What law protects subcontractors in Queensland?
The Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017, known as the BIF Act, protects anyone who carries out construction work or supplies related goods and services in Queensland. It sets strict deadlines for payment, gives you a fast adjudication process run through the QBCC, and lets you stop work safely when you are not paid. It replaced the old BCIPA and the Subcontractors Charges Act in December 2018.
The Act has three working parts that matter to a subcontractor:
- Chapter 3: progress payments, payment claims, payment schedules, adjudication and the right to suspend.
- Chapter 4: subcontractors charges, which let you claim against money the owner still owes the builder.
- Chapter 2: statutory trusts, which protect money on larger projects.
Am I covered if I work for a builder on a house?
Yes. The Act applies to written and verbal agreements alike (s 61 and s 64), so a quote accepted by text is enough. The only residential exclusion is for a contract where a resident owner is a party (s 61(2)(b)). Your contract is with the builder, not the homeowner, so you keep every right in the Act even on a house build.
Two more points:
- You cannot sign your rights away. Section 200 prohibits contracting out of the Act.
- You must hold the right licence. Under s 42 of the Queensland Building and Construction Commission Act 1991, a person who does building work without the required licence is not entitled to be paid for it beyond limited costs, and cannot use the BIF Act to recover it. Check your licence class covers the work before you start.
How do I make a valid payment claim in Queensland?
A payment claim under s 68 must identify the work, state the amount claimed and request payment. A document headed "invoice" satisfies the request element, and since 2018 you no longer need to state that it is made under the Act. You can make one claim for each reference date, which is the date in your contract or, if there is none, the last day of each month in which you worked.
Time limits under s 75:
- Progress claims: within the period in your contract or 6 months after you last did work, whichever is later.
- Final claims: within the latest of the contract period, 6 months after completion of all work, or 28 days after the last defects liability period ends.
Serve it in a way you can prove. Email to the address in the contract, with the invoice attached and the work itemised, is the practical standard.
What must the builder do, and by when?
If the builder disputes any part of your claim, they must give you a payment schedule within the earlier of the contract time or 15 business days (s 76). The schedule must state what they will pay and give every reason for paying less. If they give no schedule, they become liable for the full claimed amount on the due date (s 77), and they lose the right to answer an adjudication (s 82(2)).
When payment falls due:
- If your contract is silent: 10 business days after the claim (s 73).
- The legal maximum for a subcontract: 25 business days, under s 67U of the QBCC Act. A longer term in your contract is void.
- Pay when paid clauses have no effect (s 74). The builder cannot hold your money because the client has not paid them.
Failing to pay an amount the builder has scheduled is an offence, and the QBCC can take disciplinary action against a licensee who ignores a claim.
What can I do if the builder still does not pay?
You have two main routes. The fastest is adjudication through the QBCC Adjudication Registry (s 79): an independent adjudicator decides the amount, usually within weeks, and the decision can be filed in court as a judgment. The alternative is to sue for the unpaid amount as a debt (s 78), where the builder cannot raise defences arising under the contract (s 100).
Deadlines to apply for adjudication:
- Schedule given for less than you claimed: within 30 business days after you receive it.
- Schedule given but the amount not paid: within 20 business days after the due date.
- No schedule and no payment: within 30 business days after the later of the due date and the last day a schedule could have been given.
What happens next:
- Give the builder a copy of the application within 4 business days.
- The builder can only rely on the reasons in their schedule (s 82(4)).
- The adjudicator usually decides within 10 business days of the response (s 85), longer for complex claims over $750,000.
- The builder must pay within 5 business days of the decision (s 90), or you file the adjudication certificate in court as a judgment debt (s 91 and s 93).
To sue instead, give the builder a warning notice within 30 business days after the due date and wait at least 5 business days before starting proceedings (s 99).
One more tool most subcontractors miss: once you have applied for adjudication, a payment withholding request (s 97B) can require the party above the builder to hold back money owed to the builder until your claim is resolved. It cannot be given to a resident owner.
Can I stop work until I am paid?
Yes, under s 98. If the builder does not pay in full by the due date, or does not pay an adjudicated amount, you can give written notice that you intend to suspend work under the BIF Act. You can stop at least 2 business days after the notice is given and stay off the job until you are paid. A lawful suspension is protected, so you are not in breach of contract for stopping.
Do not walk off without the notice. Stopping without it can be treated as abandoning the contract, which hands the builder a claim against you.
What extra protections apply in Queensland?
Queensland gives subcontractors two protections most states do not: subcontractors charges and statutory trusts. A charge lets you claim against money the owner still owes the builder. Trusts ring fence project money on larger jobs. Both have strict thresholds and deadlines, so check them early.
Subcontractors charges (Chapter 4)
- Give a notice of claim of charge to the owner or higher contractor, certified by a qualified person (s 122).
- Do it during the work or within 3 months after practical completion (for retention only, within 3 months after the defects liability period ends).
- Start court proceedings within 1 month after giving the notice (s 136), or the charge ends.
- You cannot run a charge and an adjudication for the same payment dispute. Get legal advice before choosing.
Project and retention trusts (Chapter 2)
- Required on eligible contracts of $1 million or more for Queensland Government and Hospital and Health Service work, and $10 million or more for private and local government work.
- Further phases planned for 2025 were paused, and no new dates have been set.
- Cash retentions on those jobs must sit in a retention trust account.
Business days
Business days exclude weekends, public holidays and every day from 22 December to 10 January. A claim served just before Christmas gives the builder well over a month.
What should I do today if I have not been paid?
Work the steps in order and keep a dated record of every document. The deadlines run against you as well as the builder, and most lost claims are lost on a missed date or a claim that cannot be proved.
- Check your licence covers the work.
- Serve a clear payment claim by email: the work, the amount, a request for payment.
- Diary the schedule deadline (15 business days) and the due date.
- If the due date passes unpaid, serve a written notice of intention to suspend under s 98.
- Apply to the QBCC Adjudication Registry inside the deadline that applies to you, and consider a payment withholding request.
- For large or disputed amounts, get a construction lawyer to check the paperwork before you lodge.
The businesses that rarely end up here run this as a system rather than a fight: every progress claim goes out in a form that keeps their rights live, and an AI agent tracks each claim's dates so the notice goes out the day a deadline is missed rather than a month later.
Where is this in the legislation?
- Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017 (Qld): s 61 and s 64 (coverage), s 67 and s 68 (payment claims), s 73 and s 74 (due date, pay when paid), s 75 (time limits), s 76 and s 77 (payment schedules), s 78 and s 99 to s 100 (debt recovery), s 79 to s 93 (adjudication), s 97B (payment withholding request), s 98 (suspension), s 122 and s 136 (subcontractors charges), s 200 (no contracting out).
- Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Regulation 2018 (Qld)
- Queensland Building and Construction Commission Act 1991 (Qld): s 42 (unlicensed work), s 67U (maximum payment term for subcontracts).
- QBCC: apply for adjudication
- QBCC: suspending work
- QBCC: subcontractors charges
- QBCC: pausing further rollout of trust accounts
This is general information about the law as at 16 October 2026, not legal advice. Deadlines depend on your contract and the facts, so get advice from a Queensland construction lawyer before relying on it for a large or disputed claim.
