A survey of 417 small and midsized vendors found that late payments and administrative work continue to create challenges for contractors and other service providers.
The 2026 Vendor Payment and Portal Report, conducted by VendorAccess, surveyed vendors across construction, property improvement, janitorial, security and facility maintenance. Construction and contracting companies made up 71.9% of respondents, while 64% of all respondents had 25 or fewer employees.
Late payment was the most commonly cited payment challenge, with 51.6% of vendors identifying it as their biggest issue. Processing fees followed at 22.1%, while disputes over scope or pricing and rejected invoices were cited by 18.9% and 18.5%, respectively.
Payment delays also remain a cash-flow concern. While 57.1% of respondents said they receive payment within 15 days of invoicing, 17% reported waiting 31 to 90 days.
Administrative work adds another burden. Although 45.6% of vendors use just one or two payment portals per month, more than 60% spend two to 10 hours each week on portal-related tasks such as logging in, checking invoice status and submitting compliance paperwork. About 16.6% of vendors managing six or more portals spend at least 11 hours per week on portal administration.
Compliance is another recurring task, with nearly 12% of respondents spending nine or more hours per month managing certificates of insurance, W-9s, licenses and renewals.
Technology adoption varies across the group. QuickBooks was the most commonly used back-office platform at 58.5%, while 26.1% of respondents still rely on paper, spreadsheets or other manual processes. AI adoption remains mixed, with 26.9% using AI for invoicing and 23.3% using it for job scheduling, while 24.9% have no plans to adopt AI.
