Building contract rules, state by state

Legislation

Home Building Act 1989 (NSW)

Home Building Regulation 2014 (NSW)

Confirm with

NSW Fair Trading and Building Commission NSW

New South Wales runs two written contract bands and a single flat deposit cap, and every figure except the deposit cap lives in the Regulation rather than the Act. The figures below are from the Act current for 10 June 2026 to date and the Regulation current for 16 May 2025 to date.

Written contract

Over $5,000 and not over $20,000, inclusive of GST, puts a contract in the small jobs band at section 7AAA, which requires it to be in writing, dated and signed, with the parties, the licence number, a description of the work, any plans and specifications and the price if known. Over $20,000 section 7 takes over and adds the statutory warranties, the cost of insurance, a conspicuous cooling off statement, progress payment details and a termination statement. Amounts at Home Building Regulation 2014 clause 5(1)(b) and 5(2)(b), both effective 1 March 2015.

Maximum deposit

10 per cent of the contract price, with no value bracket. Home Building Act 1989 (NSW) section 8(1), in its current form from 1 March 2015. Before that date section 8 set a two tier cap of 5 per cent above $20,000 and 10 per cent at or below it, which is why an older summary can look plausible and be wrong. Section 8(4) excludes contracts between two licence holders and specialist work that is not also residential building work, so the cap applies at every contract value but not to every contract.

Progress payments

No stage percentages are prescribed. Where the price exceeds $20,000, a progress payment is authorised only if it is a specified amount or percentage payable on completion of a specified stage described in clear and plain language, or a payment for labour and materials already supplied or costs already incurred, which may include a margin, supported by invoices or receipts. Section 8A(1) to (3), with the $20,000 at Home Building Regulation 2014 clause 11, effective 1 March 2015.

Insurance threshold

Over $20,000 inclusive of GST. Home Building Act 1989 (NSW) section 92(3), with the amount at Home Building Regulation 2014 clause 53, present in the earliest consolidation on the register, 12 December 2014, and unchanged since. Section 92(4) sums the contract prices where the same parties enter two or more contracts to carry out work in stages.

No payment before the certificate

Section 92(2) prohibits demanding or receiving a payment under a contract for residential building work, whether as a deposit or otherwise and whether or not work has commenced, unless a complying contract of insurance is in force and a certificate in a form approved by the Authority has been given to the other party. This operates alongside the 10 per cent cap: section 8 sets the ceiling on the amount, section 92(2) governs whether any amount may be demanded at all.

Cooling off

5 clear business days where the contract price exceeds $20,000, running from the day the person is given a copy of the signed contract. Section 7BA(1)(a) and (1A), amount at Home Building Regulation 2014 clause 7, effective 1 March 2015.

Cover the scheme provides

Home Building Compensation cover is capped at $340,000 per dwelling, with an incomplete work sub limit of 20 per cent of the contract price as varied, and claim windows of 12 months for incomplete work, 6 years for major defects and 2 years for other defects. Those figures come from icare's HBCF Homeowner Fact Sheet HBCF0034 rather than from the Regulation, and carry no commencement date. It is a last resort scheme: the policy responds after the builder dies, becomes insolvent, disappears, or has their licence suspended for not complying with an order to pay the owner.

Legislation

Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995 (Vic)

Domestic Building Contracts Regulations 2017 (Vic)

Building Act 1993 (Vic)

Building (Statutory Insurance Scheme) Regulations 2026 (Vic)

Confirm with

Victorian Building Authority trading as the Building and Plumbing Commission

Victoria has three rules and, since 1 July 2026, only two distinct numbers, which is exactly how they get collapsed. $10,000 is the major domestic building contract threshold, $20,000 is the deposit bracket, and $20,000 is also the insurance threshold, drawn from a different Act with a different boundary word. The figures below are from Authorised Version No. 094 of the Domestic Building Contracts Act as at 1 July 2026, Authorised Version No. 004 of the Regulations as at 1 July 2021, and Authorised Version No. 150 of the Building Act as at 1 September 2026.

