The subcontractor paperwork system that gets your progress claims paid
Subbies who get paid on time run a simple system: serve every claim on the reference date with the Act's endorsement, email every site change the same day, keep a daily diary with photos, and query every certificate the day it arrives. It takes about an hour a week.
Chapter 16: The paperwork that gets you paid
The builder's contracts administrator logs every claim, diarises every notice and reconciles every certificate. It's her whole job. Most subbies turning over $2 million to $20 million have a director doing contracts on Sunday night and a foreman who signs whatever he's handed. Against a full-time system, that loses by default. The answer isn't to hire, at least not yet. It's six habits simple enough for the business you already have.
Habit one: the claim goes in on the reference date, every month, endorsed under the Act, because three days late on the claim can be thirty days late on the money. Two: anything that changes what you build, when you build it or what you found gets an email that day. Three: a daily diary with photos, because disputes are decided on the record and the builder keeps one. Four: read every certificate against the claim the day it lands. Five: every email you send passes a one-read, one-action test.
Six: normalise saying you'll find out and come back, because a foreman's confident guess can turn into $40,000 of rework. And when one disputed item stalls a whole claim, park the disputed portion in writing and get the rest released, so the argument is $12,000 instead of $84,000. In my experience, a subbie with no system loses 5 to 10 per cent of a $500,000 package, or $25,000 to $50,000.
- 1Serve the claim on the reference date: three days late on the claim can be thirty days late on the money.
- 2The change email doesn't need to be right about whether it's a variation; it needs to exist, dated, inside the window.
- 3Photos before you start and before you leave settle most arguments about damage and mess.
- 4Park the disputed portion of a stalled claim in writing and get the balance released.
Set up three templates: the claim confirmation, the change email and the certificate query. Put the reference date in every calendar in the business. Give the foreman a diary and a rule about photos. Run it for one claim cycle and watch what changes on the first certificate.
Common questions
What is a reference date for a progress claim?
It's the date the contract, or the security of payment Act, says you're entitled to make a progress claim, often a fixed day each month. The Act's timetable for the payment schedule and payment generally runs from when a valid claim is served, so missing it can push your payment back a full cycle. Check your contract and state's Act.
What should a subcontractor's site diary include?
Who was on site, what was done, what was delayed and by whom, instructions given and by whom, weather, missed deliveries and areas not ready, plus dated photos of anything that will be covered up or argued about. When a delay, back charge or defect is disputed, the party with the better record generally wins.
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A summary of chapter 16 of Screwed Down by Mat Kennedy. Index figures are as they stood when the book was written (Sept 2026); the live numbers are on the Index. Amazon ranking as seen in September 2026. General information, not legal advice.