A flooring contractor’s efforts to get paid are often thwarted by their lack of attention to the terms and conditions they’ve entered into, so please make sure you understand them. First things first, does the Construction Act apply? The act doesn’t apply to contracts with ‘residential occupiers’ (domestic consumers) and this answer assumes that it’s a commercial contract to which the act applies. If you’re not getting paid, then here are my top tips:

• Revisit and understand the payment terms
• Has the payer issued the correct notices and on time?
• Establish the final date for payment (ie the last day by which payment should be made)
• Chase immediately if an expected payment fails to arrive on the appropriate date
• Investigate and interrogate all reasons for non-payment
• Escalate all cases of unacceptable late or reduced payment
• Consider giving notice of suspension if the notified sum hasn’t been paid.

Don’t procrastinate! Nice guys get pushed to the back of the queue. So, don’t procrastinate take action. Take high quality professional, and construction relevant, cost-effective advice. Bad or expensive advice will just make matters worse. Barry Ashmore, founder