The three things it must say
Which work it’s for
The construction work, and the period it covers.
The amount claimed
What you say is owed for that work.
That it’s made under the Act
Use these words: “This is a payment claim made under the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 (NSW).”
Without this line it isn’t a payment claim — no deadlines start, the other side can’t end up owing the full amount, and you can’t use adjudication, however right you are about the money.
Who can send a payment claim?
Anyone who has agreed, under a construction contract, to do construction work or supply related goods and services (s 8). That covers every level: the head contractor claiming from the client, a subcontractor claiming from the builder, and the sub-subcontractor below them. It also covers suppliers of materials, hired plant, and design, engineering, surveying and similar services (s 6). The contract doesn’t have to be in writing.
Who can’t:
- Unlicensed residential work. For residential building work, you only have a right to a progress payment if you hold the licence the work needs and, where it applies, home warranty insurance (HBCF). Check yours at verify.licence.nsw.gov.au.
- A company in liquidation can’t send or enforce a payment claim.
When can you send one?
- From the last day of the month you first did the work, and the last day of every month after. Your contract can set an earlier day.
- One claim per month. A claim can include work from earlier months, and can re-claim amounts claimed before and not paid. Being refused once doesn’t use up your right.
- If the contract has been ended, you can send one from the date it ended.
- The final deadline is the period in your contract, or 12 months after you last did the work — whichever is later.
How much can you claim?
Whatever the contract says. If it doesn’t say, the claim is valued on the work actually done, taking into account the contract price, the rates and any agreed variations.
If work is defective, the cost of fixing it comes off. A defect is a deduction, not a reason to hold back everything. Materials on site but not yet installed only count if they already belong to your client, or will once paid for.
Head contractors: the supporting statement
If you’re a head contractor sending a claim to a principal, you must attach a supporting statement on the approved form. It declares that the subcontractors and suppliers you hired directly have been paid what was due — not anyone further down (Reg s 18). There are two forms: one for standard contracts and one for owner-occupier contracts.
Leaving it out is an offence, up to 1,000 penalty units for a company. Knowingly giving a false one can mean up to 3 months’ imprisonment. A director who knows a statement is false and doesn’t take reasonable steps commits an offence personally. “The office does the claims” isn’t a defence.
How to send it — and the email trap
You can deliver it in person, leave it at their usual place of business during office hours, post it (it counts from when it’s actually received, not sent), email it, or use whatever method your contract sets for notices.
The email trap
Email only counts if you send it to an address they’ve nominated for receiving documents like this — not just any address you have, and not the site supervisor’s personal email. Use the address in the contract.
What happens next: they have 10 business days
They must reply with a payment schedule: it identifies your claim, says how much they’ll pay, and, if that’s less than you claimed, gives every reason why. They have 10 business days, or a shorter period in the contract — whichever comes first. Business days leave out weekends, public holidays and 27–31 December.
They schedule the full amount and pay it. Done.
They schedule a lower amount. The dispute is limited to the reasons they wrote down.
They owe the full amount you claimed, on the due date.
If they don’t reply, it becomes a debt
No reply doesn’t mean chase them again. It turns your claim into a debt they can’t defend. If you sue for it, they can’t counter-claim or raise any defence under the contract — not defects, not back-charges, not “the work wasn’t worth that”. They had 10 business days to say so and didn’t. What you can do with an unanswered claim →
If you’re the one replying: reasons you leave out are lost
Every reason for paying less must be in your payment schedule. A reason left out can’t be raised later in adjudication. A vague reply (“we dispute the amount”) meets the deadline but throws your arguments away. Defects, unfinished work, an unapproved variation, a back-charge, a set-off — write them all in the schedule, the first time.
Work out your payment deadlines
A payment claim starts several deadlines the moment it’s received: when the other side must reply, when payment is due, and how long there is to apply for adjudication. Miss one and you can lose the right altogether.
Weekends, NSW public holidays and 27–31 December don’t count, and your contract can shorten some periods — so the real date is rarely the one you’d guess. If your contract sets its own period, it’s counted the way the contract defines a day (calendar, working or business days), which can make a week’s difference.
Our free calculator asks a few questions, then shows every deadline, the section of the Act it comes from, and what happens if you miss it.
The calculator asks questions because the website doesn’t know your contract. eSiteOffice will: you enter the contract once, and every deadline is worked out from it. Opens October.