the self employed and small business owners and many are still recovering.

How do you know she could have paid immediately? She might not have had internet access, or be half way through a meal at a restaurant, or shattered and in bed already?

Only once I haven't paid immediately, and that was due to the plumber asking for cash over a bank transfer. Bank was closed over the weekend so he got his money on the Monday. But even then it was arranged between us and he knew when to expect payment.

Sorry, but part of running a business properly is having money set aside or access to credit facilities. If you can't run your business without pissing off customers by chasing them 5 times in under 48 hours then you are an idiot.

Interesting to see my boring little q blow up!

In answer to some qs, the payment terms weren’t on the quote, the first I knew of them was the invoice. Yes I did explain about the internet banking limit and said I would pay the balance on Sun which I did.

@GCRich I mean pay immediately, on completion. Nobody gives a shit if you're tired/stressed/kids playing up/too precious to press a few buttons, pay what you owe!

Imagine payroll saying 'soz you haven't got your wages, I've had a bitch of a day!' no-one cares.

I'm really surprised by the responses on this thread. I've had a similar experience: work was scheduled for Thursday, he didn't show up. Rescheduled for Saturday, turned up an hour late but completed most of the work. There's a small bit of additional work that was agreed as part of the price, which he couldn't complete because a ladder wasn't long enough. So he's coming back sometime this week to finish off. I received an invoice yesterday. For 'due date' it has 'in 0 days'. I was going to pay once everything has been completed. Does this sound reasonable?

"No, why would you think that? Most invoices are payment on completion of work"

"Not necessarily. My invoices are due within 24 hours.
If someone has done a job for you, they shouldn't have to wait two weeks to receive payment. I mean, would you be happy if your boss made you wait two weeks for your paycheque"

@Beees @coffeecupsandfairylights
I'm in Aus and in our experience sometimes some tradies don't even send the invoice out until a week or so after the work is completed and then it can have a 7-14 day terms of payment on it.

But it seems the 7-14 days is standard no matter when they send the invoice here.

Being self employed makes no odds. If there isn't even 24 hours of wiggle room it's not viable

Totally different business of course, but I can't help thinking of the many landlord threads on here, where it's invariably said that if they can't wait for their money they shouldn't be in business at all

I'll say again it's different, but it's very noticeable that the priciple so often shifts according to taste

I always pay as soon as I can get my card reader. I had a tradesperson who said his business still hasn’t recovered since covid. Most times, they use the money they have to buy materials for your work and need you to pay so they can get materials for another work that needs doing next with them only having the profit to live on.

When he did your work on Friday, he might have needed the money for another job he needs to do the next day. It’s a small business

I agree. With online banking I can pay most tradesmen immediately. Even the few £'s for the window cleaner is now actually preferred this way.

I presume you are ok with your employer paying you whenever they get around to it?

You hould pay immediately they finished the job. Why wouldn't you. They don't provide interest free credit.

You should have paid him as soon as the invoice was given. Why do you think it’s acceptable to withhold payment until your ready to pay? Would you accept your work holding off your wage for an extra few days?

*I agree. With online banking I can pay most tradesmen immediately. Even the few £'s for the window cleaner is now actually preferred this way.

I presume you are ok with your employer paying you whenever they get around to it?*

Exactly! Some posters are making out logging onto online banking is an arduous task that can't possibly be done if you're a bit tired or have kids in the same room

You would literally log onto internet banking immediately, no matter what else was going on. I don;t believe you.

I didn't even think it was an option, I thought you were meant to just pay as they were leaving