Better Business Bureau.

some states allow you to advertise on a sign for deadbeats.

Small claims court?

Start with direct call to them to see if the Owner Client has not paid the Architect. I know of bad clients who expect the architect to eat the extra cost when it was the owner/client's fickle changes after work was done that truly called for additional fees. Architect might still be waiting for payment too.

If sending his wife pictures of their children at the school bus stop is too much for you, try familarizing yourself with lien law. It doesn't matter if he has been paid or not.

What work did you perform that did not get paid for?

A website

Bitch about them endlessly to your children at the dinner table every night. That was my entire childhood - my dad ranting about architects who never paid him. And god help us on the nights when he ran into them at meetings and they were gloating over their recent trips to Europe.

Do you know how much traffic the site gets? Taking it down is only useful if he actually uses the site.

I'd look into small claims court, liens, that kind of thing.

Hi, Dario,

Depending on the amount due, pursuing a claim in Small Claims Court can be a cost-effective means to get paid for your work. Having a sheriff's deputy deliver a summons notifying the other party to appear in court is often all it takes to get someone to write a check.

Site down, with a "technical difficulties" screen. And a $500 consult to an attorney to examine your contract, and write a demand letter to the architect. Follow through with a lien or small claims for the work.

Have a written contract first. Make sure it has a list of deliverable, together with the disbursements due at each one. Get paid at least 50% up front for the initial design work, to start. Then bill in increments for the rest of the work, as outlined in the contract. The websites do not go live to the public until all is paid. Beta test mode only until then. Stop work as soon as they don't pay a disbursement, and then charge a remobilization fee for picking up the job again. If they want "examples" show them examples of other work you've done. You have to sell yourself here, and be worthy of the sale. Then charge and collect like you are worthy.

this ismwhat small claims court is for… file there, I think all states have them

I have no idea what you did for them and honestly the whole post is too vague to understand . Tell us what you did when it was ordered and when you sent your invoice and how many times have you asked or resent the invoice . Too little info . Have you called and actually spoke to the architect who hired you?

Architect had his site ripper apart by a hacker. I recreated a site from scratch, over a weekend to his satisfaction. He was referred to my by a friend and client. The architect expressed satisfaction. I told him to change his password. He did not. His site got taken down a second time. Then he avoided my calls, emails, and texts for like seven months. I reached out to him to offer to recreate his site because I had retained a back up and could have it restored in ten minutes. According to the person who referred him, he felt bad about not reaching out and meant to get around to paying me. Great. I even offered a way for him to become a hosting client. Still mostly crickets. Still treating me like a worthless nothing. (I suspect because he knew his site got taken down because of his own inaction and that I would ask about it and that would probably make him feel stupid which is something that his personality type seems to want to do anything to avoid. Yes. He is a person incapable of admitting wrong doing. He is rich. He is talented. His business is word of mouth. In trying to resolve the situation, I was peppered with delays and power moves and vague, two word responses. I was owed less than 2 grand for a job that I rushed for a mutual relation that probably helped the guy score the project he's working on now. He had the site just long enough for his clients to get a peek at his work and then it seems I was abandoned. That's the story.

Also, I have loved the comments so far. They have helped me exorcise this event from me. I decided to fire him as a client. He lied, degraded my work, avoided responsibility, stiffed me on a bill and potentially soured a treasured relationship. I released him from his invoice, but told him he needed to destroy my work as it was unacceptable to him. So now he has to start over if he wants his website up again. He threw money at me this time after speaking to him one last time while simultaneously telling me how stupid I was and how bad my work was. *(yeah, like that makes ANY sense, right?). I accepted his offer on the phone to let him feel he'd "won" and saved faced. Then I rejected his offer in email after deciding it well worth losing nearly 2 grand to remove that kind of toxic individual from my life as quickly as possible. I have too many good clients and amazing projects to work on to let this cat drag me down to his pathetic level. It is sad for me personally because he is the greatest living architect I've ever met and I would have him design cities full of his influence and art. Never meet your heroes.

Thanks again everyone so much. You helped me laugh and bounce back. Have a wonderful week!

You didn't lose 2 grand. It is a seed. It will come back to you many times over, in ways you do not expect. And especially since you are releasing the idea of it coming from him.🙏🏼

And tbh, I think you got a bargain. I would have paid a lot more to get rid of him. 🤣

^^Agreed. Now change your business practice to something like Minardi advised above.

"He is rich."

What is he doing in architecture??

Not sure how he became wealthy except that I probably don't want to do it the same way... =)

He became wealthy because he doesn't pay his bills ;)

I agree remove the site and if you had explained this at the beginning it would have been much easier to answer.. I have friends who design websites so can appreciate the issues but remeber he was never a friend