How to get paid for a progress certificate without waiting 90 days

A signed progress certificate isn’t money: it is the right to collect it. In between, construction is the sector that waits longest in Spain, with an average payment period of 96.5 days at the end of 2025, according to the CEPYME Late Payment Observatory. This guide explains where those days go, what the law guarantees you and which levers actually shorten the wait.

Where the days go

The delay doesn’t happen at a single point. It builds up along a chain of steps that, for the most part, don’t depend on whoever did the work:

1. Measurement and draftContractor
2. Review and signatureTechnical supervisors
3. ApprovalClient
4. InvoiceContractor
5. Payment termAgreed in the contract
6. Actual paymentClient’s cash flow

That is why the usual advice (“invoice sooner”, “chase harder”) falls short. It shortens the stretches you already control, which aren’t the long ones.

What the law says, and what you can claim

In Spain, Law 3/2004 on combating late payment sets clear limits on transactions between businesses:

Rule	What it means for your progress certificate
30 days unless otherwise agreed	With no term in the contract, payment is due 30 calendar days after the service is provided.
Acceptance within 30 days at most	If there is a verification procedure (the review of the progress certificate), it cannot last more than 30 calendar days.
Never more than 60 agreed days	No contract can set a payment term longer than 60 calendar days.
Automatic late-payment interest	If the term is exceeded, interest is owed: the ECB rate plus eight points, unless the contract sets another.
€40 for collection costs	A fixed amount added to the overdue debt without having to ask for it, plus any proven costs above it.
Unfair clauses are void	A term or an interest rate that is grossly unfair to the party being paid can be declared void.

Source: Law 3/2004, articles 4, 7, 8 and 9 (consolidated text, Spanish Official State Gazette, BOE).

Public works follow a different framework: Spain’s Public Sector Contracts Law gives the public authority 30 days to approve the progress certificate and another 30 to pay it.

The problem isn’t the law but its commercial cost. Claiming interest from your main client is legal, but few people do it: the relationship matters more than the interest. The law sets the ceiling, and practice stays above it.

Patience doesn’t fix the payment period. What fixes it is the money existing before the work does.

Five levers that do depend on you

1. Write the timetable into the contract. Certification date, review period for the technical supervisors and payment term, each with its number. Whatever isn’t written down gets negotiated every month.
2. Define the proof for each milestone before work starts. A progress certificate gets stuck when people argue about what proves the progress. If the evidence is agreed, the review is a check, not a negotiation. We explain it in how to verify construction progress.
3. Invoice the same day it is approved. With e-invoicing, when the contract sets a term, receipt of the invoice starts the clock. Every day you take to issue it is a day you give away.
4. Don’t waive late-payment interest in the contract. Even if you don’t plan to claim it, having it in writing makes it clear from day one that the term is serious.
5. Ask for the amount to be set aside before work starts. It is the only lever that acts on the long stretches: the other party’s approval and cash flow.

Getting paid early: factoring and reverse factoring

These are the usual financial solutions. With factoring you assign the invoice to a financial institution that advances you the amount; with reverse factoring (confirming in Spain), it is your client who arranges the payment with their bank and offers you early payment in exchange for a discount.

Both work, and both have the same limit: you get paid sooner, but you pay to collect what is already yours, and only after the progress certificate has been approved. The signature and approval stretches remain untouched.

Option	When you get paid	Cost	If the client doesn’t pay
Wait for the term	On the due date, if it is met	Your cash flow bears it	Legal claim
Claim interest	The same, with compensation	The debtor pays it, if you claim	Legal claim
Factoring or reverse factoring	After approval	A discount on the amount	Depends on the type
Amount held in escrow	In under 24 h from certification	A published fee per transaction	The money was already set aside

When the money is already there

The way not to wait 90 days is for payment not to depend on anyone’s cash flow at the moment you get paid. In the Cimbrium ecosystem that will be PactStream’s job, switching on with our first clients, with custody through a regulated payment provider: the amount for each milestone will be deposited before work starts in a regulated escrow account, outside both parties, and once progress is verified (AI analysis of the evidence and certification by the technical supervisor) it will be released in under 24 hours.

For the party paying, the change is just as important: the money doesn’t leave the account until progress is proven. Neither party has to trust the other.

What sits behind getting paid against verified progress

Division	What it brings here
CostPact	The budget that sets each milestone and its amount, and the measurement and draft progress certificate that start the payment.
PactStream	Safekeeping of the amount in an escrow account, verification of progress and release in under 24 hours. Switching on with our first clients.
FiscalCore	The payment, split on arrival into taxes, costs and profit, with Spain’s tax forms 303, 111 and 130 in real time.
PropertyJourney	When the project is a real estate development, the sales that start it and the handover and after-sales that close it.

Frequently asked questions

What is the maximum term to pay a progress certificate between businesses in Spain?

Sixty calendar days. Law 3/2004 sets 30 days if the contract says nothing and allows it to be extended by agreement, but never beyond 60. If there is an acceptance procedure, such as the review of the progress certificate, it cannot last more than 30 days.

Can I charge interest if I’m paid late?

Yes. From the moment the term expires, late-payment interest accrues (the ECB rate plus eight points, unless otherwise agreed) along with a fixed amount of 40 euros for collection costs, without having to claim it expressly.

And on public works?

Spain’s Public Sector Contracts Law gives the public authority 30 days to approve the progress certificate and another 30 to pay it.

What changes if the amount is held in escrow?

Payment stops depending on the client’s cash flow. The money is set aside before work starts in an escrow account and released in under 24 hours from the moment progress is certified. This is PactStream’s model, which switches on with our first clients.

← All blog guides · Leer en español