Construction invoicing software bills one contract across many claims instead of issuing a single invoice, and treats the claim, the retention withheld from it and the payment schedule answering it as separate objects. An invoice asks to be paid; a payment claim starts a statutory clock, and missing the window for responding to one can make the whole claimed amount payable. Two audiences buy this software. A head contractor assessing claims coming up needs an assessment and response workflow; a subcontractor building a claim to send up needs the contract position, the variation register and the retention it is owed.
Key Takeaways
- A progress claim is a contract position, not a tax invoice. The lines are contract value, percentage complete, claim to date, previously claimed, this claim, approved variations, retention and GST on the net.
- Retention is money you have earned with a release trigger attached. Practical completion and the end of the defects liability period are different dates.
- Every state and territory has its own security of payment regime. There is no national deadline, so every figure below names its jurisdiction.
- Failing to serve a payment schedule in time is the largest single exposure.
- The head contractor's assessment workflow and the subcontractor's outgoing claim are different products.
The Anatomy of a Progress Claim, Line by Line
Build the claim in this order and it reconciles. Skip a line and the builder's quantity surveyor has to reverse-engineer your numbers before agreeing to any of them.
Contract value is the agreed total for your scope, the denominator everything else divides into. Approved variations sit on top of it, never inside it.
Percentage complete this claim is your claimed progress figure, and the line most likely to be cut, because the assessor walks the site against it.
Claim to date is contract value multiplied by percentage complete, plus approved variations. It is a cumulative position, not a period figure.
Previously claimed is the sum of earlier claims, deducted. This line lets the assessor tie your opening position to the last certificate. If it does not tie, they have nothing to reconcile to, and the safe answer is to certify their own figure instead of yours.
This claim is claim to date minus previously claimed, the only number that moves cash this period.
Approved variations each need their own line, reference and signed approval. A variation folded quietly into a base line contaminates the base line too.
Retention is a percentage held from each claim as security for performance, commonly with a cap, taken off before GST. GST applies to the net after retention, the standard contract treatment (2estimate, checked October 2026). How a ledger should treat retained amounts is in our guide to construction accounting software.
On an illustrative $1.2 million contract at 45 per cent complete:
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Contract value (ex GST) | $1,200,000 |
| Percentage complete this claim | 45% |
| Claim to date (45% of contract) | $540,000 |
| Plus approved variations | $32,000 |
| Total claim to date | $572,000 |
| Less previously claimed | $468,000 |
| This claim (ex GST) | $104,000 |
| Less retention at 5% | $5,200 |
| Net before GST | $98,800 |
| GST at 10% | $9,880 |
| Net payable (inc GST) | $108,680 |
Illustrative arithmetic only. Your contract sets the rates and the retention cap.
Head Contractor or Subcontractor: Two Different Purchases
A head contractor receiving 40 subcontract claims a month has an assessment problem: standardise the format coming in, certify or adjust every line with a reason, issue a compliant payment schedule inside the statutory window, and see retention held across every subcontract at once.
A subcontractor issuing claims up has a presentation and recovery problem: build the claim from the live contract position, attach variation approvals and evidence, and track retention owed until its release date.
Payapps is the clearest example of the first, describing its product as simplifying "the process to approve subcontractor payment claims" (Payapps, checked October 2026). The claim going out is served by builder ERP and accounting systems, where our guides to construction ERP and job management software pick up.
The commercial consequence matters when a builder mandates a platform across its supply chain. Payapps publishes subcontractor plans and no head contractor figure; ClaimStack publishes both and makes invited subcontractors free.
The Statutory Layer: Deadlines by Jurisdiction
Security of payment is state and territory law. There is no national deadline, and any guide that gives you one number has picked a state without telling you. Confirm the position for the jurisdiction where the work is done.
New South Wales
Unless the contract says otherwise, the due date for payment is (NSW Government, checked October 2026):
- head contractor claiming from the principal: 15 business days after the claim is made
- subcontractor, excluding exempt residential work: 20 business days
- subcontractor doing related exempt residential work: 10 business days
A contract may set earlier due dates but not later ones. The respondent has a maximum of 10 business days after the claim to serve a payment schedule, and if none is served the respondent must pay the whole claim. Only one claim may be made per reference date: the contract date, or the last day of each month if none is stated.
Victoria
A respondent who does not provide a payment schedule within 10 business days, or as the contract requires, whichever is earlier, is liable to pay the full amount claimed. The adjudicator then has 10 business days, extendable to 15 with the claimant's consent, and either party may apply for a review where the adjudicated amount exceeds $100,000. Any 'paid when paid' or 'paid if paid' clause has no effect (Victorian Building Authority, checked October 2026).
Western Australia
The Building and Construction Industry (Security of Payment) Act 2021 (WA) sets a due date of 20 business days for a principal paying a head contractor and 25 business days for a payment to a subcontractor (s20). A payment schedule is due before the earlier of the contract time and 15 business days after the claim (s25). A progress claim may only be made before the later of the contract date and 6 months after the work was last carried out (s23(4)). Where no schedule is served the respondent becomes liable (s26), and on a second opportunity notice has 5 further business days (WA Act 2021, checked October 2026).
