How Long Can a Contractor Wait to Bill You? (State Limits + Best Practices)

By Fabio Freire, Founder & General Contractor at EZ-Estimates. Published 2026-05-01.

How Long Can a Contractor Wait to Bill You?

The legal answer surprises most people. In most US states, a contractor has 3-6 years to bill you after work is performed. The practical answer is much shorter: any invoice older than 90 days starts losing collectability fast.

Here is what the law says, what is reasonable, and what you should do as a contractor or homeowner if billing has been delayed.

The Quick Answer

Legal limit (statute of limitations on contract debts):

Most US states: 3-6 years from date of last work or last payment
Canada: 2-6 years depending on province (Ontario: 2 years, Quebec: 3 years, BC: 6 years)

Practical limit:

30 days = standard professional billing
90 days = stale, harder to collect
1 year = expect a fight
3+ years = expect to litigate

The longer the contractor waits, the harder it is to:

Prove the work was actually done
Get the homeowner to remember and acknowledge the bill
File a mechanics lien (lien deadlines are short — usually 60-120 days)
Win in small claims court

State-by-State Statute of Limitations on Contract Debts

State	Written contract	Oral contract
California	4 years	2 years
Texas	4 years	4 years
Florida	5 years	4 years
New York	6 years	6 years
Illinois	10 years	5 years
Pennsylvania	4 years	4 years
Georgia	6 years	4 years
Ohio	8 years	6 years
Michigan	6 years	6 years
North Carolina	3 years	3 years
Virginia	5 years	3 years
Massachusetts	6 years	6 years
Washington	6 years	3 years
Arizona	6 years	3 years
Colorado	6 years	6 years
Tennessee	6 years	6 years

These are the legal maximums. Some states have shorter limits for specific construction-related claims. Always confirm with a construction attorney for jobs over $25K.

Mechanics Lien Deadlines (Much Shorter)

If you want to file a mechanics lien (which is the contractor's main collection leverage), the deadlines are dramatically shorter than the contract statute of limitations:

State	Lien filing deadline (after last work)
California	90 days (residential), 60 days (commercial)
Texas	4 months (residential subs), 3 months (commercial GCs)
Florida	90 days
New York	8 months (residential), 4 months (commercial)
Illinois	4 months (homeowner), 90 days (commercial)
Pennsylvania	6 months
Georgia	90 days
Ohio	60 days (residential subs), 75 days (commercial)
Arizona	120 days
Colorado	4 months

Miss the lien deadline = lose the lien. You can still sue in court, but without lien rights you are an unsecured creditor competing with everyone else.

Why Contractors Bill Late

Three usual reasons:

1. Disorganized billing process. Solo contractors with no admin person let invoices slip. They finish the job, get verbal "I will pay next week", and the invoice sits on a clipboard for 3 months.

2. Disputes during the job. Contractor knows there is a punch-list disagreement. Avoids billing because they expect a fight. The disagreement festers, the job goes cold, the bill is now 6 months old.

3. Cash-flow management. Some contractors bill in batches every 30-60 days to consolidate paperwork. Slow, but legal.

None of these excuses help the contractor when the bill is 12 months old and the client is denying the work was done.

The Practical Rule for Contractors

Bill within 7 days of every milestone. Within 24 hours of substantial completion. Within 7 days of final completion.

Why so fast:

Memory is fresh — client cannot dispute work that just finished
Cash flow stays predictable
Lien rights stay intact
Mental energy stays focused on this job, not last month's job

Late billing is the single biggest cause of solo contractor cash flow problems. Not slow-paying clients. Late-sending contractors.

What Homeowners Should Do If a Contractor Bills Months Later

If you receive an invoice 6+ months after the work was done:

Verify the work was actually completed. Check photos, contracts, your own records.
Check the math. Late invoices often have errors (forgotten payments, wrong line items).
Pay what is legitimate. Do not refuse the entire invoice if some of it is valid.
Dispute in writing. If you have a real disagreement, write it down within 14 days. Do not just ignore.
Confirm lien deadlines have passed. If the contractor missed the lien deadline, your leverage is much higher.

You are not legally required to pay an invoice just because it arrives. The contractor must still prove the debt is owed if it goes to court.

What Contractors Should Do If They Are Months Behind

If you are 90+ days behind on billing:

Bill all old work this week. Catch up immediately. Every additional week of delay costs you money.
Send a friendly cover note. "Apologies for the delayed invoice. The work was completed [date]. Please review and let me know if you have questions." Soft tone, not defensive.
Check lien deadlines. If a job ended 60 days ago and your state requires lien filing in 90 days, file the lien before the deadline (you can release it once paid).
Set up better systems. EZ-Estimates auto-converts approved estimates into invoices. Once the work is done, the invoice goes out same day. No more 6-month-old bills.

What Both Sides Should Do

Get the milestone schedule into the contract. "Pay 25% at rough-in" is enforceable. "Pay when we get around to invoicing" is a recipe for disputes.

Use the construction contract template to spell out:

Payment milestones tied to specific deliverables
Invoice timing (within 7 days of milestone)
Late-payment policy (1.5%/month standard)
Dispute resolution timeline (14 days to formally dispute or invoice is deemed accepted)

This protects both sides and prevents the "contractor billed me 9 months late" mess from happening at all.

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