What kind of contract were you handed?
The name on the cover shapes what's inside. These breakdowns cover the common kinds of subcontract paperwork in Australia: what each pattern actually says on payment, time bars, set-off and termination, grounded in real published documents from the Index corpus.
The QBCC commercial template
The QBCC building contract template for commercial work, clause by clause: 25 business day payment terms, notice before set-off, 15 days for EOT claims, and why the regulator's own contract is the fairness benchmark.
AS 4901, as amended
AS 4901 is rarely issued unamended. Check the special conditions: absolute time bars, termination for convenience, no-notice set-off, rolling defects periods.
The builder's own template
We analysed 10 published builder-authored subcontract templates: a median 2-day EOT notice window, and 10 of 10 allow set-off without notice. What to negotiate.
Purchase order terms
Trade work is often contracted on purchase order terms: a few pages that can carry 60+ day payment terms, absolute time bars and wide indemnities.
AS 4000 (head contract)
AS 4000 is Australia's most used construct-only head contract. What the unamended form says, which clauses get amended, and how it flows into your subcontract.
AS 4902 (design and construct)
AS 4902 is the standard design and construct head contract. What it adds to AS 4000, how an AS 4902 contract is drafted and amended, and how design risk flows down to trades.
AS 4903 (design and construct subcontract)
AS 4903 is the design and construct subcontract paired with AS 4902. What it asks of a trade, where design liability lands, and the amendments to check.
AS 2545 (older subcontract form)
AS 2545-1993 is the subcontract paired with the AS 2124 head contract. Why it is still used, how its notice clause differs from AS 4901, and what to check.
The MBA NSW standard trade contract
The MBA NSW standard trade contract, clause by clause: retention at 10% of each payment up to 5%, and variations paid only if priced in writing.
Whatever the form, the scanner reads your actual document.
Every clause, benchmarked against real Australian subcontracts, free, in about two minutes.
Scan my contract free