How long do I have to respond to a payment claim in NSW?

Whichever expires earlier of (s 14(4)): 10 business days after the payment claim was served, or the period your contract states if it is shorter. Only shorter: a contract cannot give you more time than the Act does. The standard form Building Commission NSW contract for work over $20,000 gives you 5 business days after receiving the claim (clause 14).

What happens if I do not serve a payment schedule?

Three things, once both have passed — your time to serve a payment schedule and the due date for payment, whichever is the later (s 15(1)): the claimant may commence court proceedings to recover the unpaid portion of the claimed amount as a debt due, and you cannot cross-claim and cannot raise any defence about the work at all; an adjudication application may be made in relation to the payment claim provided you have been given a second chance to respond with a payment schedule; and the builder or trade can suspend work on two business days’ written notice that states it is made under the Act. Not paying is not the same as disputing — silence is the one response the Act treats as agreement.

What must a payment schedule contain?

A payment schedule is not a letter saying you're unhappy. It is a defined document, and the Act is strict about what it has to contain (s 14(2), (3)). The reply has to do four things. Identify the payment claim it responds to: enough that there is no doubt which claim you are answering, their reference, the date, the amount claimed. State the amount you propose to pay: a number, even if that number is nil; a schedule without one may not be a schedule at all. Say why it is less than they claimed: if your number is lower than theirs, the schedule must indicate why. Give every reason you are withholding payment: each one, whether defects, incomplete work, back-charges, delay, materials never delivered, a variation you never approved, an unlicensed contractor or a missing insurance certificate. Section 20(2B) is blunt: the respondent cannot include in an adjudication response any reason for withholding payment unless it was already in the payment schedule. And s 20(2A) means that if you served no schedule at all you cannot lodge a response in the first place.

Does a missing supporting statement invalidate a payment claim?

No. A head contractor serving on a principal must attach a supporting statement (s 13(7)) and serving without it is an offence, but that requirement does not invalidate a payment claim. The Act answers the failure to provide the statement with a penalty rather than by striking the claim out. Raise it in the payment schedule; do not treat it as a reason to ignore the claim.

Payment schedule deadline calculator

Work out your deadline

Answer up to seven questions. Dates are counted in business days as the Act defines them (s 4): no weekends, NSW public holidays or 27–31 December — or, where it applies, days as your contract defines them.

Sent a claim instead? Work out when you must be paid →

1. Which contract are you on? (optional — it fills in questions 6 and 7 for you)

What this fills in

Pick one and the two contract questions below are filled from that form’s own terms. Check your copy against them — special conditions change these, and an amended clause beats the printed one.

2. What date did the claim reach you?

Add the amount claimed — the answer then uses your real figure (optional)

The claimed amount is what their payment claim asks for (s 13). Miss the deadline below and you are liable for the whole of it.

3. Who sent it?

Why the builder / trade split matters

Someone you never engaged has no contract with you, and their document starts no clock — that is the first thing this question decides. Between the people you DID engage, the split decides when payment falls due if your contract is silent: paying a builder, the Act’s outside date is 15 business days after the claim (s 11(1A)); paying a trade you engaged directly, it is 20 (s 11(1B)) — the Act treats a directly-engaged trade as a subcontractor. “Not certain” is counted as a builder: the earlier, safer date. On an owner-occupied home the contract itself governs either way.

4. Does it say it’s made under the Security of Payment Act?

5. What is the property to you?

6. Does your contract say when payment falls due?

Where to look in your contract

Look for the clause that says when the money must be paid — BC Major cl 14: within 5 business days of receiving the claim. BC4 cl 20: the Schedule 2 item 4(d) period, or 5 days if none is stated. Special Conditions: these may vary the printed terms. If your contract runs payment from a certificate rather than from the claim, add the certifying time to the payment time.

7. Does your contract give you less than 10 business days to dispute a claim?

Where to look in your contract

Not every contract has one, and this shortens your deadline. BC Major cl 14 gives you 5 business days to notify disagreement in writing with reasons — half the Act’s 10. BC4 has no such period. Check the Special Conditions. The Act asks what the contract requires, not what it calls it. If yours says nothing of the kind, answer No.

Start again

Before you rely on this

Don’t just hold the money until they fix it

It feels natural, and on a normal invoice it’s reasonable. Against a payment claim it’s the worst thing you can do. The law treats silence as agreement, and they can enforce the debt without proving the work was any good.

The defects are still real — you just lose the chance to raise them. Your payment schedule is where you make your case.

How long do I have to reply?

Whichever ends first (s 14(4)):

10 business days after you received the claim, or
the period in your contract, if it’s shorter.

A contract can only give you less time, never more. The standard Building Commission NSW contract for work over $20,000 gives you 5 business days (clause 14). Contracts count days differently, so check how yours defines a “day”.

What happens if I don’t reply?

Once both your reply deadline and the payment due date have passed (s 15(1)):

they can go to court to recover the unpaid amount as a debt — and you can’t counter-claim or raise any defence about the work;
they can apply for adjudication, as long as you’ve been given a second chance to reply;
they can stop work after 2 business days’ written notice that says it’s made under the Act.

When payment is due, explained →

What must my payment schedule say?

A payment schedule isn’t a letter saying you’re unhappy. The Act says exactly what it must contain (s 14(2), (3)):

Which claim it replies to — their reference, the date and the amount claimed.
How much you’ll pay — a number, even if it’s nil. “We’ll get back to you” isn’t an amount.
Why it’s less than they claimed.
Every reason you’re holding back payment — defects, unfinished work, back-charges, delay, materials not delivered, a variation you didn’t approve, an unlicensed contractor, a missing insurance certificate. All of it.

Leave a reason out and you can’t use it later

In adjudication you can’t raise any reason that wasn’t in your payment schedule (s 20(2B)) — not “we mentioned it on site”, not “they know”. And if you sent no schedule at all, you can’t respond in adjudication (s 20(2A)). Take time over it: your schedule is the limit of every argument you can make about this claim.

What your payment schedule must say, and which reasons work →

Does a missing supporting statement cancel the claim?

No. A head contractor claiming from a principal must attach a supporting statement (s 13(7)), and leaving it out is an offence — but the claim is still valid. Mention it in your payment schedule. Don’t ignore the claim because of it. What a supporting statement is →

How the deadlines fit together

One line makes it a payment claim. Saying it’s made under the Act (s 13(2)(c)) turns an ordinary invoice into a payment claim. The deadlines run from the day you receive it, whatever your contract says.
Reply in writing, in time. A payment schedule within 10 business days (or your contract’s shorter period), saying what you’ll pay and every reason for paying less.
Silence counts as agreement. No reply and no payment by the due date means you owe the full amount, with no defence about the work.
They have deadlines too. Their window to apply for adjudication closes; their right to sue for the debt doesn’t. If you get a notice that they intend to apply for adjudication, you have a final 5 business days to send the payment schedule you didn’t.

The calculator’s timeline is these deadlines, worked out from your answers. “Between X and Y” means the date depends on a step that hasn’t happened yet.