Short answer: in a small, author-scored test of ten contractor scenarios, a draft-first invoicing mode scored 99/100 against 31/100 for the current path. It refuses to chase invoices that were never sent, holds near lien deadlines or when a customer says they paid, and never sends an email without the owner's yes.
Can an AI skill chase invoices without acting like a collection agency?
Question: can the finance skill help a contractor send invoices and chase them without turning into a collection agency, and without letting a reminder email outrun a lien deadline?
Finding: the current skill routes invoice questions to accounting, which can name an invoice and mark it paid when the owner says so, and that is all. A new invoicing mode, built from an evidence-first gate, beat that path on a small set of contractor cases because it refuses to chase an invoice that was never sent, holds when the customer says they paid or a legal deadline is close, and never sends the email itself.
How was the invoicing mode built and tested?
Method: the gate already existed as code (14 invoice states, a pre-flight that returns SKIP, HOLD, SCHEDULE, or DRAFT, a send check that blocks placeholders and legal language, and five email templates). 17 calendar tests and 34 gate tests passed (51/51). The published skill does not run scripts, so the same rules were written into a short mode file the model can follow offline. Lien, bond, and prompt-pay figures in that file were read from official statute or regulation pages on 2026-11-11 (federal Miller Act and FAR, federal and Texas prompt pay, Texas and California and Florida lien statutes). New York periods and pay-if-paid enforceability were not fetched in time and are marked for an attorney, not stated as fact. Hard rules: the owner approves every outgoing email; only the contractor's own invoices, in the contractor's name; no threats.
Test: a small, author-scored A/B of ten fixed contractor scenarios (retainage, pay-if-paid, a disputed amount, a "we paid" claim, a lien deadline inside 21 days, a missed promise, an unsent draft, an unmatched deposit, and a requested lien threat). Old arm 31/100, new arm 99/100. Same-author bias; small sample; not a live skill run.
What does this test not prove?
Limits: no mailbox or bank connector; the optional calendar tool is simplified and can miss a shorter official window; New York and several public-contract rules remain unverified. Not legal advice. Nothing in this entry is a filing date.
Official sources read for this pass include the Miller Act, 40 U.S.C. 3133, the federal Prompt Payment Act, 31 U.S.C. 3903, and FAR 52.232-27, prompt payment for construction contracts.
Mistake logged: an earlier collections pass cited these statutes from working knowledge. This pass re-read the main ones at official sources and stopped stating the unverified New York figures as fact.
Where to go next
The owner-facing version of this work lives on Chase the Invoices. Contractors comparing funding while they wait on receivables can start with the contractor funding guide or where to get business funding.
Disclosure: MCAFax may receive compensation from some providers. It does not affect our grades or what we show you. MCAFax is not a lender or a law firm, and nothing here is financial, legal or investment advice.
