The email says your claim is “not accepted”, or the builder has approved half of it and wants to “talk about the rest”. Meanwhile the crew wants wages on Friday and the supplier account is due on the 20th.
What you do in the next few days decides whether this is a delay or a loss. Here’s the order that works, state by state where the rules differ.
Key takeaways
- Get the payment schedule. A formal reply with reasons and an amount is what counts. An offhand “we’ll sort it” doesn’t.
- The adjudication clock is short. NSW gives you 10 business days after a schedule for less than you claimed.
- Reasons not in the schedule are usually out. That’s now written into Victoria’s law, and it’s the main way a weak rejection falls over.
- Cash and law run side by side. Start the paperwork and the cash plan on the same day.
What counts as a rejected progress claim?
A rejected claim, legally, is a valid payment claim answered by a payment schedule for less than the claimed amount, or by no payment at all. The schedule is the document that matters. It must say what the respondent will pay and, if it’s less, why.
Three things can happen after you serve a claim:
| What the builder does | What it means |
|---|---|
| Pays in full by the due date | Done. |
| Serves a payment schedule for less (or nil) | A formal dispute. Your adjudication clock starts. |
| Says nothing and doesn’t pay | Often the best position for you. The schedule deadline has passed and they may be stuck with the full amount. |
Our guide to how long a builder has to pay a subcontractor explains the two separate clocks, the schedule deadline and the due date. Rejections go wrong when people mix them up.
What do I do in the first 48 hours?
In the first two days, get the rejection in writing, check it’s a proper payment schedule, and write down your state’s deadline. Don’t argue by phone. Everything you decide later depends on what the paper says and when it arrived.
- Find the schedule and the date you received it. Your deadline runs from receipt in most states, so screenshot the email with its timestamp.
- Check it was on time. Payment schedule deadlines are 10 business days in NSW and Victoria and 15 business days in Queensland, unless the contract sets something shorter.
- Read the reasons. Each one is a possible battleground: quality, scope, variations, back charges, “not yet complete”.
- Check your claim was valid. Was it served on the right person, on a valid claim date, identifying the work and stating an amount? A faulty claim can sink an adjudication.
- Write your deadline in the diary. Use the table below, then count backwards and set a reminder three days before.
What’s the deadline to apply for adjudication?
The deadline is 10 business days in NSW, 30 business days in Queensland and about 10 business days in Victoria, counted from when the payment schedule arrives. These are the most commonly missed dates in the whole process, and a late application can be thrown out.
| Situation | NSW | Queensland |
|---|---|---|
| Schedule received for less than your claim | 10 business days after you receive it | 30 business days after it was given |
| Schedule says they’ll pay X, but they didn’t pay X | 20 business days after the due date | 20 business days after the due date |
| No schedule and no payment | Notice within 20 business days of the due date, 5 business days for them to respond, then 10 business days to lodge | 30 business days after the later of the due date or the last day a schedule could have been given |
Sources: NSW Government: applying for adjudication and QBCC: apply for adjudication. In Queensland, applications must reach the registry on a business day before 5pm AEST, or they count as lodged the next business day.
Victoria: law firm summaries of the 15 April 2026 reforms say the window to apply after a schedule disputing the claim is 10 business days. Check the Building and Plumbing Commission before you rely on it. Other states and territories have their own Acts and dates, so check yours with the state authority.
Does the Christmas break stop the clock?
In Victoria and Queensland, yes. Both treat 22 December to 10 January as outside business days, so a rejection in mid December gives you more calendar time than it looks like. The QBCC publishes this on its business days over the holiday period page.
Don’t bank on it, though. The other side’s deadlines stretch too, so the money lands later. If your claim date is close to the shutdown, our Christmas shutdown cash flow guide covers how to carry the crew through.
Why the reasons in the schedule matter so much
A respondent generally can’t pull new reasons out of the hat once adjudication starts. In Victoria, since 15 April 2026, an adjudicator must not take into account reasons for withholding that weren’t set out in the payment schedule. Queensland works the same way for standard claims, where a respondent that missed its schedule deadline can’t have its response considered.
So look hard at what the schedule actually says.
- Vague reasons (“defects”, “incomplete works”) with no detail are weak.
- Reasons with no dollar figure make it hard for them to justify the amount withheld.
- Reasons that were only given on the phone aren’t in the schedule at all.
Your response then needs evidence for each reason: dated photos, signed variations, site diary entries, emails confirming instructions, and the contract clause that says you can claim. Our guide to unpaid variations covers the paperwork that holds up.
Example: a two person bricklaying crew on the Gold Coast
Invented numbers, for illustration only. A bricklaying subbie serves a $60,000 claim on a townhouse job. The builder serves a payment schedule for $35,000 on day 9, saying the rest is “incomplete”. The subbie checks the photos: the work is finished and signed off by the supervisor.
Their position:
- Schedule received, so they have 30 business days to lodge in Queensland.
- They hold dated photos and the supervisor’s text confirming completion.
- Two labourers’ wages are due Friday, and a brick supplier account is due in 10 days.
They lodge the application that week. The $35,000 arrives and covers wages, but $25,000 is stuck for weeks until the adjudicator decides. That gap is a cash flow problem, not a legal one.
How do I keep wages and suppliers paid while I wait?
Don’t let the dispute become your own insolvency. Even a winning adjudication takes weeks, and you still have to chase payment afterwards. Short term finance can carry the gap, and the claim itself is the reason it’s temporary.
| Your situation | What may suit |
|---|---|
| Trading 6+ months, no property to offer | Unsecured cash flow loans for tradies, based on business bank statements and sized to turnover. Some are approved and funded within hours. |
| Subbie waiting on a head contractor | Subcontractor finance |
| Own a home or other property with equity | A second mortgage over property you already own (or a caveat loan in Victoria only). No financials needed, and funded in as little as 24 hours once valuation and documents are in. |
| General progress claim gap | Progress payment gap finance |
Loans are $20,000 to $5,000,000 for business and investment purposes, and terms on property secured loans typically run 1 to 12 months. Our equity loans are secured against property you already own, never against the job. Use the construction equity calculator for a quick sense of usable equity.
If you want a number rather than a theory, check your options here. It takes about 60 seconds.
Mistakes that cost subbies the claim
- Missing the adjudication window by a day because they counted calendar days.
- Accepting a “partial payment” by text that the builder later calls full and final settlement.
- Not serving the claim properly, for example sending it to a site foreman instead of the person named in the contract.
- Waiting for the builder to “come back” while the deadline quietly runs out.
- Letting the next claim lapse. You can usually keep claiming on later reference dates while the first is in dispute. Our security of payment guide has the routine.
Keep the job moving while the dispute runs
Most tradies and small builders with a rejected claim aren’t wrong about the work, they’re short of cash for a few weeks. If that’s you, we can help look at the funding side while you handle the paperwork.
Here’s how it goes. Enquiring takes about 60 seconds, and it won’t touch your credit file, because there’s no credit check when you first enquire. We don’t send your details to a pile of lenders, so your phone won’t go off all afternoon. One lending specialist who understands building looks at your situation and calls you. Please fill the form in accurately, covering what you need, what it’s for, the property value and what’s owed, so the first option we talk about is the one that can fund.
