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Security of Payment in New South Wales: the deadlines a subcontractor works to

Every date below comes from the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 (NSW), and each one shows the section it comes from so you can check it. The contract can set an earlier date than the Act in places, and the Act wins where the contract is later than it allows.

For the actual dates on your claim, put the day you served it into the deadline calculator.

How long does the builder have to answer a payment claim in New South Wales?

Payment schedule must be served10 business days

From service of the payment claim.

Miss this and the respondent becomes liable for the FULL claimed amount on the due date, recoverable as a debt or via adjudication, with no contract defences in debt proceedings.

NSW s 14(4)(b)(ii)

When does a subcontractor's payment fall due in New South Wales?

Payment due (to subcontractor)20 business days

From service of the payment claim. Contract may set an earlier date; statutory default shown. Exempt residential (owner-occupier) construction contracts use a different due date (contract date, else 10 business days, NSW s 11(1C)); the 15/20-business-day defaults shown do not apply to them.

NSW s 11(1B)

What can a subcontractor do in New South Wales if no payment schedule comes back?

Notice of intention to adjudicate (no schedule served)20 business days

From the due date for payment.

Without this notice the no-schedule adjudication path is barred.

NSW s 17(2)

How long does a subcontractor have to apply for adjudication in New South Wales?

Adjudication application (schedule disputes amount)10 business days

From receipt of the payment schedule.

Apply late and the adjudication right for this claim is lost.

NSW s 17(3)(c)

Adjudication application (scheduled amount unpaid)20 business days

From the due date for payment.

Apply late and the adjudication right for this claim is lost.

NSW s 17(3)(d)

Adjudication application (no schedule served)10 business days

From the end of the respondent’s second-chance schedule period.

Apply late and the adjudication right for this claim is lost.

NSW s 17(3)(e)

Which days are not business days under the Security of Payment Act in New South Wales?

Weekends and public holidays, and the Act itself takes out 27 December to 31 December (NSW s 4(1)).

Not legal advice. These are statutory defaults. Verify every date against the relevant Security of Payment Act and your contract.

Business-day counting excludes weekends, the Act-specific December/January shutdown, New Year’s Day, Australia Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Anzac Day, Christmas Day and Boxing Day, plus the substitute weekday where New Year’s Day, Australia Day, Christmas Day or Boxing Day falls on a weekend. Anzac Day is substituted in Queensland when 25 April falls on a Sunday, as it is in the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory, and in Western Australia when it falls on either a Saturday or a Sunday. State and territory public holidays are modelled for New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. State public holidays counted here: Easter Saturday, Easter Sunday, King’s Birthday, Labour Day.

On a real job, you do not type any of this

YourCA reads your head contract, works out the dates it puts on you and warns you before each one closes: claim day three days out, a variation notice window two days before it shuts, their payment schedule the day it is late. Every figure shows the clause it came from.

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