Builder Hasn’t Paid You? How a Security of Payment Claim Works (Every State)

You finished the fit-out three weeks early. Your invoice went in on the 25th, like every month. Now it’s 60 days later and the builder’s accounts person has stopped picking up. When you finally get the site manager, it’s “we’re waiting on the client’s drawdown” or “there’s a few things we need to look at first”. Meanwhile your own suppliers want their money.

Here is what most subbies and tradies don’t know: you are not a creditor waiting in line. Every Australian state and territory has a Security of Payment Act written specifically for you, on the principle that the people at the bottom of the contract chain get paid first and argue later. The tool it gives you is called a payment claim, and it is not the same thing as your invoice.

Your rights

Under the Security of Payment Act in your state, anyone who carries out construction work, or supplies goods or services for construction (labour hire, plant, materials, design), under a construction contract is entitled to a progress payment. The contract doesn’t have to be written; an accepted quote, a purchase order or even a verbal agreement backed by conduct is enough. “Pay when paid” clauses are void everywhere, so the builder’s cash-flow problem with their client is not your problem.

To use the Act you serve a payment claim on the party liable under your contract. In most states it must identify the work and period, state the amount, and state that it is made under the Act (Queensland skips that line and treats any invoice as a claim). The respondent then has a fixed number of business days to serve a payment schedule saying what they’ll pay and every reason for paying less. If they don’t, they owe the entire claimed amount on the due date. You can sue for it as a statutory debt with the builder barred from any contractual defence or cross-claim, suspend work on short notice, or go to a fast-track adjudicator who decides within about ten business days.

The Northern Territory runs a different model (no payment schedules; a “payment dispute” arises when your claim is rejected or unpaid, and you go straight to adjudication), but the outcome is the same: a binding decision in weeks.

By state

• New South Wales. Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999. Claim must state it’s made under the Act; serve within 12 months of last work; one claim per month. Payment schedule due in 10 business days. Adjudication through an Authorised Nominating Authority within 10 business days of a short schedule, or 20 business days after the due date (with a s 17(2) notice first if no schedule). Statutory debt sued in the Local, District or Supreme Court.
• Victoria. Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2002, overhauled from 15 April 2026: excluded amounts abolished, claims allowed 6 months after last work, maximum payment term 20 business days. Schedule due in 10 business days. Adjudication via an ANA within 10 business days. Debt sued in the Magistrates’, County or Supreme Court.
• Queensland. Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017. Any invoice is a payment claim; serve within 6 months of last work. Schedule due in 15 business days (or sooner under the contract). Adjudication through the QBCC Adjudication Registry within 30 business days. Before suing for the debt you must give a s 99 warning notice. Debt sued in the Magistrates, District or Supreme Court.
• Western Australia. Building and Construction Industry (Security of Payment) Act 2021 (contracts from 1 August 2022). Claim states it’s under the Act; serve within 6 months. Schedule due in 15 business days. Adjudication via an ANA within 20 business days. Debt sued in the Magistrates, District or Supreme Court.
• South Australia. Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2009. Claim states it’s under the Act; serve within 6 months. Schedule due in 15 business days. Adjudication via an ANA within 10 business days of a schedule or 20 business days after the due date (s 17(2) notice first if no schedule). Debt sued in the Magistrates, District or Supreme Court.
• Tasmania. Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2009. Claim states it’s under the Act; serve within 12 months. Schedule due in 10 business days (20 for a residential owner). If none, a s 21(4) second-chance notice gives 5 more business days, then the debt is recoverable in the Magistrates or Supreme Court or by adjudication within 10 or 20 business days.
• Australian Capital Territory. Building and Construction Industry (Security of Payment) Act 2009 (amended 11 March 2024). Claim states it’s under the Act; serve within 12 months; payment due within 15 business days. Schedule due in 10 business days. Adjudication via an ANA within 10 or 20 business days. Debt sued in the Australian Capital Territory Magistrates or Supreme Court.
• Northern Territory. Construction Contracts (Security of Payments) Act 2004. No payment schedule. If the contract is silent, payment is due 28 days after the claim; a payment dispute arises when the claim is rejected or unpaid. Apply for adjudication within 65 working days of the dispute. Determinations are enforced in the Local or Supreme Court.

The Claim Done document asks your state first and drafts the claim to that state’s rules and deadlines.

What to do right now

1. Find your last day on site. That date starts the service window: 12 months in New South Wales, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory; 6 months in Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia. If you’re close, serve today.
2. Identify the party liable under your contract. The entity on the subcontract or PO, with its ABN. Serving the site owner or a related company is the most common reason claims fail.
3. Serve one claim per period. Most Acts allow one payment claim per month or reference date. Roll every unpaid invoice, variation and retention amount into it.
4. Put the Act on the face of it. Outside Queensland, a claim that doesn’t say it’s made under the Act is just an invoice, and the clock never starts.
5. Diary the schedule deadline and the due date. Count business days. Don’t let a “we’ll sort it next week” call run you past the adjudication window.

Why the builder answers a payment claim and ignores an invoice

An invoice creates a contractual debt the builder can argue about for two years in court. A payment claim creates a ten-to-fifteen-business-day problem for their accounts department, because silence means they owe the lot and can’t defend it. The payment schedule they send back must state every reason for withholding; anything they leave out, they can’t raise at adjudication. That single rule turns “we’ve got some issues with your work” into a document they have to justify in writing, on a deadline, or lose.

Who to complain to

Adjudication runs through Authorised Nominating Authorities in New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory (Adjudicate Today, Resolution Institute and others), the QBCC Adjudication Registry in Queensland, and prescribed appointers in the Northern Territory. For the statutory debt: your state’s Magistrates or Local Court for most subcontract amounts, or the District/County or Supreme Court above their limits. Building regulators (Building Commission NSW, QBCC, Western Australia Building and Energy) also take complaints about builders who don’t pay.

Serve a claim that starts the clock — $49

Claim Done drafts a Security of Payment Claim for your state that identifies the contract, the work and the period, states the amount and the Act, calculates the due date and the schedule deadline, warns the builder of the statutory-debt, adjudication and suspension consequences, and includes a ready-to-serve notice of intention to suspend work.

Serve My Payment Claim — $49 →

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