Written contract

More than $10,000 makes it a major domestic building contract, which must be in writing and set out in full all the terms, the detailed description of the work, plans and specifications sufficient for a building permit, the parties, the practitioner's registration number, the start and finish dates, the price, the prescribed statutory insurance scheme information, a conspicuous cooling off notice in a form approved by the Director and a definitions section. The figure is in Domestic Building Contracts Regulations 2017 regulation 6, not the Act, and has stood since 1 August 2017. The definition hook and the writing requirement are at Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995 sections 3(1) and 31(1)(a). Penalty 50 penalty units; section 31(2) makes an unsigned contract of no effect.

Maximum deposit

5 per cent of the contract price where the price is $20,000 or more, and 10 per cent where it is less than $20,000, not to be demanded or received before any work starts. Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995 section 11(1)(a) and (b), in Authorised Version No. 094 as at 1 July 2026. Section 11 sits in the Part that applies to all domestic building contracts, so the cap reaches every one of them and not only major contracts. Penalty 100 penalty units; section 11(3) lets the building owner avoid the contract before completion, subject to VCAT under section 11(4).

Progress payments

Set by law. Maximum percentages of the contract price payable at completion of each stage are in the Table to section 40, reproduced in full below. For a major domestic building contract not covered by the Table, section 40(3) instead bars any amount that is not directly related to the progress of the work. The parties may agree that section 40(2) and (3) do not apply, but only in the prescribed manner: a warning in the form of Form 1 in Schedule 1 signed by the building owner before signing the contract, and a clause in the form of Form 2 signed by both before signing, under section 40(4) and Domestic Building Contracts Regulations 2017 regulation 13(1), effective 22 April 2017.

Insurance threshold

More than $20,000, excluding a contract relating to a residential apartment building. Building Act 1993 (Vic) section 3(1), definition of insurable domestic building contract, in force 1 July 2026, with the scheme in Part 9A and section 137I applying it. Section 137J(d)(i) separately excludes domestic building work costing less than $20,000, which is a cost of work test rather than a contract price test, so the two provisions do not meet cleanly at exactly $20,000. The GST basis is not settled: section 3A(1) sets a GST inclusive method for the Act other than Parts 9A and 9B, and Part 9A is this scheme.

The boundary between the two $20,000 figures

The deposit bracket bites at $20,000 or more. The insurance definition bites at more than $20,000. At a contract price of exactly $20,000 the 5 per cent cap applies and the contract is not an insurable domestic building contract. Two rows that share a number, never one rule.

Premium timing

The premium is due to the Authority before the first of two things happens: 10 business days elapse after the contract is entered into, or the domestic building work starts. Building Act 1993 (Vic) section 137O(1), in force 1 July 2026, with a maximum penalty of 500 penalty units for an individual and 2,500 for a body corporate. Where a variation later takes a contract over the threshold, the premium is due within 10 business days after the variation, under section 137O(2).

Cover the scheme provides

Maximum assistance of $400,000 per home, at Building (Statutory Insurance Scheme) Regulations 2026 regulation 21, with sub limits of $5,000 for securing a building site (regulation 22) and $12,000 for accommodation, removal and storage (regulation 23), and cover periods of 6 years for a major defect and 2 years for any other defect from the completion date (regulation 8). All in force 1 July 2026. Regulation 9(a) excludes work on a building with a rise in storeys of more than 3, other than work on a Class 1a building, so a Class 1a house or townhouse above three storeys is still covered.

No certificate rule here

Victoria has no equivalent of the New South Wales section 92(2) or Western Australian section 25C(2) bar on taking a payment before the certificate is given. Do not carry that rule across from another state.

