Business days
Business days are working days excluding weekends and public holidays - and under security of payment legislation the definition also excludes certain end-of-year industry shutdown periods, which is why computed deadlines can only ever be the earliest possible date.
Almost every deadline that matters - payment schedule windows, adjudication applications, suspension notices, contract time bars - counts in business days. Which public holidays count depends on the relevant jurisdiction, and contracts sometimes define the term differently from the Act that governs the same claim.
Why it matters to subbies
A miscounted deadline is a lost entitlement. Count conservatively, verify against the Act's definition for statutory steps, and never treat a computed date as final without checking the holidays between.
Keep reading
General information for Australian subcontractors, not legal advice - contract drafting and state legislation vary and change; your document and your state's Act govern. Written by Mat Kennedy at The Construction Contracts Co.