Claimed amount | Chalkline

TL;DR

The claimed amount is the dollar figure a builder, subcontractor, or supplier states in a payment claim under a Security of Payment Act. If the respondent does not serve a payment schedule within the statutory window, the full claimed amount becomes immediately due and payable as a statutory debt. In adjudication, the claimed amount is an absolute ceiling: no adjudicator can award more than what was claimed. As a claimant, claim your full entitlement in the payment claim because you cannot revise it upward once adjudication starts.

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What the claimed amount is

The claimed amount is the sum the claimant asserts is payable for construction work carried out, or goods and services supplied, under a construction contract. It is stated in the payment claim itself and forms the basis of every downstream step in the Security of Payment (SOP) process.

Under every Australian SOP Act, a valid payment claim must state the claimed amount. The exact wording varies slightly by state, but the requirement is uniform: the respondent must be able to identify precisely what dollar figure is being demanded and for what work (verified 2026-06-11, NSW Government, Making a payment claim).

The claimed amount includes GST where the claimant is registered for GST. In NSW, the Act requires the claim to state the amount including GST (verified 2026-06-11, Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 (NSW) s 13(2)).

The statutory consequence of silence: claimed amount becomes payable

The most commercially significant aspect of the claimed amount is what happens when the respondent does nothing.

Under every major SOP Act, if the respondent does not serve a payment schedule within the statutory window after receiving a valid payment claim, the full claimed amount becomes due and payable. The respondent cannot escape this consequence by later arguing about defects, stage completion, or contract interpretation.

State-by-state windows for the payment schedule response:

State / territory	Act	Schedule deadline
NSW	Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999	10 business days after receiving the claim
VIC	Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2002 (post 15 April 2026)	10 business days after receiving the claim
QLD	Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017	15 business days after receiving the claim
WA	Building and Construction Industry (Security of Payment) Act 2021	15 business days after receiving the claim
SA	Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2009	15 business days after receiving the claim

(verified 2026-06-11, contracts/sop-nsw, contracts/sop-vic, contracts/sop-wa, contracts/sop-sa)

Where the full claimed amount becomes due through silence, the claimant can proceed directly to enforce it as a statutory debt without going through adjudication. In NSW, where no payment schedule was served and the amount was not paid by the due date, the claimant must first serve a notice of intention to apply for adjudication under s 17(2), give the respondent 5 business days to provide a late schedule, and then apply if no schedule arrives (verified 2026-06-11, contracts/adjudication-process).

The claimed amount as an adjudication ceiling

When a dispute proceeds to adjudication, the claimed amount is a hard upper limit on what the adjudicator can award. The adjudicator cannot award more than the claimed amount. This rule flows directly from the structure of every SOP Act: adjudication is a fast-track process to determine the respondent’s liability on the specific claim served, not a fresh assessment of all money on the contract.

This has a practical consequence: a claimant who under-claims in the payment claim cannot be made whole through adjudication for the balance. The remainder can only be claimed in a subsequent payment claim on a later reference date, or pursued through the courts.

The lockout rule: respondent cannot introduce new reasons

If the respondent does serve a payment schedule, they must include in that schedule every reason for withholding any part of the claimed amount. Reasons not included in the payment schedule cannot be raised in an adjudication response. This lockout rule applies in NSW, VIC, QLD, WA, and SA (verified 2026-06-11, contracts/sop-nsw, contracts/sop-vic, contracts/sop-wa, contracts/sop-sa).

The practical effect: a respondent who schedules less than the claimed amount but states only partial reasons gives up any unlisted grounds at adjudication. Builders should read payment schedules closely and flag if the reasons given cover less than the full withheld amount, as those unlisted grounds are gone.

VIC excluded amounts: no longer relevant from 15 April 2026

Before the April 2026 reforms, Victoria uniquely restricted what could be included in a VIC payment claim. Variations, delay costs, and latent condition claims were classified as “excluded amounts” and could not be pursued through the VIC SOP Act. That regime is abolished. From 15 April 2026, any amount a claimant is contractually or legally entitled to may be included in the claimed amount of a VIC payment claim (verified 2026-06-11, contracts/sop-vic). This aligns VIC with every other Australian state.

Builder-facing read: as claimant

Claim the full amount you are entitled to on each reference date. Do not discount or hold back amounts you genuinely believe are owed, because you cannot revise the claimed amount upward once the payment claim is served. If a variation, a latent condition cost, or a time-related cost is owed, include it in the claimed amount or it becomes a separate claim on a future reference date.

Keep the claimed amount supportable. An adjudicator who finds that part of the claimed amount has no contractual basis can reduce the adjudicated amount below what you claimed. Overstating the claimed amount does not help and risks a costs order.

After serving the payment claim, calendar the response deadline immediately. If no payment schedule arrives within the statutory window, the full claimed amount is already due. Do not wait to see what the respondent does. The notice and application windows under the SOP Acts run from that moment.

Builder-facing read: as respondent

Never let the payment schedule window lapse. If you receive a valid payment claim and disagree with any part of the claimed amount, serve a written payment schedule within the statutory window. Even a nil-value schedule is better than no schedule: a nil schedule preserves your right to raise all your reasons in adjudication, whereas silence converts the full claimed amount into a statutory debt with no right to contest it in adjudication.

Every reason for withholding any part of the claimed amount must be in the payment schedule. Do not hold reasons back thinking you can raise them later. Once the schedule is issued, the lockout rule applies.

What can go wrong

Under-claiming and then losing the difference in adjudication. A claimant who serves a payment claim for $80,000 when $120,000 is owed is capped at $80,000 in any adjudication on that claim. The remaining $40,000 must wait for a fresh claim on the next reference date, which may be a month away and requires the whole process again. Claim what you are owed.

Serving before the reference date. A payment claim served before a reference date arises under the contract is defective and may not attract the SOP Act’s protections. Check the contract for claim dates. If the contract is silent, the default reference date in most states is the last day of each named calendar month.

Respondent silence treated as acceptance. Some builders interpret no payment schedule as the client agreeing to pay. The right response is to move immediately to enforce the statutory debt. Silence is not agreement: it is a procedural default that converts the claimed amount into a debt, but you must still follow the enforcement path (notice, then adjudication application or court enforcement) within the statutory windows.

Failing to include the statutory endorsement. A payment claim without the required state-specific endorsement (e.g. “This is a payment claim made under the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999” in NSW) is defective and does not attract the Act’s protections. The claimed amount in a defective claim is not protected by the silence-equals-liability rule.

VIC: including excluded amounts in pre-April 2026 claims. For contracts under the VIC Act where the payment claim was served before 15 April 2026, the old excluded amounts rules applied. A claimed amount that included pre-reform excluded amounts in a VIC claim may have been found unenforceable for that portion. From 15 April 2026 this issue is resolved: all amounts can be claimed.

References

Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 (NSW) ss 13, 14 (verified 2026-06-11)
Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2002 (VIC) (verified 2026-06-11)
Building and Construction Industry (Security of Payment) Act 2021 (WA) (verified 2026-06-11)
Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2009 (SA) (verified 2026-06-11)
NSW Government, Making a payment claim under Security of Payment laws (verified 2026-06-11)
MinterEllison, Changes to Victoria’s Security of Payment regime have now commenced (verified 2026-06-11)