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Security of Payment in Western Australia: the deadlines a subcontractor works to

Every date below comes from the Building and Construction Industry (Security of Payment) Act 2021 (WA), 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 Western Australia?

Payment schedule must be served15 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.

WA s 25(1)

When does a subcontractor's payment fall due in Western Australia?

Payment due (to subcontractor)25 business days

From service of the payment claim. Contract may set an earlier date; statutory default shown. Home building work uses a different statutory due date (contract date, else 10 business days, WA s 20(3)); the 20/25-business-day head/subcontractor defaults shown do not apply to it.

WA s 20(1)(b)

What can a subcontractor do in Western Australia 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.

WA s 28(2)

How long does a subcontractor have to apply for adjudication in Western Australia?

Adjudication application (schedule disputes amount)20 business days

From receipt of the payment schedule.

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

WA s 28(4)

Adjudication application (amount owed unpaid)20 business days

From the due date for payment.

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

WA s 28(4)

Adjudication application (no schedule given)20 business days

From the due date for payment. Conservative reading: the right may lapse as early as 20 business days after the due date. You must also serve the s 28(2) notice within 20 business days of the due date and allow the respondent 5 business days. Verify against s 28.

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

WA s 28(4) (entitlement arises on non-payment by due date, s 28(1)(a); due date not extended, s 28(3))

Which days are not business days under the Security of Payment Act in Western Australia?

Weekends and public holidays, and the Act itself takes out 22 December to 31 December (WA s 4(1)), 1 January to 10 January (WA 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 Sunday, Labour Day, Western Australia Day, Anzac Day (substitute Monday), King’s Birthday. King’s Birthday is counted only up to 2027, because the Western Australian King’s Birthday is proclaimed by the Governor each year rather than fixed by a rule, usually in late September or early October, and the published dates run only to 2027. A count that reaches a later September or October can fall one business day later than the date shown.

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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