Collections are the heartbeat of a developer. A reliable process beats heroic chasing.
Start with a schedule
Every booking should have a dated payment schedule with initial and instalment amounts. Without a schedule, nothing is overdue and nothing is on time.
Record the same day
Log payments with mode, amount and type the day they arrive. Propto lists payment ID, customer, unit, project, mode, amount, type and date.
Review weekly
Check outstanding and overdue amounts weekly with sales and accounts together, so conversations with buyers are consistent.
Why collections need a process
For a developer, cash flow depends on instalments arriving on time. When collections depend on individual effort and memory, payments slip, reminders go out late or not at all, and finance discovers problems only at month end. A defined process makes collections predictable and less stressful for everyone, including buyers.
The process does not need to be complicated. It needs a schedule for every booking, same-day recording of payments, regular reminders and a weekly review.
Start with a schedule on every booking
Create the payment schedule at the moment the booking is confirmed: booking amount, each instalment, the milestone or date it relates to and the amount due. Without a schedule, nothing is formally due, and overdue payments cannot be measured.
Automation can create the schedule from the agreed plan, so that accounts never starts from a blank sheet and buyers receive the schedule immediately with their confirmation.
Recording payments the same day
Record every payment on the booking the day it is received, with amount, mode, reference and date. Delayed recording creates confusion: a buyer receives a reminder for an amount already paid, or sales believes a balance is outstanding when it is not.
Same-day recording also gives management a reliable daily view of collections, which matters for cash planning.
Remaining balances visible to all
Show total investment, amount paid, amount remaining and due status on every booking. Make the remaining-payments view available to sales and customer care as well as accounts, so everyone who speaks to buyers quotes the same figures.
Consistent numbers prevent the embarrassing situation where two teams tell a buyer two different balances.
Reminders before and after due dates
Send a friendly reminder a few days before each due date with the amount, date and payment options. Follow up on the due date if payment has not arrived, and again a little later with a call. Most buyers pay promptly when reminded clearly and politely.
Operations rules can send these reminders automatically and create a task for accounts when a payment remains overdue, while logging every message.
A weekly collections review
Hold a short weekly review with accounts and sales. Look at overdue and due-this-week items, assign each critical case to a named person and agree actions. Next week, check what happened.
Involve sales because they often know the buyer’s situation, such as a pending loan or a family event, and can help resolve delays respectfully.
Linking collections to legal and construction
Some payments are tied to milestones such as agreement signing or construction stages. Keep these links visible, so that demand notes go out when a milestone is reached and buyers can see why a payment is due.
Overdue instalments may also affect agreement or registry progress, so legal should see the payment position on each file.
Penalty policy and exceptions
Write a late-payment penalty policy with the basis, rate, grace days and cap, and apply it consistently. Record any waiver with the approver and reason. Consistency matters more than strictness, because inconsistent treatment invites disputes.
Store the policy in the system, so calculations follow the same rules for every buyer.
Reporting for owners
Owners need a short daily view: collected this period, outstanding, overdue and the number of overdue instalments. Trends over months show whether discipline is improving.
Break the numbers down by project and by age of overdue amounts, so attention goes to the largest and oldest items first.
A worked example
A buyer’s second instalment is due on the fifteenth. On the tenth, an automatic reminder goes out. On the fifteenth, no payment has arrived, so another message is sent and accounts receives a task. On the seventeenth the sales executive calls and learns the buyer is waiting for a bank disbursement.
The note is recorded on the booking, the follow-up is moved to the expected disbursement date and the buyer is thanked for explaining. The payment arrives on the twentieth and is recorded the same day.
Common mistakes
Common mistakes include bookings without schedules, payments recorded days late, different balances quoted by different teams and reminders sent only after payments are badly overdue. Each weakens cash flow and buyer trust.
Another mistake is treating collections as accounts’ problem alone. Sales relationships often unlock delayed payments.
Questions teams often ask
Should reminders be automated? Yes, for routine reminders, with people handling conversations about disputes or difficulties.
How often should we review collections? Weekly for the team, with a daily glance at critical items.
In short
Create a schedule for every booking, record payments the same day, make balances visible to everyone who talks to buyers, remind before and after due dates, review weekly with sales and apply a written penalty policy consistently.
Can I export payments?
Yes. Payments can be filtered and exported.