Do these three things today
- Find the date it arrived — the day it actually reached you, not the day someone noticed it. Everything is counted from that date.
- Check your contract for a shorter reply period. Your deadline is 10 business days or the contract’s period, whichever ends first.
- Put the deadline in your calendar, counted in business days — no weekends, public holidays or 27–31 December. Contracts count days differently, so check how yours defines a “day”. The free calculator works it out for you →
First: is it really a payment claim?
A payment claim must identify the work, state the amount, and say it’s made under the Security of Payment Act. Without that last part it’s an ordinary invoice, and none of this applies.
But don’t risk the money on it
Deciding a document isn’t a valid claim and ignoring it is one of the most expensive mistakes in building — if you’re wrong, you’ve already lost. Sending a payment schedule costs you nothing. If you doubt the claim is valid, say so in your schedule and reply properly anyway. A missing or faulty supporting statement doesn’t make a claim invalid.
What your payment schedule must say
Which claim it replies to
So there’s no doubt what you’re answering.
How much you’ll pay
The “scheduled amount”. It can be less than claimed, or nothing.
If it’s less, why — every reason
Not a general “we dispute this”. Each reason, written out. This is where the dispute is won or lost.
Any reason you leave out is gone
A reason not in your payment schedule can’t be raised later in adjudication. The adjudicator won’t consider it, and you can’t add to your case once you’ve seen theirs.
So “we dispute the amount and will get back to you” is the worst reply: it meets the deadline but throws away every argument you had. Write down every reason, even minor ones. You can drop a reason later. You can’t add one.
Reasons that work — and one that never does
A defect is a deduction, not a reason to hold back everything. Name the defect and the estimated cost to fix it — that’s what comes off.
Say which items and how much isn’t done. It works best when it’s specific.
Name the item and say it wasn’t instructed or agreed, and why. Leave it out now and you can’t raise it later.
What it is, what it’s worth, and where it comes from. It has to be in the schedule.
They only count if they already belong to you, or will once paid for.
Never works. In NSW, “pay when paid” and “pay if paid” clauses are void. Whether you’ve been paid by the client has nothing to do with what you owe your trades.
Then pay the amount you scheduled
If you schedule an amount and don’t pay it, you’re in the same position as not replying: they can recover it as a debt, apply for adjudication, and stop work on 2 business days’ notice.
Payment is due 15 business days after the claim when a head contractor claims from a principal, 20 business days when a subcontractor claims from a head contractor, and for a home the owner lives in, whatever the contract says — or 10 business days if it doesn’t say.
Your contract can’t give you more time. It can shorten these periods, but a term delaying payment is void. And you can’t sign away the Act — even a clause that just discourages the other side from using it is void.
Already missed the 10 business days?
It’s not necessarily over, but what’s left depends on what they do next:
- If they sue for the debt: the argument is over. You can’t counter-claim or raise a contract defence.
- If they apply for adjudication instead: you get a limited second chance. They must first give you notice, within 20 business days of the due date, that they intend to apply. You then have 5 business days to send a payment schedule. This only exists if they take that route.
In adjudication itself, if you never sent a payment schedule, you can’t respond at all — the adjudicator decides on their material only. If you did send one, your response is due 5 business days after you receive the application, or 2 business days after the adjudicator accepts it, whichever is later — and it’s limited to the reasons in your schedule.
If the adjudicator decides against you
You must pay the amount within 5 business days. If you don’t, it becomes a court judgment. To challenge it, you must pay the unpaid amount into court first (s 25(4)), and contract defences aren’t available there either.
Adjudication is interim: it decides who holds the money now, not who’s ultimately right. You can still take your contract rights to court — but you’ll have paid first.
Owner-builders: this applies to you too
If you hire trades directly, you’re the one who pays, and any of them can send you a payment claim. The old exemption for owner-occupier contracts has been removed, and the Act covers verbal agreements as well as written ones. The same 10 business days (fewer if your contract says so) and the same consequences apply. The owner-builder guide →
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.