Should I finish the job to get paid?

Only if you believe the payment is genuinely coming. If they have already broken terms once, finishing usually increases what you are owed rather than what you collect.

Can I refuse to work for someone?

Generally yes, subject to your contract and anti-discrimination law. The safe reason is capacity or fit, and taking advice before terminating an existing contract is worth it.

Should I warn other trades?

Be careful. Sharing your own factual experience is different from making claims about someone's character, and the second can create liability of its own.

← Answers

What do I do about a customer who is dishonest?

Document, decide, and be willing to walk. Most owners tolerate it far too long because the invoice is large, and the cost compounds — disputed variations, scope that keeps moving, a final payment that never quite arrives. Being trustworthy does not oblige you to keep working for someone who is not.

Write everything down, from now

What was agreed, what changed, what was said on site and when. Not to build a case, but because the argument later is always about what was agreed, and the person with the record wins it. Confirming a phone call by email takes a minute.

Stop early rather than late

The instinct is to finish and get paid. Usually the exposure grows with every week — more materials in, more wages out, more scope disputed. Pausing while you are owed a little is nearly always better than finishing while you are owed a lot.

Do not match it

The temptation to cut a corner because they are, or to overstate a variation because they underpaid, is where an owner loses the thing that makes him different. It also destroys your position if it ever goes formal.

Take advice before acting formally

Stopping work, placing a lien, or terminating a contract all have rules that vary by jurisdiction and by what your contract says. Doing the right thing in the wrong order can leave you in the wrong.

Also asked

Should I finish the job to get paid?: Only if you believe the payment is genuinely coming. If they have already broken terms once, finishing usually increases what you are owed rather than what you collect.
Can I refuse to work for someone?: Generally yes, subject to your contract and anti-discrimination law. The safe reason is capacity or fit, and taking advice before terminating an existing contract is worth it.
Should I warn other trades?: Be careful. Sharing your own factual experience is different from making claims about someone's character, and the second can create liability of its own.

Written for your trade

This is the kind of thing Solomon works through with owners using their own numbers. See how it works →