Free tools for subcontractors
Check who you're working for, and get paid what you're owed.
Late payment interest calculator
What you can claim on a late invoice, with a claim letter and the payer's published payment record.
Cash tied up calculator
How much a package ties up in unpaid work and retention, using the contractor's published payment days.
Payment league table
How quickly UK contractors and housebuilders pay, and who holds retentions, from government reports.
Profit league table
How much UK contractors and housebuilders make, from their latest accounts: margins, profits and the biggest losses.
Construction failures register
Larger UK construction firms that went into administration or liquidation, with timelines and records.
Payment survey
Three minutes, anonymous: tell us how you're really being paid. Results go back to everyone who takes part.
What the calculators do, and who they're for
Both calculators are free, need no sign-up and are built for UK construction subcontractors and suppliers: the firms that do the work and wait to be paid for it.
Late payment interest calculator
If a business customer pays you late, the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 lets you claim interest at 8% above the Bank of England base rate, plus a fixed sum of £40, £70 or £100 towards the cost of chasing the debt. The late payment interest calculator works out the right rate for the date the invoice fell due, the interest to today (or to the day it was paid), the daily rate and the fixed sum. It then writes a claim letter you can copy. If you name the company, it shows how quickly that company says it pays its suppliers. Our guide to your rights when you're paid late explains the rules in more detail.
Cash tied up calculator
Before you price a package, it helps to know how much of your own money it will tie up. The cash tied up calculator takes the package value, the length of the job, the days it takes to get paid and the retention rate. It shows the work you'll have done but not been paid for at any one time, the retention held by the end, and the most you could be owed at once. Pick a main contractor and it fills in the payment days and retention rate that contractor has reported to the government.
Where the figures come from
The payment figures in both tools come from the reports large companies must file every six months. You can compare every company we list on the payment league table, and see what happened to the subcontractors of the biggest UK construction failures. The figures are averages across all suppliers, so your own experience may differ: tell us how you're really paid in our payment survey.