The Customer Wouldn’t Pay: How an Alaska Contractor Resolved an Unpaid-Invoice Dispute
A case story tracing the contract, proof of completed work, and negotiations that helped the contractor collect payment.
The questionWhat can a contractor do when a customer won't pay for finished work?
Illustrative example
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — An Anchorage site-work contractor has collected $146,000 from a commercial customer that refused to pay for a finished parking lot and drainage job.
The customer said the work was late and incomplete. The contractor said it had finished the job weeks before the customer raised any complaint.
The unpaid invoice was close to a quarter of the small company's annual revenue, and it had already paid its crews and suppliers.
Wyndarrow Law assembled the signed contract, dated site photos, daily logs and the customer's own emails approving each phase. The firm recorded a lien against the property and opened settlement talks.
The customer paid $146,000 of the $158,000 invoice. The contractor released the lien.
The contractor accepted a reduction of about $12,000 to avoid the cost and delay of trial.
Written approval at each stage of a job, and prompt lien deadlines, often decide how quickly contractors get paid.
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