Every other state and territory runs its own regime with its own windows, and several have been amended recently. This is general information, not legal advice. The operational point is the same everywhere: an unserved schedule turns a disputable claim into a statutory debt, and reasons left out of a schedule are generally reasons you cannot raise later at adjudication.
Australian Tools Compared
| Tool | Side of the contract | What it does | Price (AUD, ex GST) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Payapps | Head contractor assessment | Standardises claim submission, assessment and approval; integrates with ERP and accounting | Subcontractor plans $65 per claim, or $49 to $440 per month by contract count. Head contractor: quote only. Checked October 2026 |
| ClaimStack | Both | Payment claims and schedules, variations, contract admin, procurement | $70 per seat/month (Claims or Procurement), $140 (Commercial OS). Invited collaborators free. Checked October 2026 |
| 2estimate | Subcontractor | Progress claims with contract value, percentage complete, variations and retention tracking | $79/month Professional, $119 Enterprise. Checked October 2026 |
| Varicon | Contractor (civil) | Progress claims, variations, dayworks, automatic retention calculation | Quote only (no published figure) |
| Buildxact | Builder (residential and light commercial) | Invoicing by milestone or completion percentage, with retention configuration | Invoicing is on Pro ($399/month) and Master ($599/month), not on Foundation ($199/month). Checked October 2026 |
| simPRO | Service and project trades | Invoicing and payments including retainages | Quote only (base plan pricing not published) |
| Jobpac, Premier | Builder ERP | Claim modules inside a full construction ERP | Quote only (neither publishes Australian pricing) |
Sources: Payapps, ClaimStack, 2estimate, Varicon, Buildxact, simPRO, checked October 2026.
The products with published prices are the claim-focused platforms; the quote-only products are the ERPs and estimating suites, where claims are a module inside a larger purchase.
Retention and the Two Release Triggers
Retention is a percentage withheld from each progress payment as security for performance. It is your money that the other party is holding, which is why it needs tracking as an asset rather than expensing as a discount on the invoice.
The two release points are different dates. Practical completion is when the works are complete and able to be occupied. The defects liability period runs on after that, commonly for twelve months, during which you remain liable to rectify defects. The second release falls at the end of that period, which is why retention can sit unpaid long after the last progress claim was certified.
Two structures are standard in Australia: a split release, often half at practical completion and half at the end of the defects liability period, or a single release at the end of that period. Buildxact documents both as configuration options, along with a retention total and a separate retention rate per invoice (Buildxact, checked October 2026).
What good software does is mechanical rather than clever: deduct retention from each claim before GST, track the running total against the cap, hold the release date, and generate the release invoice when the trigger arrives. The test question is simple. Can it list every retention currently held, by contract, with the release date attached? If that list lives in a spreadsheet, the system is not holding retention.
How DDDI Approaches the Claim Position
DDDI's Adelaide trade-quote desk prices and coordinates trade packages for developers and builders, so we see this problem from the other direction. Before a trade package is engaged we verify that a licensed and insured trade sits behind the price, which means the claim that eventually follows is against a counterparty someone has checked. That is why we treat a claim document as more than arithmetic. Read how we handle those in our guide to licensed and insured trade quotes, or start a live project through Get Started. The delivery side runs a formally gated six-stage process, visible on the Cyberidge delivery record.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is the Difference Between a Payment Claim and an Invoice?
An invoice requests payment under your contract. A payment claim is a statutory document under the security of payment legislation of the state or territory where the work was done, and serving it starts a clock. A claim served without the statement the Act requires can cost you your adjudication rights.
What Happens If a Payment Schedule Is Not Served on Time?
The respondent generally becomes liable for the full claimed amount: in NSW within the maximum 10 business day window, in WA under s26 (and only 5 further business days after a second opportunity notice), and in Victoria within the 10 business day window or the contract's shorter period.
How Long Does a Builder Have to Pay a Progress Claim in NSW?
15 business days for a head contractor claiming from the principal, 20 for a subcontractor excluding exempt residential work, and 10 for a subcontractor doing related exempt residential work, unless the contract sets an earlier date.
What Is Retention and When Is It Released?
A percentage held back from each progress payment as security for performance, commonly with a cap. It usually releases in two parts, at practical completion and at the end of the defects liability period, though some contracts release it all at the end of that period.
Does Construction Invoicing Software Handle Security of Payment Deadlines?
Some do and some do not, and the vendor's own wording is often the only way to tell. Sopal builds claims and schedules against a selected jurisdiction and covers four Acts. ClaimStack describes a Security of Payments compliance monitor. Buildxact handles a claim's invoicing and retention mechanics but is not a compliance tool.
Getting the Claim and the Clock Right
Treat these as two separate problems, because they fail differently. A well-formed claim that misses the reference date loses its statutory protection. A claim served on time but built on a badly reconciled cumulative position gets certified down. Fix the claim structure first, then diarise the window for the jurisdiction the work is in, per job, the day the claim is served.
DDDI Group works with builders and developers on the commercial and delivery systems around their projects. Start with builder enablement, review the construction management software category guide, or put a live project through Get Started.