Overdue invoice reminder templates for trades: four messages from friendly to final, and the three things that stop it happening.
Day 1, day 7, day 14 with a phone script, and a 30-day final notice, written in plain NZ English with the brackets to replace. Plus the Construction Contracts Act and Disputes Tribunal routes in one paragraph. Free, no email required.
How do you chase an overdue invoice without losing the client?
Send a short, named reminder the day after the due date, assume it slipped, and attach the invoice. At seven days, ask directly whether there is a question about the work or the amount. At fourteen days, phone the same day you email, and offer part payment by a fixed date. At thirty days, send a final notice with a seven-day deadline and say what happens next. Stop the moment they pay or agree a plan. A price surprise is a likely cause of a stalled invoice, although reviews record complaints about price rather than late payment: in our trades corpus, overcharging is the most common complaint theme in negative reviews (about 7% for electricians and plumbers), and value is the lowest-scoring of the four rated dimensions for both. The prevention list on page two matters more than the reminders.
The job this document is doing.
- —Month-end invoicing means the client is paying for a job they have half forgotten
- —“Just following up” sent four times, saying nothing new and setting no deadline
- —The first mention of payment terms is on the invoice, so the dispute starts there
- —A real dispute about the work is handled as a payment problem, and the client goes quiet for good
Open it and use it today.
- 01Four emails: day 1, day 7, day 14, day 30 final notice
- 02Two-minute phone script for day 14, with what to say for a dispute and for a timing problem
- 03Three prevention habits: terms on the quote, deposits and progress claims, invoice on the day
- 04A note on Construction Contracts Act payment claims and the Disputes Tribunal limit
Free to use and adapt for your own business. Not legal advice: check contract terms against your own terms of trade and, where it matters, with a lawyer.
Why this document, and not another one.
| Trade | Overcharging, negative reviews | Value score (of 4 dimensions) | Transparent pricing praised |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plumbers | About 7% (top complaint theme) | 95.5 / 100 (lowest) | 22.7% |
| Electricians | About 7% (top complaint theme) | 97.1 / 100 (lowest) | 22.6% |
From 20,286 publicly posted reviews of 369 NZ electricians, plumbers and painters, collected August 2026. Negative reviews score under 50 on any dimension; the negative samples are small (56 to 167 reviews) and are reported as rank order, not precision. Full corpus, method and thresholds: the trades methodology page. Full findings: the trades research study.
Use it alongside
Client intake form and process for trade businesses
The five steps from enquiry to booking with a clock on each, what every new client is told in writing before booking, and a one-page intake form for the first call.
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