Legislation

Queensland Building and Construction Commission Act 1991 (Qld)

Queensland Building and Construction Commission Regulation 2018 (Qld)

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Queensland Building and Construction Commission

Queensland is where the shared figure trap is sharpest: $3,300 is both the regulated contract threshold and the insurance threshold, and the two come from separate definitions in different Parts of the same Act. They are two rows that happen to share a number. The figures below are from the Act reprint current as at 1 February 2026 and the Regulation reprint current as at 1 September 2026.

Written contract

More than $3,300 makes a domestic building contract a regulated contract. A level 1 regulated contract runs from more than $3,300 to less than $20,000 and a level 2 regulated contract from $20,000. Both must be in writing and dated and signed by or on behalf of each party, in identical terms at schedule 1B sections 13(2) and 14(2), and a level 1 contract has effect only if it complies, under section 13(5). Schedule 1B sections 5(1)(a), 6(1) and 7(1), effective 1 July 2015, with the $20,000 level 2 amount at QBCC Regulation 2018 section 45.

What each level must contain

A level 1 contract needs the parties including the contractor's name as it appears on the licence, the licence number, a description of the subject work, plans and specifications, the price or the method of calculating it, the date for practical completion and a conspicuous notice of the withdrawal right, at schedule 1B section 13(3). A level 2 contract adds development approvals in the plans, a start date and a statement of each statutory warranty, at section 14(3), and section 14(4) requires a fixed price to be stated in a prominent position on the first page of the contract schedule.

Maximum deposit

10 per cent of the contract price for a level 1 regulated contract, 5 per cent for a level 2 regulated contract, and 20 per cent for either where the value of the off site work is more than 50 per cent of the contract price. Schedule 1B section 33(1)(a) to (c), effective 1 July 2015, maximum penalty 100 penalty units, biting before the contracted services start at the building site. Section 33(3) defines a deposit broadly enough to include any insurance premium paid under part 5, so the home warranty premium counts toward the 5 or 10 per cent.

Progress payments

No stage percentages are prescribed. A contractor must not claim an amount other than a deposit unless it is directly related to the progress of carrying out the subject work at the building site and is proportionate to the value of that work, or less. Schedule 1B section 34(1), effective 1 July 2015, maximum penalty 50 penalty units. The Act's own example is a claim for half the contract price less a 5 per cent deposit, demanded after half the work is complete.

Insurance threshold

More than $3,300 insurable value, for building work carried out by a licensed contractor. QBCC Act 1991 section 67WC(1), with regulated amount defined at section 67WC(3), in the reprint current as at 1 February 2026. The reprint carries a currency date, not a commencement date for the figure.

No certificate rule here

Queensland has no provision barring a builder from taking a deposit before insurance is in place. Section 68B requires the licensed contractor to collect the premium from the consumer and pay it to the commission before work starts, and schedule 1B section 33(3) treats that premium as counting toward the deposit, which presupposes the deposit may be taken.

Cooling off

5 business days after the day the owner receives a copy of the signed contract from the building contractor, at schedule 1B section 35(1), effective 1 July 2015. For a level 2 contract, if the consumer building guide arrives after the signed copy, the 5 business days run from receipt of the guide, under section 35(2).

Cover the scheme provides

For a single detached dwelling or an individual unit, $200,000 for each category of loss under standard cover, or $300,000 with optional additional cover, at QBCC Regulation 2018 schedule 6 sections 43(2), 44(2) and 45, in the reprint current as at 1 September 2026. The accommodation, removal and storage sub limit is $5,000 standard and $10,000 optional. Section 26(a) of the Regulation excludes a duplex or multiple dwelling of more than 3 storeys; a detached house is not excluded on height at all.

Legislation

Home Building Contracts Act 1991 (WA)

Home Building Contracts Regulations 1992 (WA)

Confirm with

Building and Energy, Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety

Western Australia is the only jurisdiction here where the Act stops at an upper value, and the only one where the figures printed in the Act itself are not the figures that apply. Section 3(1) still reads $6,000 and $200,000, each expressed as or such other amount as is prescribed, and the Regulations override both. The figures below are from Act version 04-h0-00 as at 5 April 2023 and Regulations compilation [PCO 03-k0-00] as at 1 September 2025.

