Getting Paid

The statutory right that beats "pay when paid" — the 8 SOP Acts, East vs West Coast, who is covered, the claim-schedule-adjudication process with the state deadlines, and a worked $40k example. Deep SOP guide for tradies.

How the NSW SOP Act 1999 works — the 12-month claim window, the 10-business-day schedule, the s17(2) no-schedule notice, ANA adjudication, court enforcement thresholds, and the owner-occupier exclusion that catches subbies.

How Victoria's SOP Act 2002 works — the 6-month-after-PC claim cap, the ineffective-beyond-20-business-days rule, ANA adjudication, and why VIC (unlike NSW/QLD) still has no universal retention money trust.

How retention works in Australian construction — the 5% norm and QLD's statutory caps, where it must sit (NSW $20M, QLD project-trust, WA $1M, VIC none), the PC and DLP release triggers, and how to claw it back via SOP.

Security of Payment is eight separate state Acts, not one national law. The cross-border trap that catches multi-state tradies, and the right guide for NSW, VIC, QLD, WA, SA, TAS, ACT and NT.

How Queensland tradies get paid under the Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017 — payment claims, the 15/10/20-30 business-day timeframes, adjudication, and the project and retention trust framework.

Western Australia is mid-transition between two Security of Payment systems. Which one applies depends on your contract date — the 2021 Act (15-bd schedule, 20-bd adjudication) for new contracts, or the old Construction Contracts Act 2004 for legacy ones.

South Australia runs the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2009 (SA) — East-Coast style, close to NSW. The payment claim, 15-business-day schedule, and adjudication timeframes for SA tradies.

Tasmania runs the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2009 (Tas), administered through CBOS. Payment schedule windows (10 or 20 business days), the section 21(4) notice, and adjudication for Tasmanian tradies.

The ACT's Building and Construction Industry (Security of Payment) Act 2009 was reformed from 11 March 2024 — reference dates removed, a 15-business-day maximum payment term, and NSW-aligned adjudication. What Canberra tradies need to know.

The Northern Territory is the odd one out — it runs the Construction Contracts (Security of Payments) Act 2004 (NT), the old WA-style "payment dispute" model, not the East-Coast payment-schedule system. What NT tradies need to know.

How late-payment interest works in Australia (no UK-style statutory rate), the daily-interest formula, and the recovery ladder from reminder to letter of demand, SOP, tribunal, court and statutory demand — plus the cashflow controls that prevent it.

The recovery toolkit for an unpaid residential job — letter of demand, the state tribunals, whether SOP applies to owner-occupiers, safely suspending work, charges over the property, and statutory demands against company clients ($4,000).

Why a retention-of-title clause is false comfort without PPSR registration — security interests, the PMSI super-priority, the 15 and 20 business-day timing windows, when it is worth it, and how PPSR differs from Security of Payment. Guidance, not advice.