Late payments are getting worse
QuickBooks’ Small Business Late Payments Report 2026 surveyed 1,305 US business owners in December 2025, alongside its ongoing quarterly survey of small businesses. The results aren’t specific to the trades, but they’ll sound familiar to anyone who’s chased an invoice:
- 59% of businesses have invoices more than 30 days overdue, up from 47% the year before.
- Businesses with unpaid invoices are owed $17,700 on average.
- 39% say a single late payment made it hard to cover payroll or bills in the past year.
- It doesn’t take a big invoice: 27% say a missed payment under $5,000 caused that strain, and 12% say one under $1,000 did.
- 51% of businesses with overdue invoices say cash flow is a problem, compared with 36% of those without.
A finished job you haven’t invoiced is effectively a loan to your customer. The work is done, but the money isn’t yours until the invoice is out and paid.
Fix 01: Invoice on site, the day the job’s done
The longer the gap between finishing the job and sending the invoice, the longer you wait to be paid.
- Send the invoice before you leave the driveway, while the customer can see the finished work.
- Walk them through it in 30 seconds: what was done, what it cost, how to pay.
- If the job ran over the quote, explain why on the spot, ideally with a photo of what you found.
An invoice that arrives three days later, from the office, is easier to put off.
Fix 02: Put a pay link on every invoice
Tofu analyzed 3,750,978 invoices from 442,894 US field-service businesses, issued between January 2025 and May 2026. Among emailed invoices:
| Paid | Median days to pay | |
|---|---|---|
| With a pay link | 79.6% | 8 |
| Without a pay link | 56.1% | 15 |
The authors are clear that this shows a correlation and doesn’t prove the link causes the difference. But the logic holds up: a customer who can pay by card or bank transfer in two taps, right now, is more likely to do it right now.
Two practical notes from the same data:
- Keep the payment page simple. On 19.2% of invoices where the customer opened the online payment page, they left before paying.
- Have a follow-up rhythm. The analysis suggests resending around day 7 and following up by phone or text by day 14. About 1 in 7 emailed invoices (13.7%) needed a resend.
Fix 03: Make it due on completion
Payment terms are linked with how fast you get paid.
- In the QuickBooks survey, 26% of businesses on immediate payment terms had overdue invoices, compared with 55% on net 30.
- 64% of businesses with no overdue invoices require immediate payment, compared with 34% of businesses that have overdue invoices.
- In the Tofu data, invoices due on receipt were paid in a median of 9 days. Net 30 invoices took a median of 34. Most due-on-receipt invoices still weren’t paid on the day, which is why invoicing on site matters.
- 84.5% of invoices in the Tofu data stated no terms at all. Invoices that stated terms were paid more often (57–68%) than those that didn’t (43.9%).
So write your terms down, and make them short. “Payment due on completion” on the quote, agreed before you start, and the same line on the invoice. For bigger jobs, take a deposit when the quote is signed (check your state’s limits on deposits) so you’re not carrying the materials cost.
This week’s checklist
- Count your invoices that are more than 30 days overdue.
- Change your quote and invoice templates to “payment due on completion.”
- Add a pay link to every invoice you send from now on.
Common questions
What payment terms should a contractor use?For most residential jobs, due on completion, with a deposit on larger jobs. The data above shows immediate terms are linked with far fewer overdue invoices than net 30.
Is it rude to ask for payment on the spot?Not if it was agreed at the quote. Customers are used to paying when a service is done. The awkward part is chasing an invoice weeks later.
What should I do with invoices that are already overdue?Resend with a pay link, then follow up by phone or text. A personal call usually works better than a third email.
How Goanna Digital handles this
On every Goanna Digital plan, quoting and invoicing run from your phone: send a quote, get it signed, take a deposit, invoice on completion and get paid by card or bank transfer. Your customer gets their own page where they can see the quote, approve it, pay it and see the job photos. Because it all runs from the Goanna Digital app on your phone, the invoice can go out before you leave the driveway.
Want this handled for you?
Goanna Digital runs your website, your Google presence, your lead inbox, quoting and invoicing from one app on your phone.
Sources
- QuickBooks, Small Business Late Payments Report 2026 (online survey of 1,305 US business owners, December 2025, plus QuickBooks Small Business Insights quarterly survey): https://quickbooks.intuit.com/r/small-business-data/small-business-late-payments-report-2026/
- Tofu, analysis of 3,750,978 invoices from 442,894 US field-service businesses (January 2025 to May 2026): https://tofu.com/blog/invoice-payment-terms