Written contract, and the band the Act reaches

A written contract is required where the amount payable is more than $7,500 and less than $500,000. Contracts at or below $7,500, at or above $500,000, and cost plus contracts fall outside the definition of home building work contract and therefore outside the Act entirely, so none of the rules below apply to them. Home Building Contracts Act 1991 section 4(1) and the section 3(1) definition, with both amounts at Home Building Contracts Regulations 1992 regulation 2A, effective 2 July 2007. Section 4(1) requires the contract to set out all its terms, conditions and provisions, show the date and be signed by builder and owner. Penalty $2,000, and non compliance lets the owner terminate under section 19.

Maximum deposit

6.5 per cent of the total amount payable to the builder under the contract for the home building work, with no value bracket inside the band the Act reaches. Home Building Contracts Act 1991 section 10(1)(a)(i), in version 04-h0-00 as at 5 April 2023, penalty $10,000. Section 10(1) prohibits entering into a contract that entitles the builder to demand or receive more than the cap, so the breach happens at signing, not at the demand.

Maximum deposit, cabinetry exception

20 per cent of the total amount payable where the contract is for cabinetry work and the value of the off site work is more than 50 per cent of the total. Home Building Contracts Regulations 1992 regulation 3A(2) and (3), made for section 10(1)(a)(ii), effective 27 May 2020. Cabinetry work means manufacturing and installing kitchen, bathroom, laundry and other custom made cabinets and fitments, and refurbishing or repairing such fitted cabinets, but not purchasing and installing off the shelf cabinets.

Progress payments

No stage percentages are prescribed. After work commences a builder may only receive a genuine progress payment for work already performed or materials or services already supplied. Where the contract sets out a schedule of payments due at specified stages and a payment is demanded in accordance with it, section 10(3) presumes the payment genuine until the contrary is shown, which makes a stage schedule a presumption and not a safe harbour. Sections 10(1)(b)(i), 10(3) and 10(5).

Insurance threshold

More than $20,000. Home Building Contracts Act 1991 section 25A defines minimum amount as $10,000 or such other amount as is prescribed, and Home Building Contracts Regulations 1992 regulation 7 prescribes $20,000, with the definition of residential building work then excluding work where the cost is the minimum amount or less. Effective 2 July 2007. Western Australia therefore runs $7,500 for the written contract and $20,000 for insurance, two figures for two obligations.

No payment before the certificate

A builder must not perform residential building work unless the owner has been furnished, prior to a demand for any payment in relation to the work including any deposit, with a certificate in a form approved by the Minister evidencing the policy or the corresponding cover. Section 25C(2), penalty $10,000. The prescribed Notice for the Home Owner in Schedule 1 to the Regulations says the same thing in plain words.

Cover the scheme provides

$200,000, or the cost of the building work if less, at Home Building Contracts Regulations 1992 regulation 7B for section 25D(1)(e)(i), effective 1 December 2022, with the loss of deposit limit at $40,000 under regulation 7A from the same date and the maximum excess at $500 under regulation 5. The penalty for performing work without cover is $10,000 under section 25C(1). A regulator fact sheet stating $50,000 is not supported by the Act, where no penalty exceeds $10,000.

Legislation

Building Work Contractors Act 1995 (SA)

Building Work Contractors Regulations 2026 (SA)

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Consumer and Business Services

South Australia keys its figures to the date the contract was made rather than to today's date, so two contracts running side by side on the same site can sit under different bands. Both the written contract threshold and the insurance threshold hang off the same minor domestic building work exclusion, and both rose on 10 November 2025. The figures below are from the Act version 15.1.2026 and the Regulations version 1.9.2026, which came into operation on 1 September 2026 and carry the earlier bands forward.

