Consult a Quantity Surveyor: Changes to Security of Payments Regulations
The Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Regulation 2020 (NSW) (New Regulation) commenced on 1 September 2020. The New Regulation, which up until 1 March 2021 only applied to commercial clients, now applies to residential homeowners as well. This means that as of last month, a residential builder can apply for independent adjudication of a disputed payment claim and obtain an enforced determination usually within three weeks of lodging an adjudication application. Additionally, when homeowners receive a payment claim, they have ten days to present the builder with a payment schedule disputing the amount, or be forced to pay the entire payment claim.
To guarantee that you as a homeowner are protected, it is crucial to ensure that all construction contracts are drafted in accordance with Section 10 of the Home Building Act 1989 No 147 (NSW) and that all relevant items related to the construction process are included in this contract. Now more than ever, employ a Quantity Surveyor (QS) to manage this process when building your next dream home. Quantity Surveyors are experts in drafting construction contracts, as well as assessing progress claims, amongst other things. By using a holistic cost management approach, we are equipped to provide you with the security you need. A Quantity Surveyor is an independent and fair industry professional; we know how to reject a payment claim, we are impartial in the process of setting up a budget, and we base our assessments on extensive cost information and benchmarking data. Unlike the builder, we are not assessing builder’s claims with the aim to win a job.
Contact Archi-QS to find out more information and allow our expertise to avoid unnecessary disputes and delays to your next dream home.
Sources:
Home Building Act 1989 No 147 (NSW)
Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Regulation 2020 (NSW)
NSW Fair Trading, 2021. Recent Changes to Security of Payment Rules. Retrieved from: https://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/trades-and-businesses/construction-and-trade-essentials/security-of-payment/recent-changes-to-security-of-payments