You want a returning crew to understand when it gets paid on the next house. Agree the invoice review, payment trigger, and due-date terms before asking it to commit. Payment reliability belongs alongside scope, capacity, credentials, and site readiness in that conversation.
Discuss the process with the business that signs your subcontract. AIA’s payment guide addresses written terms and documentation. Prompt payment alone does not establish workmanship or guarantee that a crew returns.
Put invoice and payment steps in the subcontract
Before award, explain how the sub submits its invoice, who reviews it, and what starts the payment period. Identify billing cutoffs, required evidence, retained amounts, and the release process. Ask which terms the sub needs clarified before pricing or planning the work.
AIA’s subcontractor payment guide emphasizes contract terms, documentation, and defined timelines. Use those points to check your process. Have counsel review the payment provisions for the actual jurisdiction and project.
Use this worksheet when talking with a new trade. Fill in the details rather than answering each row with “our usual process.”
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| Topic | What the sub needs to confirm |
|---|---|
| Billing | Where to send the request and which cutoff applies |
| Work acceptance | Who decides whether the billed scope meets the agreement |
| Required attachments | Which documents belong with that request |
| Payment date | The contractual trigger and stated period |
| Retainage | What is withheld and what releases it |
| Changes | How approved extras enter billing |
| Disputes | Who identifies a rejected item and explains the reason |
| Contact | Who answers payment questions and who covers absences |
Give the same schedule to your superintendent and office. Ask both to explain it back in their own words. Resolve conflicting answers before the crew starts.
Find where invoices get held up
Take a completed job and trace the invoice from receipt to payment. Use dated records to check each step. Identify when the invoice arrived, when it was checked, what was missing, when work was accepted, and when money was released.
Assign a responsible person to each step. Name a backup for approvals that depend on one person. Decide how the office tells the sub about missing information. Do not leave the sub guessing whether its invoice is sitting unopened or has been rejected.
Review the last disputed invoice separately. Ask which line was challenged, when the challenge was communicated, and how the accepted portion was handled. Track agreed base work separately from unresolved changes. Have an attorney resolve questions about payment or withholding requirements.
If the office needs paperwork, specify it before billing. Give the sub a checklist that matches the contract. Do not introduce a new informal condition after the work is finished without reviewing the contract and agreeing through its required process.
Match funding to the commitments you make
Compare your expected owner receipts with trade payment obligations before committing to the build schedule. Identify a gap instead of assuming the next draw will arrive in time. Ask your accountant and lender to check the plan where needed.
Keep requested, approved, and received draws separate in the forecast. If a lender or owner has not confirmed a funding date, mark the date as a forecast. Do not give that forecast to the sub as a confirmed payment date.
For North Carolina work covered by Chapter 22C, G.S. 22C-3 requires qualifying pass-through payment within seven days after upstream receipt. But G.S. 22C-6 excludes residential contractors and specified residential improvements, including those with twelve or fewer units. Have an attorney check the project before applying that chapter to a house.
Use how to pay a subcontractor to separate price, billing, and payment. Keep legal payment dates separate from lender forecasts throughout the job.
Confirm the site is ready before the crew travels
Confirm readiness with the trade before the crew starts. Ask the trade which preceding work, access, materials, and decisions must be ready. Identify who checks each condition. Confirm the site is ready before asking the crew to travel.
When a condition changes, call the responsible contact and document the revised plan. Tell the sub which work is ready and which is blocked. Resolve any added cost or schedule effect through the agreed change procedure rather than asking the crew to absorb an unexplained return visit.
For payment updates, confirm the status and name who handles the next step. Silence leaves the sub without a basis for planning either the crew or its own invoice follow-up.
Handle disputes without losing the record
If you disagree with a bill, identify the disputed scope and supporting documents. Ask the sub for its records. Keep the discussion about that job and its records. Do not spread claims about the business that you cannot verify.
Review the contractual procedure for corrections, backcharges, and dispute notices. Ask an attorney what action the contract and law allow. Do not assume one disputed detail gives you a right to withhold the entire payment.
When the parties resolve the issue, record the agreed amount, correction, and payment treatment. Update both the site and office teams. Keep the signed change or settlement with the invoice so the next person does not reopen a settled question from an old drawing.
Review repeat-work pricing before another award
Ask whether the next price applies to one house or a defined series of work orders. ConsensusDocs’ master subcontract explanation separates standing terms from project-specific price and scope. A master agreement alone does not confirm a crew date or a promised volume of work.
Use the crew-capacity review alongside the payment history before promising another start.
Use this suggested review with purchasing and the trade’s authorized contact. It offers questions for negotiation rather than a standard price schedule.
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| Review topic | Question to resolve |
|---|---|
| Stable scope | Which drawings, selections, quantities, and site conditions stay the same? |
| Capacity | Which crew and start windows can the trade commit to for each work order? |
| Payment history | Did prior payments match agreed dates, and which delays remain unresolved? |
| Job-specific prices | Does each house receive a new quote, or does an agreed schedule apply? |
| Repeat-job terms | Which locations, period, quantities, and exclusions does that schedule cover? |
| Repricing | Which material changes, design revisions, extra visits, or expired terms require a new proposal? |
| Work volume | Is the proposed volume a forecast or a contractual commitment? |
If either party proposes an incentive, ask what triggers it, how it is measured, who approves it, and when it is payable. Discuss a proposed early-payment discount or completion incentive using actual written terms. Agree any amount through the contracting parties. Keep work quality and future crew availability as separate review questions.
Record accepted pricing terms in the subcontractor agreement and identify each project’s scope. Use a change order for agreed changes through the contract’s process. AIA’s A401 summary distinguishes subcontract modifications from prime-contract changes.
Keep the payment review grounded in actual receipts. The IRS’s recordkeeping guidance calls for business records that show income and expenses. Check new bank instructions through an established contact, following FBI verification guidance.
Check whether the process is improving
Use your own records to compare agreed dates with actual payment receipts. Record missing-document causes, repeated approval delays, and unresolved retainage. Do not present an internal check as an industry statistic.
Ask a returning trade what still makes your jobs hard to plan. Discuss specific records and handoffs. Keep choosing subs through the same scope, credential, reference, and capacity checks. Meet your payment commitments and keep checking the sub’s work.
Keep sensitive records private
Keep tax forms and bank details with accounting. Give site staff invoice status. FTC access guidance.
For year-end reporting after the payment records are reconciled, follow the subcontractor 1099 workflow.
Where Cercha fits
Cercha Search helps you find trades by trade, ZIP code, and radius. Portfolios and builder and sub endorsements provide context for the first conversation. Use Messages to discuss fit, then confirm capacity and payment terms directly before awarding work.