Getting Paid in Construction: The Quebec Contractor’s Guide
In construction, the problem isn't always finding contracts — it's getting paid for the ones you've delivered. A receivable that drags on for 60 days means your margin is financing the client. And a balance that never gets paid means weeks of work given away. The good news: most payment problems are solved before the first hammer swing, through how you structure the contract and the invoicing. Here's how to protect your money at every stage.
1. It All Starts in the Contract
Your best collection tool is a clear contract signed before work begins. Three clauses are worth a lot of money:
- Payment terms in black and white: deposit amount, progress payment schedule, invoice payment deadline (15 or 30 days), accepted payment methods.
- Interest on late payments: state a rate, also expressed as an annual rate, on overdue balances. Even if you don't always collect it, the clause changes how people pay.
- The right to suspend work when payments are late. Without this clause, stopping the job over non-payment can backfire on you. With it, it's your most effective lever: the client who wants their bathroom finished suddenly finds their chequebook.
And the basics: a client who refuses to sign a written contract or pay a deposit is already sending you a message. Listen to it.
2. The Deposit: Your First Filter
A deposit of 10 to 25% at signing is a common and reasonable practice. It does two things: it covers your first material purchases, and above all it filters out non-serious clients before you block weeks in your schedule.
Adjust the percentage to the context: higher if the project requires special orders (custom cabinets, doors and windows), lower on large contracts with a solid client. What matters is that there is one.
3. Invoice by Milestones, Never Everything at the End
The worst payment structure: "balance due upon completion." You end up financing 100% of the job and negotiating the final payment at the moment your leverage is weakest — the work is done, the client has what they wanted.
Instead, break the contract into progress payments tied to concrete milestones: end of demolition, walls closed up, plumbing done, and so on. Verifiable milestones ("drywall hung and taped") rather than dates: if the job slips, the invoicing follows the work actually completed.
A practical rule: at any point in the project, the money received should cover the work performed and the materials delivered. If the client falls behind on a milestone, you know right away — not three months later.
4. Invoice Fast, Invoice Clearly
Two behaviours delay payments, and both come from the contractor:
- The late invoice. The milestone is reached on Friday, the invoice goes out three weeks later. For the client, the urgency has passed. Invoice the same day the milestone is reached — that's when the value of the work is most visible.
- The vague invoice. A lump sum with no detail invites disputes. Itemize the work covered, tie the invoice to the accepted quote, show GST, QST and the total. A clear invoice gets paid without discussion; a vague one opens a negotiation.
Extras deserve a special mention: any additional work should be approved in writing before it's done, then invoiced without delay. "While you're here" requests piled up and invoiced in bulk at the end are the number one source of disputed invoices.
5. Make Paying Easy
Every bit of friction in the payment adds days of delay. A client who has to find their chequebook, wait for you to drop by, or type in account numbers for a bank transfer puts it off. Offer online payment by card or bank transfer, directly from the invoice: the client pays that same evening, from their phone, and you see the payment come in without chasing a cheque.
Transaction fees make some contractors hesitate. Compare them to the real cost of a receivable: your hours spent following up, and your money tied up for weeks.
6. Follow-Ups: Systematic, Not Emotional
Most late invoices aren't refusals to pay — they're oversights, lost invoices, busy clients. A simple follow-up cadence resolves most cases:
- Due date + 3 days: courteous email reminder, invoice attached again.
- Due date + 10 days: phone call. People ignore an email, not a conversation.
- Due date + 20 days: firmer written notice, with the date you'll move to formal steps.
The key point: follow-ups must be systematic, triggered by the calendar and not by your frustration level. That's also what keeps them professional — you're following up on the account, not the person.
7. When the Client Still Doesn't Pay: Escalate in Order
If follow-ups aren't enough, climb the ladder in order:
- The formal demand letter (mise en demeure): a formal letter, sent by registered mail, that describes the debt, demands payment within a specific deadline (often 10 days) and announces the recourse that will follow. It's a prerequisite step before legal action, and its effect is real: it signals you're serious. Templates exist, notably from Éducaloi.
- Small claims court: for amounts within the current threshold ($15,000 at the time of writing), the Small Claims Division of the Court of Québec lets you proceed without a lawyer, at reasonable cost.
- Beyond that, you need a lawyer — and that's precisely the scenario progress payments make rare: if you invoice as you go, the balance at stake should never represent months of work.
In the meantime, don't keep working on an account in arrears. An unpaid balance that keeps growing never resolves better than one that stops growing.
8. The Legal Hypothec: The Tool Too Few Contractors Know
The Civil Code of Québec gives contractors, subcontractors, material suppliers, architects and engineers a powerful guarantee: the legal hypothec of construction, which charges the immovable where the work was performed — the debt is attached to the property itself.
What to remember in practice:
- The deadlines are short and strict. To preserve the hypothec, a notice must be registered in the land register within 30 days after the end of the work — the end of the entire project, not just your portion. After that window, the right is lost.
- Registration isn't enough: you must then exercise the recourse within 6 months of the end of the work, or the hypothec is extinguished as well.
- If you're a subcontractor or supplier (no direct contract with the owner), you must give the owner written notice of your contract before starting: the hypothec only covers work done after that notice.
Given the deadlines and formalities, bring in a notary or lawyer as soon as you're considering this route — but know it exists: simply mentioning, in a collection conversation, that a legal hypothec can be registered against the property often changes the tone of the discussion.
The Real Secret: A System, Not Effort
Getting paid isn't about being firm on the phone. It's a chain: clear contract → deposit → milestones invoiced without delay → easy payment → systematic follow-ups → graduated recourse. Each link takes pressure off the next. The contractor who has this chain in place spends evenings planning job sites — not chasing cheques.
At Vantage, we built this system right into the platform: quotes approved online, itemized invoices with automatic GST/QST, online card payment right from the invoice and a clear view of what's paid, overdue or coming up. Try it free — 30 days, every feature, no credit card required.