What does Net 30 mean on a contractor's invoice?

Net 30 means the full balance is due 30 calendar days from the invoice date, with no early-payment discount. It counts calendar days, not business days, unless the invoice says otherwise. Some commercial customers count the 30 days from the date they receive the invoice or from the end of the month it lands in, which can stretch it closer to 60 days, so confirm which clock they run and print the actual due date on the invoice.

What does due on receipt mean?

Due on receipt means the invoice is payable as soon as the customer gets it. It is the normal term for homeowner service work: one visit, one ticket, paid before you leave. It works best when a way to pay is attached to the invoice itself, such as a payment link, a QR code or your Zelle or Venmo handle.

Should a solo contractor use Net 30 or due on receipt?

Use due on receipt for homeowner service calls and small one-visit tickets. Expect Net 30 when you invoice a general contractor, a builder or a property manager, since many will not accept shorter terms. For a bigger residential job, a deposit up front with progress payments and the balance due on completion beats either single term. If a customer has already paid you late once, shorten the terms or ask for more up front.

Can I charge a late fee on an unpaid invoice?

Only if the customer agreed to it before the work started, which means the late fee belongs in the estimate or contract they signed rather than being added to the invoice afterwards. How much you can charge, how it must be disclosed and what happens if it is disputed are governed by state law and vary widely, so check your state and speak to someone licensed before relying on it. This is general information, not legal advice.

What should the terms line on an invoice actually say?

Two things: the term itself and a real calendar date. Print Terms: Net 30 and Due: October 11, 2026 rather than Net 30 alone. Making the customer do the arithmetic is how a due date gets counted wrong in their favour.

Net 30 vs Due on Receipt: Contractor Payment Terms

Two words decide when the money shows up, and most one-man shops never think about them until the first invoice goes 45 days without a cheque. Due on receipt means pay now. Net 30 means you've agreed to wait a month. Both are normal, both are used every day in the trades, and picking the wrong one for the customer in front of you is how a profitable job turns into a collections problem.

This guide covers what each term means, when each fits, what to print so nobody can argue about the date, and what to do when Net 30 quietly turns into Net 60.

What "payment terms" actually are

Payment terms are one thing: the date the money is owed. That's it. Everything else on an invoice — line items, tax, your license number — describes the work. The terms line describes the deadline. If your invoice doesn't carry one, you haven't set a deadline, and the customer will set their own.

The terms line also sets the clock for everything after: when a follow-up stops being polite, when a late fee applies if your contract has one, and which month the job lands in on your own books.

Due on receipt: the default for service work

Due on receipt means the invoice is payable the moment the customer gets it. For a homeowner service call that isn't aggressive — it's the norm. You fixed the disposal, you're standing in their kitchen, and both sides expect payment before you drive away.

Use due on receipt when the customer is a homeowner, the job is one visit, and the amount is something a person can put on a card. Most plumbing, appliance-repair and handyman work lives here. The practical version: hand over the invoice with a way to pay attached to it — a payment link, a QR code, your Zelle or Venmo handle — so "pay now" doesn't mean "go find a chequebook."

Net 30, Net 15, Net 7: what the number counts

Net 30 means the full balance is due 30 days from the invoice date, with no discount for paying early. Net 15 and Net 7 are the same idea on a shorter fuse. The number counts calendar days, not business days, unless you spell out otherwise.

One thing worth nailing down in writing: 30 days from what. Most contractors count from the invoice date. Some commercial customers count from the date they receive it, or from the end of the month the invoice lands in — that last one can stretch a Net 30 to nearly 60 days without anyone breaking a rule. If you're invoicing a general contractor, a property manager or a builder, ask which clock they run and put the answer on the invoice.

You'll also see 2/10 Net 30 in commercial work: 2% off if paid within 10 days, otherwise the full amount at 30. It buys faster cash for 2%.

Which one fits your work

Homeowner, one visit, small ticket — due on receipt, collected before you leave.
Homeowner, bigger job — a deposit up front, progress payments at agreed points, balance due on completion.
General contractor or property manager — expect Net 30. Many won't accept anything shorter, and some run Net 45 or Net 60 as standard. Price that wait into the job.
New commercial customer you don't know yet — a deposit plus Net 15 is a fair opening position.
Anyone who's already paid you late once — shorten the terms, or ask for more up front. That's not rude, it's arithmetic.

What to actually print on the invoice

Two lines, every time. A terms line that names the term ("Net 30"), and a due date line with an actual calendar date on it. Never make the customer do the arithmetic — "Net 30" on its own is an invitation to count wrong in their favour. Print both: Terms: Net 30 · Due: October 11, 2026.

In QuoteIron: set your default once in Settings, and every invoice carries it. The term is frozen onto the invoice the moment you convert a quote, so later changing your default can't move a due date on paperwork a customer is already holding. The due date prints on the PDF, the emailed copy and the web copy alike, and you can override it per job when a customer negotiates something different.

Deposits, progress payments and the running balance

On anything longer than a day, the question isn't just "when is it due" — it's "how many payments is this." A deposit covers your materials so you're not financing the customer's job. Progress payments keep you whole partway through. The final invoice should show what's already been paid and what's left.

QuoteIron records each payment against the job, prints paid to date and balance due, and lets you send a receipt for each one — see receipt vs invoice for what belongs on which document. If the scope grows partway through, that's a change order, not a surprise on the final bill.

Late fees, and the part we won't advise you on

A late fee is only enforceable if the customer agreed to it before the work started, which means it belongs in the estimate or contract they signed, not invented on the invoice afterwards. Beyond that: how much you can charge, how it has to be disclosed, and what happens if it's disputed are governed by state law and vary a lot. Check your state, and talk to someone licensed before you rely on any of it. We're contractors' software, not your lawyer or your accountant.

When Net 30 quietly becomes Net 60

It rarely announces itself. Day 31 arrives, nobody calls, and the invoice sits. The fix is a schedule you actually run: a short, friendly nudge a few days before the due date, another the day after, and a real phone call at day 45. Most late payments in the trades aren't refusals — they're an invoice that got buried in somebody's inbox.

QuoteIron surfaces unpaid invoices as they age and can send the reminder for you, so the follow-up doesn't depend on you remembering at 9pm. More on how the app handles quoting and billing end to end in the FAQ, and if you're comparing tools on what's included versus what's a tier upgrade, the QuoteIron vs Joist and Jobber alternative pages lay out both sides with sourced prices.

Terms are a business decision, not a technical one. Software's only job is making sure the date you chose is the date printed on the paper the customer holds — and that you hear about it the moment it passes.