Until recently , the contractor with the best excuse for paying my draw late was this :
"We put the check in the mail , but the mail truck had a wreck , losing some of the mail , including your check ."

I think today's beat that :
This is a nation wide maintenance company , short and sweet :
"We ran out of checks , we had to reorder them so it will be two weeks "

Pisses me offf , but funny at the same time

well it beats "the number you have dialed is no longer in service"
or:

can I speak to the owner?
He is not here.
when will he return?
In 5-10.

I invoiced a retail Maintenance faucility company dec 31 /08 today the cheque came issued feb 23/10

Doug:
I hope you no longer work for them!

I had a major retail chain, 45 days at first, slipped to 60 days, then they asked for 90 days....I had to say..."see ya".

Service Com says 45 days , but they give themselves 60 before you can complain . They rarely pay before about 70 days . They tell us they don't like our "verbage" when we ask them to be professional and pay on time . If business was better I would drop them , right now it seems late money is better than no money .

My wife used to work for a big builder who was notoriously "slow pay". They considered that part of the profit margin. The longer you can hold onto your money the less it costs you. It was one of her biggest gripes and she was always fighting with them to get her trades paid faster. Usually the squeaky wheel does get the grease so it is worth complaining about.

as long as I get paid I am happy this year has been bad for write-offs the Ford Dealer closed and filed for bancruptcy thats 700 bucks I'll never see.

It might be worth filing before the bankruptcy court. I have a neighbor who stuck with it and eventually got money out of Evinrude for a warranty complaint on a 3 year old motor.
He worked his way through the process, going from #2000+ up to number #150 or so and they finally just paid him off to clear the way for the big creditors. He used to get a box of papers in the mail every month or so. I guess they figured out it was more expensive to keep supplying with him with documents than it was to pay him. He got several hundred from Bombardier as a partial warranty settlement and another several hundred from Bank of America just to get out of the way.

when the IRS is at the top of the list I don't think much will be left.We filed our claim so if we get something it will be like found money.

You are right about the IRS, they usually leave scorched earth and a lien on future earnings when they are involved but I would still follow up in case the tax problem isn't really that bad and something survives. You might be the only other claimant standing if everyone else gives up.

Mechanics liens have a superior priority to most claims in Title 11 Bankruptcy Law.

At the top of the list are customer deposits -- up to $2,000 per claim, IIRC.

Then comes IRS ... this is usually NOT income taxes ... instead the money is payroll withholdings, FICA, etc.

Normally this is small potatoes since the officers of the company are ALSO completely responsible for TIMELY payment. If the employer is substantial, the withholdings are due EACH WEEK, and for the big guys THE VERY DAY of payroll.

The taxes that can be a bother are real estate taxes. However any mortgage holder will cover them so as to retain clear title to their collateral.

Then comes lien claims -- mechanics liens -- which is what the law labels any of your bills for repairs or improvements IF you filled the appropriate paperwork.

Hence, the typical tradesman stands AHEAD of all of the unsecured creditors and can normally expect payment. It will take a while. Interest will accrue at some statutory rate, typically 6 to 10 percent per year.

So most of the above assumptions are too negative.

The biggest factor is performing the legal work yourself. It is easy. If you kick it out to an attorney -- you loose. I've never seen a bankruptcy attorney leave ANYTHING for the creditor -- his client.