Ashley Stacey has heard every excuse in the book from clients not wanting to pay invoices.

"We get people who say they’ve been overseas for months, that they've been in hospital for months — anything and everything really," he says.

Ashley Stacey says he's always facing client excuses for non-payment.

The owner of land surveying business Stacey Surveying never thought he'd be spending so much time begging clients to actually pay for already-completed work.

"It sucks, to be blatantly honest," he says.