Written contract

$20,000 or more for a contract made on or after 10 November 2025. Below the prescribed sum the work is minor domestic building work and section 27(2) disapplies Division 1 of Part 5, which contains the written contract requirement. Building Work Contractors Act 1995 sections 27(2), 28(1)(a) and the section 3(1) definition, with the bands at Building Work Contractors Regulations 2026 regulation 4(4). Regulation 4(4) also keeps $12,000 alive for a contract made on or after 15 October 2001 and before 10 November 2025, and $5,000 for one made before 15 October 2001.

Maximum deposit

For a contract made on or after 10 November 2025: 5 per cent of the price where the price is $20,000 or more, and no statutory cap below that, because the contract is for minor domestic building work and the Division containing the deposit rule does not apply. For a contract made between 1 September 2011 and 9 November 2025: 5 per cent at $20,000 or more, a flat $1,000 in the $12,000 to under $20,000 band, and no cap below $12,000. Building Work Contractors Act 1995 section 30(2a) and the section 30(4) definition of prescribed payment, read with section 27(2). That enforcement structure was inserted by Act 68/2025 section 9 and commenced 15 January 2026, so a page citing section 30(2a) and dating it 2011 is citing a provision that did not exist then.

Progress payments

No stage percentages are prescribed. A person must not demand or require a payment under a domestic building work contract or a preliminary work contract unless it is a genuine progress payment for work already performed, or an entitlement under the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2009. Section 30(1)(a) and (ab), amended with effect 15 January 2026, maximum penalty $100,000 for a natural person and $500,000 for a body corporate. Section 30(2b) reverses the onus: a payment received that is not a prescribed payment is presumed to have been demanded, absent proof otherwise.

Insurance threshold

$20,000 or more for a contract made on or after 10 November 2025. Division 3 of Part 5 does not apply to minor domestic building work, and it also does not apply where development approval was not required for the work. Building Work Contractors Act 1995 sections 33(2)(a), 33(2)(b) and 34, with the amount at Building Work Contractors Regulations 2026 regulation 4(4).

Cover the scheme provides

The scheme is building indemnity insurance, administered by the South Australian Government Financing Authority with Consumer and Business Services as the regulator. The maximum cover, the cover periods and the trigger events are not given here, because the South Australian government sites that publish them were not reachable when this was written, on 8 September 2026. Confirm the current cover figures with SAFA.

Legislation

Residential Building Work Contracts and Dispute Resolution Act 2016 (Tas)

Residential Building Work Contracts and Dispute Resolution Regulations 2016 (Tas)

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Consumer, Building and Occupational Services

Tasmania has the deposit figure that gets published wrong most often, because the Act carries a fallback that the Regulations displace, and it is the only jurisdiction here with no operative home warranty insurance scheme at all. The Regulations figures below are from the version current from 17 December 2018 to date.

Written contract, and whether the Act applies

$20,000 or more. The Act does not apply to residential building work performed for a contract price less than $20,000, or another greater amount prescribed by the regulations, and none has been prescribed. Where it applies, section 13 requires the contract to be in written form when entered into, or put into written form as soon as practicable and in any case within 5 business days after it is entered into and before the work begins. Sections 9(a) and 13, effective 1 January 2017, penalty 800 penalty units for a body corporate and 300 for an individual.

Maximum deposit

5 per cent of the contract price where the price is $50,000 or more, 10 per cent where it is less than $50,000, and 20 per cent where the value of the off site work is more than 50 per cent of the contract price. Section 41(2), with the $50,000 set amount at Residential Building Work Contracts and Dispute Resolution Regulations 2016 regulation 6, effective 1 January 2017. Section 41(1) defines set amount as the amount above $20,000 prescribed by regulation, or $20,000 if none is prescribed, so a page that reads only the Act puts the break at the wrong figure.

