Customers who pay late
Pays on time is one of the five stars every report scores, and it is the star that sinks the most jobs.
Slow pay is the most common complaint on Union Break
Pays on time is one of the five stars every report scores, and it is the star that sinks the most jobs.
When a member files a report, they rate how the customer handled money: whether the deposit landed, whether progress draws came on the agreed schedule, and how long the final invoice sat. A one- or two-star pay score is the single strongest signal in a report, because everything else on a job is survivable when the check clears.
Search an address below and read the pay score before you price the work. If the history is bad, price the risk in — bigger deposit, shorter draw intervals, materials paid up front — instead of walking in blind.
How do I know a pay complaint is real?
Every report is filed by a signed-in tradesperson, tied to a verified street address, and reviewed by a moderator before it goes public. Reports that cannot be backed up are removed.
What should I do if an address has a bad pay history?
Take the job on your terms or not at all: larger deposit, shorter draw schedule, materials billed up front, and everything in writing before mobilizing.
Searches worth running
- late payment
Reports that mention chasing an invoice.
- deposit
Jobs where the deposit was the sticking point.
- retainage
Held-back money on larger residential work.
Other topics
- Scope creep and change orders
Reasonable requests and decision speed are two of the five stars, and together they predict change-order pain.
- Good customers to work for
The top band on Union Break means the crew would take the call again.
- Jobsite reviews by trade
A roofer's two-day job and a remodeler's eight-week job are rated by very different pressures.
- Customer reviews for union contractors
Union contractors carry real labor costs and real benefit obligations — a slow-paying customer hurts a signatory shop more than anyone.
- Prevailing wage and public works customers
Prevailing wage jobs come with certified payroll, retainage, and payment timelines set by statute, and some owners still find ways to stall.
- What customers should know about union shops
Union Break is written by the trades, but customers read it too — and the pattern in the reports is consistent.
- How to join a union trade
Most people overcomplicate this. There are three real paths into a union trade, and which one fits depends on your experience.
- What 'signatory contractor' actually means
A signatory shop has obligations that exist whether or not the customer's check clears — and that changes how you should pick jobs.
- Union contract basics for contractors
A union contract fixes what labor costs you. What it can't fix is whether the customer pays on time — that's still on you to check.