Unpaid plumbing invoices: what to do before you talk about liens

Where plumbing money actually goes missing

Plumbing has more ways to lose a payment than almost any other trade. The work is urgent, the paperwork is not.

The usual suspects:

• The 11pm emergency call you said you would bill later
• The repipe estimate the homeowner never answered
• Parts you fronted on a job that ran long
• A property manager on net-30 who needs the invoice number
• The extra shutoff valve nobody wrote a change order for
• A warranty callback that turned into two hours of real work

None of those look like a big problem on their own. Four of them at once is a payroll week.

Most of it is not refusal

This is the part that changes how you handle it.

A customer who has gone quiet is usually not disputing your work. They are busy, the email is buried, and nothing is forcing them to act.

Homeowners in particular treat a plumbing invoice like a piece of mail, not a deadline.

So the first move is not a threat. It is a reminder that makes paying you the easiest thing on their list.

Save the hard tools for the small number of customers who genuinely will not pay.

The first reminder, and what it should say

Send it about a week after the invoice is due. Keep it short and keep the numbers in it.

Mike — the balance on Invoice 412 for the water heater is $1,840, and it went out on Aug 10. Could you let me know when it will go out? If this month is tight, I can split it into two payments.

Three things are doing the work there.

The amount and the invoice number, so nobody has to go looking. A direct question, so silence is awkward. And a way out that is not a fight.

That last line matters more than most plumbers expect. A customer who is short this month will often take two payments over ignoring you for six weeks.

For quotes rather than invoices, the timing is different. We wrote that up separately in how long to wait before chasing a quote.

Property managers and builders are a different animal

A homeowner forgets. An accounts payable department has a process, and your invoice either fits it or sits.

For commercial work, get these right the first time:

• The purchase order number, if they issue them
• The invoice sent to the payables address, not your contact
• Your W-9 on file before the first invoice, not after
• The payment terms in writing, so net-30 means a date

Then follow up on the day the terms run out. Not before, and not three weeks after.

With a builder or a manager, being the plumber who tracks his own invoices is a reputation worth having. It gets you paid ahead of the ones who do not.

When to stop being patient

A few customers really are avoiding you. The order of moves, in rough sequence:

1. A second reminder, about a week later

Same wording, slightly firmer. Most stragglers pay here.

2. A phone call

Email is easy to ignore. A short, calm call about a specific amount usually is not.

3. A final written notice

State the amount, the work, and the date you need it by. Keep a copy of everything you have sent.

4. Your lien rights

Plumbing work on real property often carries mechanic's lien rights. The filing windows are short and the rules differ by state, so check yours early rather than late.

This is not legal advice. On a large balance, an hour with a construction attorney in your state is cheap insurance.

5. Small claims, or hand it off

Worth it on a real balance, rarely worth it on a $380 service call. Know which one you are holding.

Almost none of your money should ever reach step 4. If it does regularly, the problem is upstream.

Deposits stop the problem earlier

The cheapest unpaid invoice is the one you never had to chase.

On anything bigger than a service call, take a deposit before the parts go on the truck.

On a multi-day job, bill in stages instead of one invoice at the end. Rough-in, then finish.

And write the change order the same day the customer asks for the extra work. Not on Sunday, from memory.

A card reader in the van pays for itself on the first customer who was going to mail a check and did not.

The real problem is remembering

Notice that none of the above is complicated. No plumber reads that reminder and thinks it is hard to write.

The hard part is knowing, on a Tuesday in a busy month, which four invoices have gone quiet and how long each has sat.

That is what falls apart. Not the wording. The clock.

Most invoicing software will happily show you a list of everything unpaid. What it does not do is tell you which one to deal with today, and hand you the message to send.

Where Jobrescue fits

Jobrescue keeps that clock for you, and nothing else.

You keep quoting and invoicing however you do it now. QuickBooks, Jobber, Housecall Pro, a Word document, plain email.

You BCC one address when you send a quote or an invoice. That is the whole new habit.

When a job goes quiet, you get one question with the follow-up already written. Send it, wait, or mark it paid.

Nothing reaches your customer until you have read it and tapped yes. It is not a bot talking to the people who pay you.

It will not file a lien, take you to court, or fix a customer who has decided not to pay. It handles the other 90 percent.

If you are tired of running the list in your head, we suggest trying jobrescue.pro. Forward your last 5 invoices and you get back what is owed, what has gone quiet, and the wording to send.

Finish the job. Send the invoice. Get paid.