You don't deliver until the rest is paid
You'll walk away knowing which comes first, final payment or delivery: when you can hold on to the work until you're paid, and when you can't, what to lock into the quote.
By Yodai · Published on September 6, 2026 · Updated on October 12, 2026
When nothing else has been agreed and there's no standard practice saying otherwise, payment for a job is due on delivery: that's what Article 1599 of the Spanish Civil Code says. This lesson is about making that actually happen with the final payment on a job, once the work is finished and sitting right in front of you. You finish the cabinet, the website, the logo, the bathroom remodel. You text the client: "it's ready, I can drop it off whenever." And that's where the part nobody tells you about when you start a business begins: waiting. A day, two days, a week. Eventually you're the one who texts: "so, how's it looking for the rest of the payment?" And it feels like you're asking for a favor, not collecting on work you've already finished.
With a custom cabinet priced at $900, if you collected a $270 deposit when the quote was accepted, the problem isn't the money itself: it's the $630 that's left, and that depends on the client remembering, having their card handy, and feeling like texting you back that exact day. The longer you wait to deliver without collecting the rest, the more that urgency cools off, and the easier it is for your message to sit unanswered for three days.
The fix isn't better reminders. It's not letting delivery and payment happen at two different points in time. If your client is a business or a freelancer, there's another reason for this: the default rule is different. When the contract doesn't set a payment date, the Spanish law on late payments gives the client thirty calendar days from receiving the work to pay you. So with a business client, if you want to be paid on delivery, that needs to be agreed on up front.
The order that keeps you from chasing payments
You already know the final payment is due on delivery, not after delivery. What's left to decide is the exact order within that same moment: whether you deliver first and trust the payment to follow, or whether payment is what opens the door to delivery. If you've made something movable, like a piece of furniture coming out of your workshop, Article 1600 of the Spanish Civil Code lets you hold on to it until you're paid. On a remodel, the work is already at the client's house, so there the order gets set in the estimate. With an individual client, the Spanish consumer protection law also requires you to explain how payment and delivery work before they agree to the job, and proving you did that is on you.
- The client already has what they wanted to see or use
- Getting paid now depends on their memory, not on how you run your business
- You have nothing left to hold back to speed up the payment
- Payment is what opens the door to delivery, not the other way around
- There's no room for forgetting, or for "I'll send it over later."
- The client decides when they want what's theirs, and that moment is the moment of payment
Which one to pick: Get paid before you deliver whenever the job wraps up all at once and stays in your hands until the end: a piece of furniture, a logo, a website. On a remodel, where the work is already at the client's house, the final payment gets set in the estimate. If you're working with a repeat client inside a package you already got paid for in full, you can be more flexible about the order there, because that money's already in your account from the start.
- 1You finish, you don't send
The furniture is ready, the design is exported. You don't send anything yet: no photos of the finished result, no final file. On a remodel this doesn't apply: the work is already at the client's house, Article 1600 only covers movable items, and their keys aren't your leverage. There, the final payment goes exactly as you set it in the estimate. - 2You send the link for the rest
A message with the payment link for the remaining $630, the one you generate yourself through your payment processor (Stripe, for example, calls these payment links). No long explanations: the work is done and this is the only thing left. - 3You wait for the notification, not the reply
You don't depend on the client texting you "it's paid." Your payment processor tells you: with Stripe, for example, the payment shows up in your payments summary, and if you turn on email alerts for each charge in your settings, you'll get one for every payment. - 4You deliver as soon as you see it
The same day, sometimes the same hour. The faster you deliver after getting paid, the less it feels like a tense transaction and the more it feels like a job well done.
- The rest gets paid before delivery, not in exchange for a promise to pay it
- With payment alerts turned on, you find out about the payment without depending on the client to text you
- Nothing gets shown or delivered until the final payment is in: no photos, no files. On a remodel, the final payment goes exactly as you set it in the estimate
- As soon as you see the payment, you deliver that same day, no putting it off until tomorrow
- With this, you close the loop from estimate to payment: the final payment happens before delivery, while the client is still waiting on their end
Sources
- Royal Decree of July 24, 1889, publishing the Spanish Civil Code, Articles 1599 and 1600. Spanish State Official Gazette (BOE), consolidated text, last update published January 3, 2025.
- Law 3/2004, of December 29, establishing measures to combat late payment in commercial transactions, Articles 2, 3, and 4. Spanish State Official Gazette (BOE), consolidated text, last update published October 1, 2014.
- Royal Legislative Decree 1/2007, of November 16, approving the consolidated text of the General Law for the Protection of Consumers and Users and other complementary laws, Article 60. Spain's Official State Gazette (BOE), consolidated text, last update published February 28, 2026.
- After a payment link payment. Stripe, official documentation, accessed October 2026.
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