Your electrical contract was completed three weeks ago. The work passed inspection, the owner is using the building, but the general contractor stopped returning your calls. Meanwhile, your electrical supply house demands payment for the materials, your crew expects their paychecks, and your bank note is due next week.
You’re not just dealing with a late payment; you’re facing a cash flow crisis that could destroy your business. Every day you wait to start collections, your legal rights disappear, and your chances of getting paid shrink.
This nightmare happens to construction companies every day. The vast majority of construction businesses fail due to cash flow problems, not because they can’t do quality work, but because they can’t collect what they’re owed.
The good news? With proper collection action and lien rights protection, we have a strong success rate collecting payments before litigation is needed.
Generic collection agencies send dunning letters and make phone calls. Construction collections require understanding lien laws, notice requirements, and the complex payment chains that make construction different from every other industry.
How the trap works: Construction payment flows from owner to general contractor to subcontractors to suppliers. When any link in this chain breaks, everyone below stops getting paid, even if they completed their work perfectly.
Why it’s devastating: You become an unpaid lender to the general contractor. They use your labor and materials to complete the project and get paid by the owner, but keep your money as their operating capital. Meanwhile, you still owe your suppliers and employees.
The construction reality: Payment delays in construction average nearly three months. During these delays, construction companies must finance their operations while waiting for payment for completed work.
The deadline disaster: In most states, you have a limited window from starting work to send preliminary notices. Miss this deadline, and you lose your right to file a mechanic’s lien, your most powerful collection tool.
What most contractors don’t know: Notice requirements aren’t just about mechanic’s liens. They affect your right to collect under prompt payment laws, stop work protections, and bond claims. One missed notice can eliminate multiple collection remedies.
The paperwork trap: Construction notice requirements involve multiple parties (owners, lenders, general contractors, title companies) with specific timing, delivery methods, and content requirements. Generic collection agencies don’t understand these requirements and miss critical deadlines.
When money is tight: Construction projects often face payment problems due to owner cash flow, lender issues, or cost overruns. When this happens, understanding the payment hierarchy determines who gets paid and who doesn’t.
The power of proper positioning: Contractors with properly filed liens, timely notices, and valid bond claims get paid first. Those without these protections become unsecured creditors fighting for scraps.
Why timing matters: Your position in the payment hierarchy depends on when you file notices, perfect liens, and assert bond claims. Delays can move you from first in line to last in line for payment.
After filing over 1,000 mechanic’s liens and handling collections for construction companies nationwide, I’ve seen how payment problems destroy successful contractors. Most collection agencies don’t understand construction lien laws, miss critical deadlines, and leave contractors with no legal remedies. Construction collections require construction law expertise, not just phone calls and demand letters.
– Karalynn Cromeens, Managing Partner
Business Failure from Cash Flow Collapse. Most construction business failures result from cash flow problems, not lack of work. One large unpaid invoice can trigger a cascade of payment failures that destroys your business.
Lost Legal Rights from Missed Deadlines. Construction lien laws have strict deadlines that can’t be extended or waived. Miss a preliminary notice deadline by even one day, and you lose your right to file a lien worth potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Destroyed Supplier Relationships. When you can’t pay suppliers due to collection problems, they cut off your credit and demand cash payments. This destroys your ability to bid new projects and fulfill existing contracts.
Personal Financial Destruction. Most construction business loans require personal guarantees. When your business can’t collect receivables, lenders call these guarantees, putting your house, retirement accounts, and personal assets at risk.
Equipment and Asset Loss. Cash flow crises force contractors to sell equipment at distressed prices or face repossession. Losing your equipment means losing your ability to operate, creating a death spiral for your business.
Your crisis: You have unpaid invoices threatening your business survival and limited time to protect your legal rights.
Our emergency response: We immediately assess your lien rights, file emergency notices to preserve collection remedies, and begin aggressive collection actions to get cash flowing quickly.
What you get: Immediate protection of your legal rights, emergency lien and bond claim filing, and expedited collection actions designed to get payment fast when your business survival depends on it.
Emergency services include:
Your challenge: You’re too busy running your construction business to handle collections effectively, but you can’t afford to let receivables pile up.
Our solution: We become your collection department, handling all aspects of construction collections while you focus on running your business.
What you get: Professional collection management with unlimited collection actions for a fixed monthly rate.
Monthly collection services include:
Your situation: You want to handle collections internally but need the expertise to do it correctly and protect your lien rights.
Our training solution: We teach your team everything needed to handle construction collections effectively, including all forms, processes, and deadline management systems.
What you get: Complete collection training and systems, plus ongoing support when questions arise.
Training includes:
Your needs: You have occasional collection problems but don’t need ongoing collection services.
Our solution: Pay-as-you-go collection services through our general retainer that covers all collection activities.
Available services:
The challenge: Subcontractors finance construction projects by providing labor and materials before payment. When general contractors delay or refuse payment, subcontractors face immediate cash flow crises.
Our approach: We use mechanic’s liens, bond claims, prompt payment laws, and aggressive collection techniques specifically designed for construction payment chains.
Typical results: Strong collection success rate for subcontractor collections, with efficient collection timelines from starting collection to payment.
The challenge: Material suppliers often extend credit without security, making them vulnerable when construction projects face payment problems.
Our solution: We secure supplier payments through properly filed liens, supplier-specific notices, and strategic use of construction collection laws.
What we achieve: Transform unsecured credit into secured claims through proper lien filing and notice procedures, dramatically improving collection success rates.
Complex collections: Multi-million dollar projects with multiple payment sources, complex lien priorities, and federal regulations require sophisticated collection strategies.
Our expertise: We handle collections across a wide range of project sizes, with experience in complex multi-party construction disputes and federal project collections.
Every day you delay starting collections costs you money and legal rights. Construction lien deadlines can’t be extended or waived. Notice requirements have strict timing that determines whether you can collect anything at all.
The brutal timeline:
Construction companies that delay collection efforts typically:
Emergency Collection Assessment. Call now for immediate assessment of your collection situation and protection of your legal rights. Rapid response for urgent collection crises.
Comprehensive Collection Solutions. Whether you need emergency response, ongoing collection management, or training for internal collections, we have solutions that work for construction companies.
Proven Track Record. Strong collection success rate and over 1,000 liens filed prove our construction collection expertise gets results.
Contact The Cromeens Law Firm today: (713) 715-7334
Don’t let unpaid invoices destroy the construction business you’ve worked so hard to build. Call now to start collecting what you’re owed.
Same day for emergency situations. For routine collections, we typically begin quickly after receiving your information.
A mechanic’s lien creates a security interest in the property, making you a secured creditor with priority over most other debts. Demand letters alone leave you as an unsecured creditor with no leverage.
Maybe. We can assess what collection rights remain and use alternative strategies, but your position is significantly weaker without proper preliminary notices.
We offer various pricing options including monthly unlimited service, individual collections through our general retainer, and one-time training. All options cost far less than losing uncollected receivables.
We handle disputed collections regularly. Defect claims are often payment avoidance tactics, and we know how to separate legitimate disputes from excuses for non-payment.
Yes, but the process is different. Government projects typically have payment bonds instead of lien rights, requiring different notice and claim procedures.
Ready to collect what you’re owed? Call (713) 715-7334 now for immediate collection action.
We offer a pay as you go option through our general retainer, where you can pay for each step individually.
Includes extensive research, collection calls to all parties, intent letters sent via certified mail, and the lien filing.
Unlimited lien and collections support through our monthly subscription plan. Never let a job go unpaid again!
