How to Chase Overdue Invoices in NZ(And Actually Get Paid)
A no-nonsense guide for Kiwi tradies and freelancers. Clear timelines, copy-ready reminder templates, escalation steps, and the tools that quietly do the chasing for you.
Free plan available • Auto-Reminders included with Pro at $5/month
Why Kiwi tradies struggle to get paid on time
If you’re a sparkie, plumber, builder, painter, or any kind of sole trader in Aotearoa, you already know the story. The job’s finished, the invoice is sent, and then — silence. Days turn into weeks. Meanwhile fuel, materials, and that next Bunnings run still need paying.
A few things make NZ tradie cashflow especially tight:
Main contractor delays. Subbies often wait on a head contractor who is waiting on a developer who is waiting on a bank. Your $4k invoice can sit at the bottom of someone else’s pile.
Retentions on construction work. A percentage of progress payments is often held back until practical completion or defects liability. That money is yours, but you don’t see it for months.
EOFY squeeze. Around 31 March, customers tighten up, GST and provisional tax fall due, and one slow payer can wreck a whole month.
Rising costs. Diesel, timber, copper, and consumables don’t wait. Every week an invoice sits unpaid is a week you’re effectively financing your customer’s business.
The “awkward Kiwi” tax. Most tradies hate chasing payments. It feels rude. So invoices drift, and the longer they drift, the harder they get to collect.
Chasing overdue invoices isn’t about being aggressive. It’s about having a calm, repeatable system so you don’t have to think about it — or feel awkward — every time.
When should you start chasing an overdue invoice?
Before any chasing makes sense, the original invoice has to be valid. If the GST details, your name, or the buyer details are off, a customer has an easy excuse to delay. Make sure it meets the NZ tax invoice requirements first.
After that, the goal is to chase early, lightly, and consistently. Here’s a simple timeline that works for most tradies and freelancers:
Day 1
Send the invoice
Send it the same day you finish the job, with clear payment terms (7 or 14 days, bank account, reference). Make it easy to pay on a phone.
Day +7
Gentle nudge
Short, friendly reminder. Assume it’s slipped down the inbox. No pressure, no implied accusation — just a quick “in case it got missed”.
Day +14
Firm reminder
Clear that the invoice is overdue. Restate the amount, due date, and how to pay. Ask for a date by which payment will be made.
Day +21
Pick up the phone
A two-minute call beats five emails. Stay calm and ask straight: “When can I expect this to be paid?” Confirm the answer in writing the same day.
Day +30
Final notice / escalation
Send a final notice referencing the steps you’ve already taken, the consequences (Disputes Tribunal, debt collector, payment claim if applicable), and a hard deadline.
Day +35+
Act on the warning
If nothing has happened, follow through. Empty threats train customers to ignore you. Move into Disputes Tribunal, a payment claim under the CCA, or hand it to a collector.
Construction subbies, read this:
If you’re working under the Construction Contracts Act 2002, your invoice can be issued as a formal payment claim. That triggers strict timeframes for the payer to respond with a payment schedule — and if they don’t, the claimed amount typically becomes payable. Check with a contracts adviser before relying on it, but it’s a powerful tool many subbies don’t use.
How to write a polite but firm payment reminder
The single biggest mistake tradies make is rewriting the reminder from scratch every time — usually while annoyed. Use templates. They keep the tone steady and stop you blowing up a customer relationship on a bad day.
Before you send any reminder, double-check the invoice is correct and uses your real trading name, GST number (if registered), and the right bank details. If you don’t have one yet, start from the free NZ tax invoice template.
Template 1
Friendly nudge — Day +7
Tone: warm, no blame. You’re assuming it slipped through.
Template 2
Firm reminder — Day +14
Tone: still respectful, but clear this is now overdue and you need a date.
Template 3
Final notice — Day +30
Tone: businesslike. You’re documenting the trail in case it goes further.
Send the first two by email. The final notice is worth sending by both email and a physical letter or courier-tracked envelope if the amount is significant.
When to escalate: calls, debt collectors, and small claims
The phone call (don’t skip this)
A short, direct phone call solves more overdue invoices than any email. Keep it calm and factual: confirm they received the invoice, confirm the amount, and ask when it will be paid. Don’t apologise for asking — you did the work. Always follow up the call with a quick email summarising what was agreed, so there’s a written trail if things escalate later.
Disputes Tribunal (NZ small claims)
The Disputes Tribunal is the Kiwi version of small claims court. It’s cheap, you don’t need a lawyer, and it’s designed for everyday people and small businesses. As at writing, claims up to $30,000 can be heard — please verify the current limit on disputestribunal.govt.nz before filing, as it can change.
You’ll need your invoice, evidence of the work (quotes, photos, signed job sheets, text messages), and your trail of reminders. That’s why keeping the written chase organised matters from day one.
Debt collectors
Agencies such as Baycorp or Centrix (mentioned as common NZ examples, not endorsements) will chase debts on your behalf, usually for a percentage of what they recover or a flat fee. They’re most useful when the customer is clearly avoiding you, the amount is large enough to justify the cost, and you’re willing to burn the relationship. For most tradie-sized invoices, the Disputes Tribunal is the better first stop.
Construction Contracts Act 2002 (CCA)
If you’re a subbie on a construction job, you can issue your invoice as a formal payment claim under the CCA. The payer then has a set period to respond with a payment schedule. If they don’t respond properly within the timeframe, the claimed amount typically becomes due and you have stronger recovery options. The rules are strict — check with a contracts adviser or your trade association before relying on it, but for many tradies this is the most powerful tool in the box.
Nothing on this page is legal advice. For sizeable debts or contested invoices, check with a lawyer, the Citizens Advice Bureau, or your trade association.
How automated invoice reminders save hours every month
Think about what manual chasing actually costs you. Even ten unpaid invoices a month — pretty modest for a busy tradie — means ten times you’re writing a reminder, second-guessing the tone, checking the bank, and probably putting it off because you’re tired after a long day on the tools.
A few hours of evening admin a month, every month, year after year. That’s real money, and it’s often the work tradies push to the weekend or skip entirely. Skipped chasing means slower payment, which means worse cashflow, which means more stress.
Automated reminders solve three problems at once:
Consistency. Every invoice gets chased on the same schedule, whether you’re flat-out, on holiday, or just plain tired.
No awkwardness. It’s the system writing, not you. Customers get used to it and respond faster — no hard feelings.
Faster payment. Reminders go out the moment they’re due, not a week later when you remember.
The point isn’t to be ruthless. It’s to take a job you already do — badly, inconsistently, and at the worst time of day — and hand it to something that does it well, every time, without you thinking about it.
How Invio handles overdue follow-ups for you
Invio’s Auto-Reminders feature is part of the Pro plan ($5/month). It runs the chase quietly in the background, so you can focus on the next job instead of the last invoice.
Schedule your own reminder cadence
Pick when reminders go out — for example, the day an invoice goes overdue, then again at 7 and 14 days. Set it once and every future invoice follows the same rhythm.
Branded reminder emails
Reminders go out under your trading name with the original invoice attached, so they look professional and the customer has zero excuse to claim they never got it.
Stop automatically on payment
The moment an invoice is marked paid, the reminder sequence stops. No awkward “please pay” email arriving after the customer’s already paid.
See every chase from the dashboard
Open the dashboard and see which invoices are overdue, which reminders have gone out, and which customers need a phone call rather than another email.