Straight-up guides for trades and service businesses

NZ small businesses waited 24.1 days on average to be paid in the June 2026 quarter, and payments landed 4.7 days late (Xero Small Business Insights, July 2026). Construction does worse than most. In the December 2025 quarter, construction businesses were paid 7.3 days late on average, the third-latest of any industry (Xero NZ update, February 2026).

A week doesn’t sound like much until it’s every invoice. Xero estimated late payments cost Kiwi small businesses $827 million in 2023 (Xero, October 2024).

Most late payers aren’t dodging you. The invoice got buried, the terms weren’t clear, or paying took more effort than ignoring it. Most of the fixes are dull, and they work.

What helps

1. Put your terms on the quote. “Payment due 7 days from invoice” on the quote means the customer agreed to it before you started.
2. Take a deposit on bigger jobs. Materials money up front means you’re never funding someone else’s job.
3. Invoice the day the job’s done. The clock starts when the invoice lands, not when you get round to it on Sunday.
4. Make paying easy. Bank details, the invoice number as the reference, and a pay-now link if your accounting software offers one.
5. Remind on a schedule. A friendly note the day after it’s due, a firmer one at 7 days, a phone call at 14. Every time: the amount, the invoice number, the due date and how to pay.
6. Ring, don’t stew. One short, polite call usually beats three emails.
7. On construction contracts, use a proper payment claim. It gives you real rights if they don’t respond (see the guide on payment claims).

The point isn’t to be tough. It’s to be clear and consistent, so paying you is the easiest thing on their list.

Back Pocket Office chases overdue invoices for you, using wording you’ve approved.

Most customers don’t shop around as much as you’d think. A 2023 study of US homeowners found they contacted 1.8 professionals on average before hiring, and just over half contacted only one. “Lack of response from the pro” was one of the reasons people gave for not hiring anyone (HIRI, 2023).

Speed matters even more than that suggests. An older US study of online enquiries found businesses that replied within an hour were nearly seven times as likely to get a real conversation going as those that waited longer. Almost a quarter of the businesses tested never replied at all (Harvard Business Review study, reported by SmartCompany, 2011).

Closer to home, BRANZ’s survey of new home owners keeps finding the same thing: owners are mostly happy with the build, but communication is still where builders fall down (BRANZ).

The overseas numbers won’t match NZ exactly, but the pattern is familiar: the first tidy, clear quote often sets the price and wins the job.

What helps

1. Reply the same day, even without a price. “Got it, I’ll have a quote to you by Thursday” keeps you in the running.
2. Quote from the job, not the couch. A voice note and a couple of photos on site beat trying to remember it all at 9pm.
3. Ask one clear question instead of booking another visit, when the price only hinges on one thing.
4. Follow up at 3 days and 7 days. Short and friendly: “Just checking the quote came through. Happy to tweak the scope.”
5. Put an expiry date on every quote. Thirty days is common, and it gives you a natural reason to check in.
6. Keep a list of open quotes. If you can’t see them, you can’t chase them.

Back Pocket Office turns your voice note into a branded quote, fast, and follows it up for you.

If you do construction work under a contract, the Construction Contracts Act gives you a stronger way to get paid than a normal invoice. Plenty of subbies never use it.

Payment claims

A payment claim asks for a progress payment for work already done. If your contract doesn’t set payment terms, the Act’s defaults apply, including monthly progress payments (building.govt.nz).

• Every payment claim must come with the official notice, Form 1, for contracts entered into from 1 December 2015 (building.govt.nz).
• The payer either pays in full by the due date or sends a written payment schedule saying what they’ll pay and why. If the contract doesn’t set a date, they have 20 working days. Working days don’t include 24 December to 5 January (Form 1).
• If they don’t send a schedule and don’t pay, you can recover the amount through the courts as a debt (Form 1). You may also have the right to suspend work (Lane Neave).

Retentions

On commercial contracts entered into or renewed from 5 October 2023, retention money withheld from you must be held on trust (building.govt.nz). In practice that means:

• It’s kept in a separate bank account, or covered by an approved bond or insurance.
• You get a report on your retentions when they’re first held, and at least every three months after.
• You get at least 10 working days’ notice before it’s used to fix defects.
• Penalties for getting it wrong go up to $200,000 per offence, and $50,000 for directors (Russell McVeagh).

The retention rules cover commercial work, not contracts with homeowners (SARNZ).

What helps

1. Send claims on the same day each month, with Form 1 attached every time.
2. Put the 20-working-day date in your calendar the day you send it.
3. Keep signed variations and dated photos. They’re your evidence if the schedule comes back short.
4. Ask for your retention report if it doesn’t turn up.

