The short version: Rabbet’s 2024 Construction Payments Report found 82% of contractors waiting 30+ days to get paid, up from 49% two years earlier. A January 2025 QuickBooks survey of 2,487 small businesses found 56% carrying money owed to them, averaging $17,500 outstanding. The trade runs on unpaid invoices — but it doesn’t have to. On escrow-funded jobs, the money is committed before work starts and you can be paid in as little as 30 minutes after approval.
Looking for more jobs? Stop paying for leads. On AllBetter, homeowners post jobs and you bid direct — $0 lead fees, ever.
Get jobs on AllBetter →Tighter invoicing needs the right tool at the right price — what field service software really costs compares the published rates.
Ask any contractor what actually keeps them up at night and it usually isn’t the work. It’s the gap between finishing the work and getting paid for it — the invoice sitting in someone’s inbox while payroll, materials, and the truck payment come due on schedule.
Check your inbox for a confirmation email.
The data on that gap is worse than most people outside the trades would guess, and it’s been moving in the wrong direction. Here is what the published numbers actually say in 2026, who they come from, and what the escrow model changes. If you’d rather see funded jobs than net-30 promises, here’s how AllBetter works for pros.
Quick answer: How long do contractors wait to get paid?
Per Rabbet’s 2024 Construction Payments Report, 82% of contractors wait 30+ days — up from 49% two years prior. QuickBooks’ January 2025 survey (n=2,487) found 56% of small businesses owed money, averaging $17,500 unpaid, with 47% of receivables overdue by 30+ days.
What do the payment-delay numbers actually say?
Ready to fill your schedule? Join AllBetter and pick up local jobs near you — no lead fees, payment protection built in.
Get jobs on AllBetter →Three independent sources, all vendor-published but consistent in direction:
| Finding | Figure | Source, year |
|---|---|---|
| Contractors waiting 30+ days for payment | 82% (vs 49% two years prior) | Rabbet, 2024 Construction Payments Report |
| Small businesses currently owed money | 56%, avg $17,500 outstanding | QuickBooks/Intuit survey, Jan 2025 (n=2,487) |
| Receivables overdue 30+ days | 47% | QuickBooks/Intuit, same survey |
| Contractors who chase payments they’re owed | 81% | Levelset, 2020 payments survey |
Each of these is a commissioned survey, so treat the exact digits as directional. But three different vendors, across five years, keep finding the same shape: most of the trade is floating somebody else’s project on its own balance sheet.
Why does slow payment hurt more than a bad job?
Because a bad job costs you once, while slow payment taxes everything you do. Carrying $17,500 in receivables means you’re the bank: you financed the materials, fronted the labor, and now extend an interest-free loan to a customer who has already received the value. Meanwhile your own obligations don’t wait 30 days. That’s how profitable-on-paper shops end up in cash crises, and why so much contractor time goes to the least billable activity there is — asking to be paid for finished work. Our guide on how professionals avoid disputes and get paid faster covers the process side; calculating your real rate shows how carrying costs eat margin you thought you’d earned.
Payment delay also compounds the acquisition problem. If you bought the lead that produced the job, you paid upfront for the customer and then waited a month-plus for the revenue — negative cash flow on both ends of the same job. The front-end math is in what contractor leads really cost in 2026.
What does “escrow-funded” actually mean?
It means the homeowner’s money is committed and held before you start the work — not promised, not invoiced, but funded. On AllBetter, a homeowner posts a job, you bid on it in the JobPro app, and when your bid is accepted the job is funded into escrow. You start work knowing the money exists. When the homeowner approves the completed work, you can be paid in as little as 30 minutes.
Compare that sequence with the invoice economy: work first, bill second, wait third, chase fourth. Even Upwork — the best-known escrow marketplace outside the trades — pre-funds milestones before freelancers start, because payment certainty is what makes skilled people willing to commit their time. Home services is one of the last major trades still running on trust and net-30.
Old way vs. the escrow way
| Stage | Invoice economy | Escrow-funded (AllBetter) |
|---|---|---|
| Before you start | A promise and a signature | Job funded into escrow |
| While you work | You’re financing the project | The money is already committed |
| After completion | Invoice, then 30+ days for 82% of pros (Rabbet, 2024) | Homeowner approves, you can be paid in as little as ~30 minutes |
| If the customer stalls | Calls, letters, liens | Funds are held, not hypothetical |
| Cash-flow planning | Guesswork on receivables that run a month late | Approval date = payout window |
How do you protect yourself on any job?
Whether or not you use a marketplace, the payment-protection basics are the same:
- Scope in writing, always — most payment disputes are really scope disputes. A tight quote that protects your profit is the first defense.
- Deposits and progress payments on anything longer than a day; never carry 100% of a multi-week job.
- Know your receivables number. If you can’t say what you’re owed right now, you’re in the 56%.
- Price the wait into net-30 work — or move the work to channels where funding comes first.
Frequently asked questions
How long do contractors typically wait to get paid?
Rabbet’s 2024 Construction Payments Report found 82% of contractors waiting 30 or more days, up from 49% two years earlier. QuickBooks’ January 2025 survey found 47% of small-business receivables overdue by 30+ days.
How much money is the average contractor owed?
QuickBooks’ January 2025 survey of 2,487 small businesses found 56% were owed money, with an average of $17,500 outstanding. Vendor-commissioned figure, but consistent with what other payment surveys keep finding.
What is an escrow-funded job?
A job where the customer’s money is committed and held by a neutral system before work starts. On AllBetter, accepted jobs are funded into escrow, and after the homeowner approves the finished work the pro can be paid in as little as 30 minutes.
Does AllBetter charge to browse or bid on jobs?
You only pay when you win. Homeowners post jobs, you browse them in JobPro and bid on the ones worth your time, and jobs are escrow-funded before work starts.
What causes most contractor payment disputes?
Scope ambiguity. When the customer’s mental picture and the written scope differ, the invoice becomes a negotiation. Detailed written scope, photo documentation, and progress payments prevent most of it.
Stop being your customer’s bank
Bid on jobs that are escrow-funded before you start — and only pay when you win.
- Money committed to escrow before work begins
- Homeowner approves, and you can be paid in as little as 30 minutes
- Jobs posted by homeowners with scope and budget attached
- Every pro Stripe Identity verified before payout
Get the JobPro app and see the escrow-funded jobs near you.
Sources
- Rabbet, 2024 State of Construction Payments Report — 82% of contractors wait 30+ days (vs 49% two years prior) — rabbet.com
- QuickBooks/Intuit, small business payments survey, January 2025 (n=2,487) — 56% owed money, avg $17.5K, 47% overdue 30+ days — quickbooks.intuit.com
- Levelset, 2020 construction payments survey — 81% of contractors chase payments — levelset.com
By Tarik Khribech, Founder of AllBetter. MS in Computer Science (Elmhurst University); previously at Citi and Discover; founded ChoreRelief in 2016 and relaunched it as AllBetter in 2020.
