Publications

Understand the strict procedural requirements of the NSW Security of Payment Act. This authoritative guide covers payment claims, 10-day payment schedule deadlines, compiling evidence for adjudication, and defending enforcement proceedings in the Supreme Court.

Adjudication is the fastest, most powerful tool for recovering construction payments in NSW — and the least forgiving of error. This commercial guide walks through the adjudication process stage by stage, from payment claim to enforcement, explaining the strict deadlines, service traps, valuation rules, and narrow grounds for challenge that decide who gets paid.

The Security of Payment Act provides a vital mechanism for maintaining cash flow in the NSW construction industry. This comprehensive guide details the strict statutory timelines, required documentation, and strategic enforcement pathways for payment claims and adjudication, explaining how compliance directly impacts commercial recovery and liability.

Signing a standard-form trade credit application often exposes a director's residential assets to an all-moneys charging clause. Learn how the Australian Consumer Law's unfair contract terms regime may render onerous guarantees void, and discover practical strategies to protect your family home on New South Wales pipeline projects.

If your civil contracting business is served with a statutory demand based on a SOP judgment debt, failing to act within 21 days can trigger a presumption of insolvency. However, you may still be able to defeat the demand by mobilising quantified civil back-charges as a genuine offsetting claim.

When water infrastructure works physically connect to a class 2 residential development, civil contractors may face DBPA s 37 duty exposure if the works are construction work under s 36. This article examines Pafburn’s limit on proportionate liability, RAB Act stop work and rectification powers, void WHS risk-shifting, and SOPA payment-claim protections.

When a contractor validly suspends work for non-payment under the Security of Payment Act, the principal may demand you assess liquidated damages anyway. Capitulating to this directive can expose your consultancy to a negligent certification claim. Learn how NSW superintendents can rely on statutory immunity and proportionate liability to administer contracts impartially and protect their practice.

When a homeowner refuses to sign a variation for unforeseen site conditions, walking off the job can expose a New South Wales builder to severe repudiation claims. Learn how to enforce your right to progress payments under the NSW Security of Payment Act and protect your statutory warranties using the owner's contrary instructions defence.

Unexpected rock, contamination or groundwater can stop excavation and expose a civil subcontractor to immediate labour, plant and delay costs. This article explains how NSW pipeline contractors can preserve evidence, comply with notice requirements, assess site-risk clauses and pursue payment after a variation is rejected.

For NSW environmental consultants, unpaid invoices for verbally approved out-of-scope testing can create cash-flow risk. Ecological surveying and contamination advice may be protected under the SOP Act. A valid payment claim must identify the services and amount claimed; for exempt residential construction contracts, it must also state it is made under the Act. If no payment schedule is served on time, statutory recovery may be available.

When a subcontractor serves a payment claim for defective or incomplete work, NSW head contractors face a strict payment schedule deadline: the time required by the contract or 10 business days after service of the payment claim, whichever expires earlier. Discover how to properly quantify rectification costs in a payment schedule to survive adjudicator scrutiny, avoid the trap of generic set-offs, and navigate the severe consequences of non-compliance under the Security of P

When an earthworks subcontractor serves a rapid adjudication application for unapproved variations, NSW civil contractors can face immediate cash flow risks. Failing to serve a timely payment schedule may trigger a statutory debt. This guide outlines how to scrutinise payment claims for jurisdictional defects, deploy valid set-offs, and navigate the "pay now, argue later" framework under the Security of Payment Act.

Pursuing unpaid architecture fees on a verbal agreement in NSW can trigger career-damaging regulatory complaints. Learn how the Home Building Act 1989 and the NSW Architects Code of Professional Conduct impact your ability to recover unpaid invoices for undocumented design work.

When a marine piling rig hits unexpected rock and the principal rejects the variation, contractors face severe daily standby costs. This guide explores how New South Wales marine civil contractors may leverage statutory payment rights under the Security of Payment Act to compel a commercial renegotiation without crossing the line into unlawful economic duress.

When a head contractor fails to pay for certified pipeline work, abandoning the site can expose your business to serious liability. This guide explains why a statutory suspension under NSW security of payment law is often safer than terminating the contract at common law. Learn how to manage the two-business-day notice period, challenge unfair 'termination for convenience' clauses, and protect your position if the head contractor enters voluntary administration.

Discover how New South Wales quantity surveyors can defend against cost overrun claims when tender returns demolish the feasibility estimate, and why standard "estimate only" disclaimers often fail against statutory claims under the Australian Consumer Law.

A pending EOT claim does not pause the NSW SOPA payment schedule deadline. Learn how to assess the EOT, record reasons and support a liquidated damages deduction.

When water infrastructure works connect to a class 2 building, civil contractors may face long-tail economic loss claims under the statutory duty of care in section 37 of the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 (NSW). Standard time bars and defect liability periods are largely ineffective against this duty. This article explains how NSW contractors can assess their statutory exposure and navigate the long-stop limitation periods governing civil defect claims.

Before assuming a DNSP delay makes your BESS practical completion claim premature, you must assess whether the contractual sign-off clause is even enforceable under section 34 of the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 (NSW). If it is, submitting an adjudication application before network approval can result in a fatal jurisdictional dismissal. Learn how to evaluate the threshold section 34 question, execute a statutory withdrawal under section 17A

If an adjudicator misinterprets your sub-consultant agreement and awards payment for a structural engineer's redesign, can your architectural practice appeal the determination for bias? This article outlines the strict threshold for jurisdictional error under the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 (NSW) and explains why robust payment schedules remain your best defence.