What are my rights when a builder will not pay me in Victoria?

What law protects subcontractors in Victoria?

The Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2002 gives anyone who carries out construction work or supplies related goods and services in Victoria a statutory right to progress payments. It was overhauled by the Building Legislation Amendment (Fairer Payments on Jobsites and Other Matters) Act 2025, which took effect on 15 April 2026. The Building and Plumbing Commission publishes the official guidance.

What changed on 15 April 2026:

• Excluded amounts are gone. Delay costs, latent conditions, changes in regulatory requirements and disputed variations can now be claimed and adjudicated.
• Reference dates are gone. You can claim once a month, and up to 6 months after practical completion instead of 3.
• Payment is capped at 20 business days after the claim, at every level of the contract chain.
• Performance security has its own rules, including a right to claim its release and 5 business days notice before the builder calls on it.
• Review adjudication has been abolished, and a builder who missed the schedule deadline now gets 5 business days, not 2, to put one in after your notice.
• Christmas pauses the clock from 22 December to 10 January.

Am I covered if I work for a builder on a house?

Yes. The domestic exclusion in s 7(2)(b) only catches a domestic building contract between a builder and the building owner. Your subcontract with the builder is outside it, so you keep every right in the Act even on a house build. Verbal agreements are covered, and s 48 voids any contract term that tries to exclude or change the Act.

How do I make a valid payment claim in Victoria?

A payment claim under s 14 must identify the work, state the amount claimed, and state that it is made under the Act. Use this wording: "This is a payment claim under the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2002." You can serve one claim each month, on and from the last day of the month in which you first did work, or an earlier date the contract allows.

The timing rules from 15 April 2026:

• Monthly claims (s 14A and s 14D): one per month, from the last day of the month.
• December rule: work done from 1 to 21 December can be claimed from 22 December; work done from 22 to 31 December can be claimed from 31 January.
• Latest date to claim (s 14C): 6 months after practical completion of all the work, or later if the contract allows.
• What you can include: since excluded amounts were abolished, any amount owed for the work, including delay costs and disputed variations, supported by evidence.

What must the builder do, and by when?

If the builder will pay less than you claimed, they must serve a payment schedule within 10 business days after your claim, or sooner if the contract requires (s 15). The schedule must state what they will pay and every reason for withholding the rest. Those are the only reasons they can rely on later. If no schedule arrives and you are not paid by the due date, the builder is liable for the full amount claimed (s 16).

When payment falls due under s 12:

• The cap: a contract term requiring payment later than 20 business days after the claim is served has no effect (s 12(1B)). The cap applies to head contracts and subcontracts alike, including contracts signed before 15 April 2026.
• If the contract is silent: 10 business days after the earliest day the claim could be served (s 12(1)(b)).
• Late payment carries interest (s 12(2)).
• Pay when paid clauses have no effect (s 13).
• Unfair time bars: under s 13A an adjudicator or court can declare a notice based time bar in your contract unfair, so you do not lose an entitlement because a notice deadline was impossible to meet.

What can I do if the builder still does not pay?

You choose between adjudication and court. Adjudication runs through an authorised nominating authority you choose: an adjudicator decides within 10 business days, extendable by agreement to 30, and the decision is enforced as a court judgment. Or you sue for the unpaid amount as a debt, where the builder cannot bring a cross claim or raise a defence arising under the contract (s 16(4)(b)).

Deadlines to apply for adjudication under s 18:

1. Schedule for less than you claimed: within 10 business days after you receive it.
2. Schedule given but the amount not paid: within 10 business days after the due date (s 18(3)(d)).
3. No schedule at all: give notice of your intention to apply within 10 business days after the due date (s 18(2)). The builder then has 5 business days to serve a schedule (s 18(2A)). Apply within 5 business days after that period ends (s 18(3)(e)).

How it runs from there:

• The builder can respond only if they served a schedule in time, and cannot add reasons that were not in it (s 21(2)(d)).
• If no adjudicator accepts within 4 business days, you can withdraw and reapply within 5 business days.
• The adjudicator decides within 10 business days after acceptance or the last day for the response, whichever is later (s 22). A late decision is not invalid for that reason alone.
• If the builder does not pay, obtain an adjudication certificate from the nominating authority and file it in court as a judgment debt.

Victoria's windows are tighter than most states. Ten business days goes quickly, so diary the date the moment a schedule or due date passes.

Can I stop work until I am paid?

Yes, under s 29. If a claimed, scheduled or adjudicated amount is not paid when due, give the builder written notice that you intend to suspend work under the Act. You can stop at least 3 business days after the notice, one day longer than in most states, and stay off the job until you are paid. A suspension done this way is protected.

Do not stop without the notice. Walking off without it can be treated as abandoning the contract.

What extra protections apply in Victoria?

From 15 April 2026 Victoria protects performance security as well as progress payments. Bank guarantees, bonds and retention money now have their own claim and release process, and a builder must give written notice before calling on them. Victoria has no statutory retention trust account scheme, so the release process is the main protection for held money.

• Release of security (s 17A to s 17H): you can serve a claim for release once it falls due, the earlier of 20 business days after the defects liability period ends or an event the contract names. The same schedule, cap and adjudication rules apply.
• Notice before recourse (s 17H): the builder must give at least 5 business days written notice stating the basis, the amount and the circumstances before calling on your security.
• Business days (s 4) exclude weekends, public holidays observed throughout Victoria, and 22 December to 10 January.

What should I do today if I have not been paid?

Work the steps in order and keep a dated record of each one. Victoria's adjudication windows are 10 and 5 business days, shorter than anywhere else, so speed matters more here than in any other state.

1. Serve a payment claim by email with the work itemised, the amount, and the statement that it is made under the Act.
2. Include every amount you are owed, including delay costs and disputed variations, with evidence.
3. Diary the schedule deadline (10 business days) and the due date (no later than 20 business days).
4. If the due date passes unpaid, serve written notice of intention to suspend under s 29.
5. Give notice or apply for adjudication inside the window that applies, or sue for the debt.
6. For large or disputed amounts, have a Victorian construction lawyer check the paperwork before you lodge.

The businesses that rarely end up here run it as a system rather than a fight: every monthly claim carries the statutory wording, and an AI agent tracks each claim's dates so the notice goes out the day a deadline is missed rather than weeks later.

Where is this in the legislation?

• Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2002 (Vic): s 4 (business day), s 7 (application and domestic exclusion), s 12 (due dates and the 20 business day cap), s 13 and s 13A (pay when paid, unfair time bars), s 14 to s 14D (payment claims), s 15 to s 17 (payment schedules, consequences, debt recovery), s 17A to s 17H (performance security), s 18 to s 22 (adjudication), s 29 (suspension), s 48 (no contracting out).
• Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Regulations 2023 (Vic)
• Building Legislation Amendment (Fairer Payments on Jobsites and Other Matters) Act 2025 (Vic)
• Building and Plumbing Commission: security of payment
• Building and Plumbing Commission: changes to the SOP Act
• Building and Plumbing Commission: making a payment claim
• Building and Plumbing Commission: adjudication

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 Victorian construction lawyer before relying on it for a large or disputed claim.