Progress payments

No stage percentages are prescribed. A building contractor must not demand or receive an amount other than a deposit unless it is directly related to the progress of the performance at the building site of the residential building work under the contract. Section 42(2), effective 1 January 2017. For that section, building site excludes a place where work is performed that is later installed elsewhere under the contract, so off site fabrication falls under the deposit rule rather than the progress payment rule.

Insurance threshold

There is none in force. The current text of the Residential Building Work Contracts and Dispute Resolution Act 2016 contains no insurance provisions, and the Residential Building (Home Warranty Insurance Amendments) Act 2023, No. 25 of 2023, commences on a day or days to be proclaimed and had not been proclaimed at 8 September 2026. The $20,000 in section 9(a) governs contract formalities and dispute resolution and is not an insurance threshold, which is the easiest mistake to make on this jurisdiction.

Two things due to move

The Tasmanian index of Acts and statutory rules in force at 1 June 2026 records the 2016 Regulations as subject to repeal on 2 November 2026. Regulation 6 is the only source of the $50,000 deposit break, so a repeal without replacement would put the Act's $20,000 fallback back in play. The same index records the 2023 Act as not yet commenced, and it would amend section 42, the progress payment provision. Re-check both before relying on this section after 2 November 2026.

Legislation

Building Act 2004 (ACT)

Building (General) Regulation 2008 (ACT)

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Access Canberra

The ACT is the jurisdiction most often left off a by-state table, or given somebody else's numbers. Two of the four rules on this page simply do not exist here, and the third does not either. The figures below are from Republication No 55 of the Act, effective 10 July 2026, and Republication No 51 of the Regulation, effective 23 February 2026.

Written contract

There is no statutory requirement to put a residential building contract in writing, at any contract value. Building Act 2004 part 6 division 6.2A, sections 89A to 89E, allows a regulation to prescribe standard conditions, required documents and prohibited conditions for a residential building work contract, and none of those provisions requires writing, nor does any other provision of the Act. That is the position in Republication No 55, effective 10 July 2026. It is the absence of a provision rather than the content of one.

What still binds a contract here

Sections 89C(2) and 89D(2) create strict liability offences for entering a residential building work contract that does not include each prescribed standard condition, or to which the required documents are not attached, with a maximum penalty of 10 penalty units each. Those obligations are difficult to discharge without a written document, even though writing is not itself mandated.

Maximum deposit

There is no statutory deposit cap. No provision of the Building Act 2004 or the Building (General) Regulation 2008 limits the deposit a builder may take. Part 4 of the Regulation prescribes required documents at section 38A and prohibited conditions at section 38B, and neither a deposit ceiling nor a stage payment table appears anywhere in it. That is the position in Republication No 55 of the Act and Republication No 51 of the Regulation.

Progress payments

No stage percentages are prescribed and there is no statutory progress payment restriction for residential building work. Section 89C would allow standard conditions about payment to be prescribed, and none have been.

Insurance threshold

$12,000 or more. Building (General) Regulation 2008 section 37 provides that part 6 of the Act, which covers residential buildings, statutory warranties, standard conditions, insurance and fidelity certificates, does not apply to residential building work if the cost of the work is less than $12,000. Effective 20 August 2016. That single line governs the statutory warranties, the standard conditions division and the insurance requirement together, so in the ACT they are not separate thresholds. It is not a written contract threshold, because there is none.

Cover the scheme provides

$200,000, or the cost of the work if less, for each dwelling, at Building (General) Regulation 2008 section 39 for Building Act 2004 section 90(1)(b), effective 1 January 2025. The period of insurance is 5 years under section 40, the period for making a claim is 180 days under section 41 from 1 January 2025, and the maximum excess is $500 under section 42. Those sit alongside, and are not the same as, the statutory warranty periods of 6 years for a structural element and 2 years for a non structural element under section 38(1).