This is general information, not legal advice. For your own contract, check building.govt.nz or talk to a lawyer.

Back Pocket Office keeps your invoices going out on time and chases what’s overdue. Payment claims under the Act are yours to prepare, so talk to your lawyer or industry body about the template.

The cost of building a house in NZ rose 1.7% in the September 2026 quarter, the fastest rise since late 2022. Over the year it was up 4.8%, compared with 3.5% the quarter before (Cotality Cordell Construction Cost Index, October 2026).

The rises were patchy. Cotality named petroleum-based plumbing inputs, PVC, sealants, roof and ceramic tiles, reinforcing and structural steel. Materials make up about half the index and wages about 40%. Cotality’s chief property economist, Kelvin Davidson, said builders have absorbed some of the increases, especially on fixed-price contracts.

Absorbing costs is where margin quietly disappears. If materials are half of a $20,000 job and they go up 4.8%, that’s $480 gone before you’ve picked up a tool.

What helps

1. Put a validity date on every quote. Thirty days is common. After that you re-price, no awkward conversation needed.
2. Name the items that move. “Copper and PVC priced at today’s supplier rates” is honest and fair.
3. Update your price list when supplier notices arrive, and check it properly at least once a quarter.
4. Check open quotes when a big item jumps. Better to re-quote before they accept than eat it after.
5. Get variations agreed in writing before you do them.
6. On long jobs, ask about a price adjustment clause. Your lawyer or industry body can help with the wording.

Back Pocket Office keeps your price list in step with your supplier bills and flags any price that looks out of date when you approve a quote.

NZ consented 41,268 new homes in the year to August 2026, up 21% on the year before. It’s the third month in a row the annual total has topped 40,000 (Stats NZ, released 1 October 2026, full release text).

The growth is broad. Stand-alone houses were up 21% to 19,096, and townhouses, flats and units up about 25% to 18,085. Apartments were the exception, down 4%. Fifteen of 16 regions rose; only the West Coast fell (PlaceMakers, October 2026).

Non-residential consents were worth $8.9 billion, up 2.2%, though rising prices account for some of that.

A consent isn’t a job yet. Most of this work flows through to builders and then to sparkies, plumbers, roofers and painters over the coming months. Put it alongside building costs rising at their fastest pace since 2022 (see the guide on building costs) and the next year looks busier, with less room for sloppy pricing.

What helps

1. Tidy your quoting now, while there’s time. A clean price list and templates make the busy months easier.
2. Pick work by margin, not just volume. Busy and broke is a real thing.
3. Follow up every quote. More enquiries means more quotes slipping through the cracks.
4. Watch your region. Canterbury and Otago are consenting the most new homes per head of population.

Back Pocket Office handles quotes, follow-ups and invoices from your voice notes, so a busier pipeline doesn’t mean longer nights.

Sooner or later every busy tradie asks: should I just hire someone to do the paperwork? It’s a fair question. Here’s what it costs, so you can compare it fairly with the other options.

The average office administrator in NZ earns $26.43 an hour, with most between $23.45 and $30.77 (Payscale, updated October 2026). The adult minimum wage has been $23.95 since 1 April 2026 (Employment NZ).

On top of wages:

• KiwiSaver: the employer minimum went from 3% to 3.5% on 1 April 2026, and rises to 4% on 1 April 2028 (Inland Revenue).
• Leave: four weeks’ paid annual holidays, public holidays that fall on their normal working days, and paid sick leave after six months (Employment NZ).
• The rest: ACC levies, recruiting, a laptop, a phone and software.

The sums for 20 hours a week at $26.43

Take out the four weeks of annual holidays and that’s about $29.63 for every hour they’re actually at work, before public holidays and sick days. You also need someone to cover when they’re away, and someone (you) to show them how you like things done.

How the other options compare

• Do it yourself at night. No cash cost, but it costs your evenings, and quotes go out late.
• A virtual assistant. About $8 to $14 an hour offshore, or $35 to $60 an hour in NZ (Armasourcing). You still train and manage them.
• An app. Cheap, and it makes the work faster. But you still do the work.
• A managed service. A fixed monthly price for someone who does the work. Check exactly what’s included.

A good office person is worth every cent if you have enough work to keep them busy and the time to manage them. If you don’t, one of the other options will usually work out cheaper.

Back Pocket Office starts at $595 + GST a month, fixed, and covers quotes, follow-ups, invoices and chasing. Most businesses choose the Office plan at $795 + GST. There’s nobody to hire or manage.