$9,400 paid in 3 days. The exact text
The patio is done. The balance is sitting. Last day on site you send the invoice. Day 3 you send one short text. That is usually when it lands. If not, day 8, then a two-minute call. Exact wording below.
This is not a quiet quote. The work is finished. They have been using the patio. You are waiting on the same $9,400 you invoiced when you packed the trailer.
Most owners go quiet here because chasing money feels worse than chasing a maybe. Then two weeks later you are writing a longer, colder text because you are actually mad. That text does not get you paid faster. It just makes the next job with them worse.
The sequence is four beats. Last day on site, day 3, day 8, day 15. Texts for the first three. A two-minute call for the last. We walked the exact words in a short video if you want the 45-second version. What follows is the copy-paste version, with when to send each one.
If the file you are staring at is a quote that never got a yes, stop. That is the 2-7-14 rule. Different silence. Different texts.
Count from the day you leave the site
Day 0 is the last day on site, the same day the invoice goes out. Not the due date. Not the day you finally remember to look.
Work a Friday, invoice Friday, due the next Friday, and the calendar looks like this:
- •Friday, last day on site. All-done text with the invoice. Due date, amount, where to send it.
- •Monday, day 3. Friendly reminder. The invoice is still due Friday. This is the text that usually gets paid.
- •Saturday, day 8. It went past due Friday. Ask them to send it today.
- •Day 15. You call. Two minutes.
Put the three later dates in your phone before you drive off. If you wait until you “feel like chasing it,” you will chase it never, or you will chase it angry. Neither gets the $9,400.
Last day on site
All done, with the invoice
Text from the driveway. Invoice in the thread. Due date, amount, where to send it. No guessing later.
Day 3
Friendly, short, still due
Name the job they just got to enjoy. Remind them the due date. Tell them how to pay. This is usually where it ends.
Day 8
Past due. Ask for today.
Direct, still warm. The invoice went past due. Can they send it today. Not a speech.
Day 15
You call. Two minutes.
Nobody is mad, because nobody had to guess. The texts already named the amount, the date, and where it goes.
Last day on site: the all-done text
Send this from the driveway, invoice in the same thread. Three facts have to be in it: the due date, the amount, and where to send it. Skip any of those and every later text is you explaining homework they never got.
Hey Sarah, it's Dan. Patio is done. Invoice is in this thread. $9,400, due Friday. E-transfer to [your address] whenever you get a sec. Thanks for having us.
Swap the name, the job, the number, the date, and your payment details. Attach the invoice. That is the whole send. You are not asking them to hunt an email from last month.
Day 3: friendly, short, still due
This is the one that usually ends it. In the patio example it went out Monday morning. She sent the $9,400 that same morning.
The job of this text is not to collect a confession. It is to put the due date back in front of someone who has been using the work all weekend. Friendly. Short. Still before it is late.
Hope you got to enjoy the patio this weekend. Quick one. The invoice is due Friday. E-transfer to [your address] whenever you get a sec.
Fill-in version, same bones:
Hope you're enjoying [the patio]. Quick one. The invoice is due [Friday]. E-transfer to [your address] whenever you get a sec.
Do not recap the whole job. Do not say “just circling back.” Do not apologize for billing them. Name the thing they got to enjoy, name the date, name where the money goes.
If they pay, you are done. Delete the day-8 reminder. Do not “confirm” with a fourth text unless they asked.
Day 8: past due, ask for today
If day 3 did not do it, do not write a longer version of day 3. The facts changed. It went past due. Say that. Ask them to send it today. Direct, still warm.
Hey Sarah. Invoice went past due Friday. Can you send it today? E-transfer to [your address].
That is enough. You already told them the amount and the job on day 0. Repeating the speech now reads as pressure. Asking for today gives them a move.
If they reply with a date they can actually hit, take the date. Put a reminder. Stop the sequence. You are in a conversation now.
Day 15: you call. Two minutes.
The Short does not script this call because the call is not a speech. Two minutes. You already did the explaining in writing.
Open it like this:
Hey Sarah, it's Dan. Calling about the patio invoice from the 5th. It went past due. Can you send the $9,400 today, or is something in the way I should know about?
Then shut up and let them answer. If they can send it, you say thanks and hang up. If something is wrong (a line they dispute, a spouse, a bank delay), you deal with that. You do not relitigate the whole job.
Nobody is mad, because nobody had to guess. The due date, the amount, and where to send it have been in the thread since the driveway.
Why day 3 is the one that gets paid
The homeowner is not plotting to stiff you. They had a crew in the yard, then a weekend, then work on Monday. Your invoice is under a grocery list. Day 3 lands while the work is still the newest thing in their life, and while the due date is still in front of them, not behind them.
Wait until you are unpaid and irritated, and you send a different text. Longer. Colder. Often missing the payment details because you assume they “have the invoice.” That is how a $9,400 job becomes a $9,400 story you tell other owners.
What to stop doing
- •Waiting until you are mad. Angry texts collect slower than short ones sent on a date.
- •"Just circling back on the invoice." It says nothing. Due date, amount, where to send it. Every time.
- •Invoicing a week later. The all-done text is the invoice. Delay it and day 3 is already late.
- •Running 2-7-14 on a finished job. That cadence is for quotes that go quiet. Money after the work is a different file.
- •A fourth text after they pay. Say thanks once if you want. Do not keep the thread going to soothe yourself.
- •Surprise due dates. If day 0 never named the date, day 8 is you springing a trap. They will treat it like one.
Write the texts before you leave the street
The hard part is not the wording. It is remembering on day 8 while you are on someone else's roof and the last thing you want is to compose a polite money text with wet gloves.
Same afternoon you send the invoice, write day 3 and day 8. Put them in Notes. Set the reminders, including the day-15 call. When a reminder fires, you paste, glance, tap send. You are not composing from the truck.
That is the whole trick for a one-truck shop. The thinking happens when you still remember the job. The sending happens on the date.
Copy this for the crew
Screenshot the box. Stick it in the group chat. Run it on every finished job this month and see what comes back before day 8.
Payment-chase checklist
- Last day on site: send the all-done text with the invoice in the thread. Due date, amount, where to send it. All three. Every time.
- Count day 3, day 8, and day 15 from that send date, not from when you remember to check.
- Write the day-3 and day-8 texts the same afternoon, while you still remember the patio and the dog.
- Set three phone reminders. Dates, not vibes.
- Day 3: friendly. They got to enjoy the work. The invoice is still due. How to pay. Under a minute.
- If they pay, stop. Do not send the rest.
- Day 8: it went past due. Ask them to send it today. Direct, still warm.
- Day 15: call. Two minutes. Ask if they can send it today, or if something is wrong.
- Do not run the quote 2-7-14 sequence on a finished job. That is a different file.
Last day on site, day 3, day 8, then a two-minute call. Dates, not vibes.
If you want to click around a live invoice to see how the send side feels, the homepage demo saves nothing and sends nothing. Prefer a phone call, grab 15 minutes and we can talk through the cadence on the jobs you are actually waiting on.