Legislation

Building Act 1993 (NT)

Building Regulations 1993 (NT)

Building (RBI and Fidelity Fund Schemes) Regulations 2012 (NT)

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NT Building Practitioners Board

The Northern Territory carries the highest contract threshold of the eight here, but the scope limit matters more than the figure: the contract obligation and the deposit and progress payment rules that hang off it reach only prescribed building work, which excludes most renovation work. The figures below are from the Act as in force at 10 February 2026 and the Regulations as in force at 30 March 2026.

Contract required

$25,000. A prescribed building contractor must not commence or continue prescribed building work unless a contract has been entered into with the owner, and that does not apply where the value of the building work is less than the prescribed amount. Building Act 1993 (NT) section 48B(1) and 48B(3)(a), with the amount at Building Regulations 1993 regulation 41J, effective 30 March 2026. That is a genuine change date: regulation 41J was amended by the Building Legislation Amendment (Consumer Protection) Regulations 2026, made 12 February 2026. Transitional regulation 57 preserves the earlier regulation for building work that commenced or was carried out before 30 March 2026. For that work the figure is in the pre-amendment regulation 41J, which is not reproduced here.

Whether it must be in writing

Section 48B does not use the words in writing. The prescribed contract contents at regulation 41H, the approved form progress payment agreement at regulation 41HB and the invoice declaration at regulation 41HF make a written document the practical requirement, but the writing itself is not what the section commands.

What prescribed building work covers

Included at regulation 41G(1): construction of a Class 1a detached house, a Class 10 building attached to one and constructed at the same time, and a retaining wall on which the integrity of such a house depends. Excluded at regulation 41G(2) and (3): renovations or alterations to an existing Class 1a detached house with no increase in floor area, a Class 10 building or verandah attached after the house was constructed, a freestanding Class 10 building other than that kind of retaining wall, and relocation of an approved Class 1a building to approved rural land. Those exclusions scope the section 48B obligation and the rules below, not the Part 5A insurance provisions, which are scoped separately.

Maximum deposit

5 per cent of the total contracted price of the prescribed building work specified in the contract, with no value bracket and no off site exception. Building Regulations 1993 regulation 41HE(1), mirrored as a contract content requirement at regulation 41H(e), in the Regulations as in force at 30 March 2026. Maximum penalty 50 penalty units, with a reasonable excuse defence, and the court may order a refund under regulation 41HE(5).

Progress payments

Set by law. Maximum percentages of the total contracted price payable after completion of each stage are at regulation 41HA(1), reproduced in full below. Regulation 41HE(2) separately bars requesting or receiving a payment except as a progress payment after completion of the stage it relates to, and bars requesting more than the specified percentage. Regulation 41HF requires an invoice requesting a progress payment to carry a declaration that the work it relates to has been completed. Maximum penalty 50 penalty units each.

Insurance and no payment before cover

A residential builder must not demand or receive payment, whether as a deposit or otherwise, under a residential building contract unless an authorised residential building insurance policy or a fidelity certificate is in force for the work and the builder has given the other party the policy document or a copy of the certificate. Building Act 1993 (NT) section 54AC(2), in the Act as in force at 10 February 2026, maximum penalty 85 penalty units; section 54AC(1) separately bars carrying out the work without cover. The value at which cover is required is at least $25,000, at Building (RBI and Fidelity Fund Schemes) Regulations 2012 regulation 5(2) for section 54AB(1), in the consolidation as in force at 30 March 2026. The consolidation carries a currency date, not a commencement date for the figure.

Cover the scheme provides

$200,000 in total for the guaranteed work, at Building (RBI and Fidelity Fund Schemes) Regulations 2012 regulation 17(a) for policies and regulation 48(a) for fidelity certificates, with a non completion sub limit of not less than 20 per cent of the total contracted price and a maximum excess of $500. Regulation 17(b) requires the builder to apply for a reassessment of cover where the total contracted price is varied by more than 5 per cent either way.