How long does a builder have to pay a subcontractor?

The subcontract says “60 days end of month”. You signed it because you wanted the job. Now you’ve got a claim in for October’s work, wages going out every Thursday and a supplier account that wants paying on the 30th.

Here’s what most subbies don’t know: in every major building state that clause probably isn’t the last word. Security of payment law sets a maximum time a builder can take to pay a progress claim, and the builder’s paperwork can’t stretch it.

Key takeaways

• The state sets the ceiling. 20 business days in NSW and Victoria, 25 business days in Queensland and WA, counted from your payment claim.
• Shorter is fine, longer isn’t. A subcontract can make the builder pay faster, never slower.
• A long clause can backfire on the builder. In Queensland a term longer than the cap is void and the default of 10 business days applies.
• Two clocks run. The payment schedule deadline and the payment due date are different dates. Diary both.
• Christmas doesn’t count. Business days stop over the break, so a December claim can drift into February.

What is the legal maximum in each state?

These are the caps for a subcontractor claiming from a builder (head contractor) under each state’s security of payment Act. They count from the day your payment claim is made, not the end of the month, and not when the builder gets paid by the client.

The NSW Government puts it plainly: a contract can set an earlier due date than these, but not a later one.

SA, Tasmania, the ACT and the NT have their own Acts with their own numbers. If you work there, check your state’s regulator before you rely on a date.

What about NSW residential subbies?

NSW has a sharper rule that catches a lot of builders out. If your subcontract is connected to an exempt residential construction contract, which generally means a home for an owner occupier, the default is just 10 business days after your claim. Chippies, sparkies and plumbers working on knockdown rebuilds for owner occupiers should check which bucket their job sits in.

Victoria changed the rules this year

Victoria’s overhaul started on 15 April 2026. The headline changes for subbies: any term making a progress payment due more than 20 business days after the claim is void to that extent, claims can be made monthly without hunting for a “reference date”, and you now have six months after practical completion to get a final claim in. If you’ve been working on Victorian sites under old habits, your rights got stronger this year.

Is “60 days end of month” legal for subcontractors?

On construction work covered by these Acts, usually not. Sixty days end of month means a claim for October work isn’t paid until late December, roughly 40 business days later. That’s double the NSW cap and well past Queensland’s.

What happens to the clause depends on the state:

• Queensland: the QBCC says a due date longer than the maximum is void and “the default timeframe of 10 business days applies”. The builder who wrote 60 days into the subcontract may now owe you in two weeks.
• Victoria: the term is void to the extent it runs past 20 business days.
• NSW and WA: the Act sets the latest date. The contract can only bring it forward.

None of this means you need to pick a fight on day one. It means you know where you stand when the builder says “our terms are 60 days, mate”.

Worked example: same claim, three answers

Example: a three person tiling crew serves a payment claim on Friday 30 October 2026 for $48k of work on a townhouse job. The subcontract says 60 days end of month.

That’s six weeks of difference between what the crew thought they were owed and what the law says. Six weeks of wages for three people is real money.

Two clocks: the payment schedule and the due date

This is where a lot of subbies (and plenty of online answers) get mixed up. There are two separate deadlines:

1. The payment schedule deadline. If the builder is going to pay less than you claimed, they have to tell you in writing, with reasons. That’s 10 business days in NSW and Victoria and 15 in Queensland and WA, or earlier if the contract says so.
2. The payment due date. When the money has to land. That’s the cap in the table above.

If no schedule arrives and you’re not paid, or the schedule says less than you claimed, that’s your trigger for adjudication. In NSW, if a builder schedules an amount and then doesn’t pay it, you have 20 business days after the due date to apply. If you want to dispute a schedule, it’s 10 business days from receiving it. Miss those windows and you lose the fast track. Our guide to security of payment claims walks through how a claim and adjudication actually run.

NSW also lets you charge interest on late progress payments at the contract rate or the court rate, whichever is higher. Most subbies never claim it. Put it on your next claim.

Carrying wages while the clock runs? See what you could access in about a minute. Enquiring won’t touch your credit file.

The Christmas trap: business days stop over the break

It’s late October now, so this one matters. “Business day” in these Acts doesn’t mean every weekday:

• Queensland and WA don’t count 22 December to 10 January.
• Victoria joined them in April 2026, also excluding 22 December to 10 January.
• NSW doesn’t count 27 to 31 December.

The QBCC confirms the Queensland holiday exclusion. Here’s the effect. A Queensland subbie who serves a claim on 15 December on a 25 business day subcontract gets four business days before the shutdown, then the clock stops until 11 January. Add the Australia Day public holiday and the payment isn’t due until around 9 February.

The fix is simple: get November’s work claimed as early as your contract allows, and get the claim in before the break. Our Christmas shutdown cash flow guide covers how to plan the rest of the break.

What to do the day after the due date passes

Calm, quick and in writing. That’s the play.

1. Check your claim was valid. Right date, identifies the work, states the amount, requests payment, served the way the contract or Act allows. A sloppy claim is the builder’s easiest out.
2. Ring the builder’s accounts person. Half of late payments are a claim sitting in someone’s inbox.
3. Send a short written notice. State the claim date, the amount, the due date under the Act and that it’s unpaid.
4. Diary your adjudication window the same day. These windows are short and they don’t stretch.
5. Check your suspension rights before you down tools. Most Acts allow suspension after written notice when a payment is overdue, but get the steps right first, or you could end up in breach yourself.
6. Fund the gap separately so the dispute doesn’t decide whether your crew gets paid.

How subbies carry wages while they wait

Knowing the law is half of it. The other half is not running out of cash while the builder drags the chain. Here’s how subbies usually cover the hole:

• Subcontractor finance built for subbies waiting on a head contractor.
• Cash flow loans for tradies: unsecured, for businesses trading 6+ months with an ABN, sized to your turnover and based on business bank statements. Some are approved and funded within hours.
• Progress payment gap finance if you own property with equity. The security is property already in your name (the family home, a rental or a block with equity). There’s no need for financials, and bad credit or an ATO debt won’t rule you out. Terms usually run 1 to 12 months, and money can land in as little as 24 hours once the valuation and documents are done.

We lend from $20,000 to $5 million for business purposes. One thing we don’t do is lend against the builder’s promise to pay or the value of the job. Security, where it’s needed, is property you or a guarantor already own.

When the builder is slow, don’t let it be your problem

You did the work. The law says when you get paid. But the law won’t cover Thursday’s pay run, and an adjudication takes weeks even when you win it.

That’s where we come in. We work with subbies every week who are owed good money by a builder and just need to keep the crew going until it lands.

The enquiry is about a minute of your time, and asking won’t leave a mark on your credit file. Nobody blasts your details around town: they sit with one lending specialist, not a pile of lenders, so your phone stays quiet. Then a real person, someone who understands payment schedules and slow builders, reads what you’ve sent and rings you back.

One favour: fill the form in accurately. The amount you’re after, the claim you’re waiting on and the builder’s terms, your months of trading, and any property you own with a rough value and the balance of the loan against it. Honest figures up front let us put the right option on the table the first time we call.

Find out where you stand →