What law protects subcontractors in Western Australia?
The Building and Construction Industry (Security of Payment) Act 2021 protects anyone who carries out construction work or supplies related goods and services in WA under a contract made on or after 1 August 2022. It sets deadlines for payment, gives you adjudication, lets you stop work safely, and holds retention money on trust. The WA Building and Energy regulator administers it.
The Act started in three stages:
- 1 August 2022: the payment and adjudication rules.
- 1 February 2023: retention trusts for contracts of $1 million or more.
- 1 February 2024: retention trusts for contracts of $20,000 or more, plus fairer contracting rules and offences.
Contracts made before 1 August 2022 stay under the Construction Contracts (Former Provisions) Act 2004, the renamed old Act. An amendment Bill introduced in February 2026 deals with construction trusts on State Government projects and does not change private builder to subcontractor jobs.
Am I covered if I work for a builder on a house?
Yes. The home building exclusion in s 10 only applies to a contract made directly with an individual homeowner for $500,000 or less, and it expressly does not reach a contract between a head contractor and a subcontractor. Verbal agreements are covered too, and s 111 makes the Act apply despite anything in your contract.
Two conditions to check:
- Registration. Under s 17(5) there is no statutory right to a progress payment for work done without the registration that s 7(1) of the Building Services (Registration) Act 2011 requires. Check your registration covers the work.
- Written contract. The builder commits an offence under s 13 by engaging you on a covered contract that is not in writing or leaves out the required information. That is the builder's problem, not yours, but ask for it in writing.
How do I make a valid payment claim in WA?
A payment claim under s 22 must be in writing, state the amount claimed and describe the work. Include the line "This is a payment claim made under the Building and Construction Industry (Security of Payment) Act 2021", which the WA Small Business Development Corporation recommends and which removes any argument about what the document is.
When and how often you can claim:
- Monthly: on or after the last day of the month in which you first did work, and each month after, or an earlier day if the contract sets one. A claim served early cannot support adjudication.
- One claim per month. An unpaid amount can be rolled into a later claim.
- Time limit: within 6 months after you last did work, unless the contract allows longer.
What must the builder do, and by when?
If the builder will pay less than you claimed, they must give you a payment schedule within 15 business days, or sooner if the contract says so (s 25). The schedule must state the amount they will pay and the reasons for withholding the rest. If no schedule arrives, the builder is liable for the full claimed amount on the due date and cannot lodge an adjudication response (s 26).
When payment falls due under s 20:
- Subcontract: no later than 25 business days after the claim, or earlier if the contract says so.
- Head contract: 20 business days.
- A longer term in your contract does not override the statutory maximum.
- Pay when paid clauses, and clauses that make payment depend on another contract or a third party paying, have no effect (s 14).
- Unfair time bars: under s 16 a court or adjudicator can declare an unfair notice based time bar of no effect.
What can I do if the builder still does not pay?
You choose either adjudication or court, but not both (s 27(2)). Adjudication runs through the adjudicator named in your contract or an authorised nominating authority you choose, and the decision is enforced through the courts. Or you sue for the debt, where the builder cannot raise a cross claim or a defence arising under the contract (s 27(3)). If the schedule proposed to pay nothing, adjudication is the route.
Deadlines and steps:
- Apply within 20 business days after you first become entitled to apply. The old Act allowed 90.
- No schedule at all: first give written notice of your intention to apply within 20 business days after the due date. The builder then has 5 business days to provide a schedule.
- The adjudicator is appointed within 5 business days. Building and Energy publishes the registers of adjudicators and nominating authorities.
- The builder responds within 10 business days after receiving the application, only if they gave a schedule, and only on the reasons in it (s 34).
- The decision arrives within 10 business days after the response, extendable by agreement (s 37).
On large claims, where the adjudicated amount differs from the claimed or scheduled amount by $200,000 or more, either side can apply for an adjudication review. Once you have a decision, obtain an adjudication certificate and register it in court as a judgment debt.
Can I stop work until I am paid?
Yes, under Part 3 Division 7. If a claimed, scheduled or adjudicated amount is not paid, give written notice that you intend to suspend work under the Act. You can stop at least 2 business days later and stay off until 3 business days after you are paid. You are not liable for the builder's loss from a lawful suspension, and if they take your work off you in response, they are liable for your loss.
Suspension for an unpaid adjudicated amount is not available while an adjudication review is pending (s 63(2)).
What extra protections apply in Western Australia?
WA holds retention money on trust. On contracts of $20,000 or more including GST, entered into from 1 February 2024, the party that withholds your retention must pay it into a retention money trust account and hold it for you. The account must be set up within 10 business days of entering the contract. Breaches carry fines of up to $250,000 for a company.
- Exclusions: home building contracts of $500,000 or less with an individual owner, and head contracts with State or Commonwealth principals.
- Business days exclude weekends, public holidays and every day from 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. WA cut the time to apply for adjudication from 90 business days to 20, so the old habit of waiting it out no longer works.
- Check your registration covers the work.
- Serve a payment claim in writing, by email, with the work described, the amount, and the statement that it is made under the Act.
- Diary the schedule deadline (15 business days) and the due date (no later than 25 business days).
- If the due date passes unpaid, serve written notice of intention to suspend.
- Decide between adjudication and court, because you cannot run both, and act within 20 business days.
- Ask the builder to confirm your retention is in a trust account, if your contract is $20,000 or more.
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 2021 (WA): s 10 (home building exclusion), s 13 (written contracts), s 14 (pay when paid), s 16 (unfair time bars), s 17 (right to progress payments, registration), s 20 (payment terms), s 22 (payment claims), s 25 and s 26 (payment schedules), s 27 (debt recovery or adjudication), s 34 and s 37 (adjudication response and decision), Part 3 Division 7 (suspension), Part 4 (retention trusts), s 111 (no contracting out).
- Building and Construction Industry (Security of Payment) Regulations 2022 (WA)%20Regulations%202022%20-%20[00-a0-00].html?OpenElement=)
- Building and Energy: security of payment
- WA Government: subcontractor payment disputes step by step
- Building and Energy: find an adjudicator
- Building and Energy: retention trust scheme
- Small Business Development Corporation: making a claim
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 WA construction lawyer before relying on it for a large or disputed claim.
