How much does a subcontract review cost in Australia?
A construction lawyer's subcontract review in Australia typically runs from a few hundred dollars for a quick risk read to several thousand for a full markup and negotiation support, depending on the contract's length and how contested the terms are. The Subcontract Risk Scanner does the triage layer free: a clause-by-clause risk report in about 90 seconds, scored against your state's Security of Payment law and live market data — so you know whether this contract needs a lawyer, and exactly what to point them at.
The real cost is reviewing nothing
Most subcontracts are signed unread — not because subbies don't care, but because a legal review on every job doesn't fit the margins or the timeframes of subcontracting. The result is that the riskiest documents in the business get the least scrutiny, and the cost surfaces later as an uncapped LD claim, a time-barred variation, or a retention sum that never comes back.
The economics work when review is layered. Scan everything, free, in the time it takes to pour a coffee. Sign the clean ones with confidence. For the contracts the scan flags — the uncapped exposures, the absolute bars, the void payment terms — take the report to a lawyer, who now starts from your three worst clauses instead of page one.
What the free scan covers
Every scan scores payment terms and Security of Payment compliance for your state, liquidated damages exposure, set-off and back-charge rights, time bars and EOT, termination and suspension, and indemnity and insurance — with the three worst findings turned into a specific recommended negotiating position, benchmarked against live data from real Australian subcontracts. It's general information rather than legal advice, and it's built to make the legal advice you do buy sharper and cheaper.
Know where your contract stands
Clause-by-clause risk report against your state's Security of Payment laws in about 90 seconds.
Scan my subcontract freeCommon questions
Is the free scan a substitute for a lawyer?
No — it's the layer before one. The report is AI-generated commercial risk analysis: it tells you where this contract is dangerous and what the market position is. For decisions with legal consequences, take the report to a construction lawyer; arriving with the risks already mapped is what makes that engagement cheap.
Why is the scanner free?
No account, no card, no upsell — it's free because every scan grows the anonymised market dataset that makes the tool sharper for the next subbie. Contracts are stored privately in Australia, never shared or published, and deleted within 12 months.
Keep reading
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.