The Construction Contracts Act 2002 gives contractors a powerful set of rights. Most contractors never use them — because their invoices don't qualify.
The Act was designed to get contractors paid. Regularly. On time. Without having to fight for it. It gives you the right to make a payment claim, the right to suspend work if you're ignored, and a fast-track adjudication process that doesn't require a lawyer and doesn't take years.
But none of that works if your invoice doesn't meet the requirements of the Act. A non-compliant invoice isn't a payment claim under the CCA. It's just an invoice. And an invoice the principal can ignore without legal consequence.
The gap between a valid CCA payment claim and an ordinary invoice is smaller than you think. And the consequences of getting it wrong are larger than most contractors realise.
These are not hypothetical. These are the reasons we see every time a contractor comes to us after the fact.
Your invoice doesn't state it is made under the Construction Contracts Act 2002. Without that statement, it is not a payment claim under the Act. Full stop.
The claim wasn't served on the right party or at the right address. Service matters under the Act. A claim delivered to the wrong person is no claim at all.
The claim must identify the construction work and the relevant period. "Labour and materials — October" doesn't cut it.
The Act requires you to indicate how you calculated the claimed amount. A lump sum with no breakdown gives the principal room to move.
Your claim must state the due date for payment. If it doesn't, the entire payment schedule timeline is unclear — and the principal will use that against you.
The Act requires your claim to be accompanied by an outline of the response process and the consequences of not responding. Most invoices don't include this. Most contractors don't know it's required.
Silence under the CCA is not agreement. It has specific legal consequences — and specific time limits. Once those limits pass, your options change. Some close entirely.
There is a provision in the Act that removes the debtor's most powerful weapon before they even pick it up. Most debtors don't know it exists. Neither do their lawyers.
We know what it is. We know how to use it. That conversation starts below.
Three stages. One outcome. You get paid.
Send us your current invoice template. We check every element against the requirements of the Act. We tell you exactly what's missing, what's wrong, and what needs to change before you send another claim.
% CCA Compliant AssessmentWe build you a CCA-compliant invoice template from scratch. Every required element. Correct language. Correct structure. The response process notice included as required. Ready to use on your next claim.
Built to the ActIf you've already sent a claim and been ignored — or if a payment schedule comes back short — we support you through the full process. Payment claim analysis, response strategy, adjudication file preparation. We build the file. You chase the money.
Adjudication ReadyThere is a section of the Construction Contracts Act 2002 that most debtors — and many of their legal advisors — do not fully understand until it is too late.
Once a valid payment claim is properly served under the Act, a specific right is extinguished on the debtor's side. The move they were planning to make. Gone. Before they even knew the game had started.
We're not going to tell you which section it is. That's the conversation we have when you get in touch. What we will tell you is this — a properly structured CCA payment claim is a very different document to an invoice. And the difference matters more than most contractors ever find out.
"The Construction Contracts Act 2002 was written to protect contractors. We make sure it does exactly that. Not in theory. In your bank account."
Craig Sanders — Sando's Advisory Ltd — sandosadvisory.co.nzWe don't need your whole story upfront. Just enough to know where you are in the process — and whether we can help.
If you've got an invoice that's been ignored, a payment schedule that's come back short, or you just want your template checked — this is where it starts.
No obligation. No sales pitch. A straight conversation about where you stand.
Note: We are not lawyers. We are practitioners who know the Act, know how to structure a compliant claim, and know when to tell you to engage counsel. We save you time, money, and the cost of an undercooked submission.