The Stat Dec Leverage Point Most Subbies Never Use
Builders sign a statutory declaration with every payment claim saying all their subcontractors have been paid. A lot of them aren't true. A false stat dec is a crime, and in a serious dispute that is a leverage point most subbies never think to use. This video explains what the stat dec is for, what happened when one builder was caught out, and how to keep it in your back pocket for the big disputes, not the small ones.
Transcript
I'm just gonna float this really interesting leverage idea for you that you can hold over your builder when you next have a very, very good messy dispute with them. Now, a lot of builders these days, it's very common, even for subbies, you might be familiar with it to sign a stat deck, a statutory declaration, stat deck, because no one has the time to say the full two words, when they're making a payment claim.
What this does essentially the purpose of it, I do have a lot more to learn on this topic to give you that disclaimer, but main purpose of why and builders are forced to sign it is to warrant that they've paid everyone beneath them so that their client isn't liable and at risk if a builder isn't paying anyone under them. It's become a habit where builders and subbies, I've seen it live, just sign off on it, even though it's not true.
Haven't actually paid everyone under them. I get it, it's a lot of admin. To confirm that every single time, every month, every claim for every client, it's a lot of admin. A lot don't do it, but they just sign off it anyway. They're like, yeah, she'll be right. No one will worry. Who even reads these stat decks? One cares. Here's the very interesting and I'm taking this from a story that I witnessed from another subty.
Basically, they learnt and I definitely cannot say names here because cases and whatnot wouldn't be fun for either party. Basically, what happened that the builder signed the stat deck they hadn't actually paid all their subcontractors. And by the time it came to dispute, they found out about that. This builder, their director, potentially, I should say allegedly or whatever to cover myself, incriminate themselves, a crime because they signed off on this and it wasn't true as per the stat deck.
Please keep in mind, lot of your builders above you, if you're struggling to get paid by them, lot of their time, lot of the time, they have signed a stat deck essentially lied on it. So, that is huge legal point, huge leverage point that you may be able to use to your advantage hold over the builder, not as a threat, more just like, mate, you might want to make this problem go away by simply paying us you potentially committed a crime and there could be jail time or insane fines and penalties both you and your construction business and your construction license at the end of that.
So, please use that wisely and keep that in mind and in your back pocket if you ever have a very highly escalated dispute where we're talking, you've got lawyers involved. Yeah, not the baby disputes, the big boy disputes, so keep that in mind. Food for thought, I'll probably do some more thinking, research and investigation onto that sort of topic because that is a very strong leverage point that you can help use to your advantage to re-level the weighing scales against the builder when you have dispute with them.
Hope that helps. If you are facing a dispute right now, I've got a free tool in the description, Adjudicate Pro, previously called Claim Pro. Will help assess your dispute within, say, about three minutes. You just give it the the context on your dispute, upload the documents and it will assess it. Of like an adjudication so that you don't have to waste money on adjudication and potentially lose.
You can find out first what the likelihood is of winning that adjudication. Before you sign down there, there's also the free subcontract risk scanner. Don't need to talk about all the value that's worth, but check it out if you find it useful. I'm happy for you. All the best. Thanks for watching.
General information about Australian subcontracts, not legal advice. Get advice on your own contract and facts.