The builder's payment schedule came back short. What now?
A payment schedule is the builder's formal answer to your payment claim under the Security of Payment Act: the amount it will pay and, if that is less than you claimed, the reasons why. It is due within 10 business days of your claim in NSW, VIC, TAS and the ACT, and within 15 in QLD, SA and WA. A short schedule is not the end of the matter. Reasons not raised in it generally can't be raised later at adjudication, so read it as the builder's whole case, and work out your adjudication deadline the day it arrives.
Read it as the builder's whole case
Line the schedule up against your claim, item by item. For every reduction, find the reason given. A reduction with no reason, or a reason that doesn't match the contract or the site record, is where adjudication applications are won. Photos, site instructions and delivery dockets beat opinions.
Deductions labelled back-charge, contra or set-off need a contractual right behind them, and often a notice the builder was meant to give first. Check the set-off clause before you accept one.
The clock starts when it arrives
If you disagree with the schedule, the adjudication window generally runs from when you receive it, and it is short. In NSW it is typically 10 business days from receiving a payment schedule that disputes the claim, through a private authorised nominating authority. In Queensland it is generally 30 business days from the relevant trigger for a standard application, lodged with the QBCC Adjudication Registry. Other states have their own limits. Work out your date the day the schedule lands, not the day before it runs out.
Don't let a back-and-forth email chain run past that date. Negotiating is fine; losing the right to adjudicate while you negotiate is not.
When nothing arrives at all, and the NT exception
If no payment schedule arrives within the statutory window, the position is stronger still: the claimed amount becomes a debt due in full and the builder is generally barred from raising reasons at adjudication. That is covered in the guide on what happens when the builder ignores your claim.
The Northern Territory works differently. It has no payment claim and payment schedule exchange: a payment dispute arises when your claim under the contract is rejected or unpaid at the due date, and either party then has 90 days to apply for adjudication.
Know where your contract stands
Adjudicate Pro: what an adjudicator would likely award under your state's Act, and whether to apply.
Assess my payment dispute freeCommon questions
What does a payment schedule have to say?
At minimum, the amount the builder will pay (which can be nil) and, if that is less than you claimed, the reasons for paying less. The exact requirements come from your state's Act. A document that doesn't do that job may not count as a payment schedule at all, which matters, because no valid schedule in time can make the full claimed amount payable.
Can the builder add new reasons later?
Generally not at adjudication: reasons not raised in the payment schedule generally can't be raised later. That is why a thin schedule served in a hurry can become the builder's biggest problem.
How long does the builder have to send a payment schedule?
10 business days from your payment claim in NSW, VIC, TAS and the ACT, and 15 business days in QLD, SA and WA, or any shorter period your contract sets. The NT has no payment schedule mechanism.
Adjudication, by state
Terms in this guide
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General information for Australian subcontractors, not legal advice. Statutory deadlines and details vary by state and change over time; verify them before relying on them. Written by Mat Kennedy at The Construction Contracts Co.