The everyday problem: the job is done but the invoice is not
An electrical contractor finishes a switchboard upgrade on Tuesday, picks up a callout on Wednesday, and writes the invoice on Sunday night from memory and a photo of the docket. The gap between finishing the work and sending the bill is where cash flow quietly goes wrong, and it is the one part of getting paid that the business fully controls.
Payment habits look to be improving, although the picture is mixed. Xero's Small Business Insights for the June quarter of 2026 put the average wait to be paid after issuing an invoice at 22.9 days for Australian small businesses, down from 24.2 days in the March quarter.1 Invoices were paid an average of 6.0 days late in the June quarter, better than the 6.9 days of the March quarter.1 Xero puts much of that improvement down to seasonal factors and warns that end-of-financial-year figures are often revised, so treat the quarter with caution.1 Those are averages across every industry, and the clock only starts once the invoice goes out.
Construction is under more pressure than most. CreditorWatch's Business Risk Index for August 2026 recorded a 60-plus-day payment arrears rate of 6.5 per cent across the construction industry, the fourth highest of the 18 industries it tracks, with arrears up 13.3 per cent over the year.2 For a subcontractor, an overdue invoice from a builder can mean paying the wholesaler before the builder has paid you.
Larger customers set the terms. The Payment Times Reporting Regulator's August 2026 update, covering July to December 2025, found that large businesses' average common payment terms had stayed at 29 days for three reporting cycles in a row.3 Even the strongest industry for paying on time, public administration and safety, paid 76.4 per cent of its invoices on time.3 If you do commercial work, some invoices will be paid late however good they are. What you can control is how quickly and how accurately they leave your office.
Accuracy matters for a second reason. A tax invoice is required for a taxable sale of more than $82.50 including GST. A customer can ask for one regardless of the amount, and you then have 28 days to provide it. Sales over $1,000 must also show the buyer's identity or ABN.4 A missing ABN or a vague description is a common reason a builder's accounts team bounces an invoice back, which restarts the wait.
How invoicing in Easydone helps
Invoicing & profit in Easydone prepares the invoice from the work that was recorded, not from memory. The time your electricians logged, the parts they used and the notes and photos they left on site are already attached to the job, so the invoice is built from that detail. It stays connected to the customer and the job, which means the person answering a query three weeks later can see what was done, who did it and what was agreed.
Before anything is sent, you review the line items, the tax and the amount due. You can also see how the job stacks up against its costs, so you know whether the switchboard upgrade actually made money once the extra hours and the surprise trip to the wholesaler are counted.
Once follow-ups are configured for your business, they help keep unpaid invoices from being forgotten. Instead of remembering to check the ageing report on a Friday afternoon, the reminder goes out on the schedule you set.
Accounting connections carry the invoice through to your bookkeeping. Xero is supported, and the connection uses your own accounting account. We confirm the right connection and setup for your business before you commit, so the job and invoice details stay together and do not need retyping.
An example: a fictional Perth electrical contractor
This is an example, not a customer story. Picture Bassendean Electrical: two licensed electricians and an apprentice, doing switchboard upgrades and EV charger installations for homeowners, and maintenance for a property manager with a dozen rental units.
- On site. The electrician completes the job checklist on their phone, records time against the job, and photographs the finished switchboard.
- Back at the office, same day. The owner opens the job and prepares the invoice. Labour and materials come from what was recorded. She checks the description reads clearly for a homeowner, confirms the GST line and the total due, and adds the property manager's reference number because their accounts team asks for it.
- Sending. The invoice goes to the customer, and stays attached to the job and the customer record.
- Accounting. With the Xero connection agreed during setup, the invoice detail flows to the books without a second round of typing.
- If it goes unpaid. The follow-up that was configured for the business sends a reminder after the due date, and the owner can see at a glance which of the month's invoices are still open.
- At month end. She opens Insights & forecasting to see which jobs paid their way and which property-manager work is quietly running over the hours quoted.
Nothing in that sequence is clever. The point is that each step uses information that already exists in the job, so the invoice does not wait for a quiet evening.
What it does not do
- It does not make customers pay. The figures above show that some large customers pay late as a matter of routine. Sending an accurate invoice sooner removes the delay you control, and nothing more.
- Accounting connections need to be confirmed with us. This is not a promise of universal automatic invoice sync. Xero is supported, and we agree what will be connected during setup. If you use a different accounting package, ask us before you commit.
- Follow-ups have to be set up first. Reminders run once they are configured for your business, on the schedule you set. They do not start by themselves.
- It is not tax advice. Easydone shows the tax on the invoice for you to review. Whether a particular sale is taxable, and how your BAS is prepared, is still a conversation with your accountant or BAS agent.
How to get started
Easydone is built in Perth, and setup and support are personal. Tell us how invoicing works in your business today: who writes the invoices, when, and where the hold-ups are. We will show you the invoicing and accounting parts of Easydone that fit, and be straight about the parts that would not.
You can book a demo or read the frequently asked questions first. If you are a subcontractor dealing with slow-paying builders, bring a couple of recent invoices along. It is easier to talk about the process when we can see the real thing.