Evidence That Wins Adjudications: A Subcontractor Checklist

You’ve done the work. The invoice is overdue. Now the head contractor or builder won’t answer your calls. Before you file a payment claim under your state’s Security of Payment legislation, you need to understand what evidence actually wins adjudications.

Adjudicators don’t care about your story or how unfair the situation feels. They care about documents. Hard evidence. The right evidence, presented clearly, is the difference between a claim that holds up and one that gets knocked back.

This checklist walks you through exactly what you need to gather and present—whether you’re in NSW, Queensland, Victoria, or any other Australian state.

1. Your Contract Documents: The Foundation

Before anything else, you need to prove the contract exists and what it says. Adjudicators won’t assume you had a deal with the head contractor. They’ll look for:

• A written contract, purchase order, or signed agreement
• Email chains that reference the scope of work and payment terms
• Quotations you provided that were accepted (even verbally, if followed by work)
• Head contractor’s written instructions to proceed
• Any variation orders or change requests in writing

If you’re in NSW under the Security of Payment Act 1999, or Queensland under the Building and Construction Industry Payments Act 2017, the adjudicator needs to see evidence of the construction contract. No contract = no claim under the Security of Payment framework.

Even a text message or email saying “start Monday, pay $10k on completion” can count as a contract. But you need something in writing.

2. Your Payment Claim: Detailed and Itemised

Your payment claim document itself is evidence. It needs to be precise, not vague.

Instead of: “Labour and materials, $15,000”

Write:

1. Site preparation and demolition: 40 hours at $65/hr = $2,600
2. Framing timber (140 x 45 pine, 6m lengths, 25 units @ $85 = $2,125)
3. Fasteners and hardware: $340
4. Labour installation: 60 hours at $65/hr = $3,900
5. Plant hire (scaffolding, 4 weeks @ $200/week): $800

Why? Because itemised claims are harder to dispute. They show you’ve thought about the work, tracked it, and can justify the amount.

Under most state Security of Payment Acts—including Victoria’s Security of Payment Act 2002—your claim must include sufficient detail for the respondent (the contractor who owes you) to properly respond. Vague claims often fail because adjudicators can’t assess them fairly.

Keep copies of everything: timesheets, delivery dockets, photos of materials on site, purchase invoices for goods you bought, subcontractor invoices for work you outsourced.

3. Correspondence and Proof of Service

Document every conversation about payment. Text messages, emails, site meeting notes—they’re all evidence of:

• What you agreed to deliver
• When you delivered it
• Requests for payment you’ve made
• The contractor’s acknowledgment of the work (or lack of dispute about it)
• Reasons they’ve given for non-payment

If the head contractor emailed you saying “we’ll pay you after the client settles with us,” that’s evidence they acknowledged the debt. That’s powerful in an adjudication.

You also need to prove you gave them a payment claim in the first place. Under the NSW SOP Act, the contractor has 10 business days to issue a payment schedule once they receive your claim. But they can only do that if you actually served them. Keep a record of:

• Date and time you sent the claim (email timestamp)
• Recipient email address or physical address
• Any read receipt or acknowledgment

In most states, you can hand-deliver, email, or send by post. Email is fastest and easiest to prove.

4. Proof of Work: Photos, Timesheets, and Witnesses

Adjudicators want to see evidence that the work actually happened.

Photos: Take pictures during each stage of the work. Before, during, and after. Date them if your phone does this automatically. If you’re claiming $5,000 for flooring installation, photos of the finished floor carry real weight.

Timesheets: Even rough site notes are better than nothing. Record the date, start time, finish time, who worked, and what they did. If you say you spent 40 hours on the job, your timesheet proves it.

Witness statements: A statutory declaration from a colleague, apprentice, or even the head contractor’s own site manager confirming they saw you do the work can be valuable—though an adjudicator will weight it against whether the witness has a reason to be biased.

Site records: Any accident reports, site meeting minutes, or progress reports you created at the time are contemporary evidence. They’re stronger than a recollection written months later.

5. Material Invoices and Cost Evidence

If you’re claiming for materials, you need proof of what they cost and that you actually bought them.

• Supplier invoices (with dates and descriptions)
• Delivery dockets showing goods were delivered to site
• Receipts for cash purchases
• Quotes you obtained (shows you didn’t inflate prices)
• Credit card or bank statements showing the payment date

If you claim $500 for timber but only show a half-page receipt from the local timber yard, an adjudicator might accept the claim at face value. But if the contractor disputes it, stronger documentation will protect you.

Getting Your Claim Right From the Start

The evidence you gather now determines what you can prove later. Start collecting it from day one: photographs, emails, timesheets, invoices, delivery notes. Don’t wait until payment is overdue.

When you’re ready to file a payment claim, having these documents organised and ready makes the process faster and your claim stronger.

Adjudication under Australian Security of Payment legislation is designed to give you a fair hearing—but only if you bring the evidence. An adjudicator’s decision is based on what’s in front of them, not what you know to be true. Document everything, keep it clear, and you’ll have a solid foundation when it matters.