UpScale.buildProgress claim template for a NSW head contract
A progress claim template has two halves that most versions of it only have one of. The first is the claim: what the contract is worth today, what has been completed, what was certified last month, and what is therefore owed this month. The second is the principal’s written answer — the scheduled amount and the reasons for any difference. In New South Wales that second half is a statutory document with a deadline, and a claim register that does not carry it is a register that records only one side of a conversation that has a clock on it.
What is this progress claim template for?
It is written for the client side of a head contract: the developer, the client-side project manager or the superintendent who receives a monthly claim and has to decide what to certify. The contractor’s own claim will arrive in its own format. This is the structure you assess it against, so that every month you are comparing the same fields rather than re-reading a different spreadsheet.
The NSW Government states that contractors have a right to progress payments for work delivered, and that unless the contract says otherwise, claims can only be made once per month. That cadence is why this is a register and not a document: twelve of these on a build, each one measured against the last, is how a cost position is actually held. Background on the cycle is in progress claims, and the statutory response is in payment schedules under security of payment.
| Field | What goes in it | Bayside Townhouses (demo) |
|---|---|---|
| Project | The project the contract belongs to. One register per contract is easier to reconcile than one per project when a project has several contracts. | Bayside Townhouses (demo) |
| Contract | Which contract this claim is made under. A head contract and a separate demolition contract produce separate claim sequences. | Head contract - construct only |
| Claim no. | The claim's sequence number on this contract. Numbers must not be reused or skipped — a gap is the first thing an adjudicator asks about. | 7 |
| Date claim received | The date you actually received the claim, not the date printed on it. Every statutory deadline runs from receipt. | 2026-08-31 |
| Reference date / period to | The end of the period claimed. NSW Government guidance says only one claim can be made for each reference date and, unless the contract says otherwise, claims can only be made once a month. | 2026-08-31 |
| Contract sum (ex GST) | The original contract sum, excluding GST. This is the figure the claim is measured against and it should not move. | $4,200,000.00 |
| Approved variations to date (ex GST) | The total of variations that have been directed or approved, not the total submitted. Take it from the variation register, not from the claim. | $186,500.00 |
| Adjusted contract sum (ex GST) | Contract sum plus approved variations. If the claim's adjusted sum is higher than yours, the difference is a variation you have not approved. | $4,386,500.00 |
| Work completed to date (ex GST) | The cumulative value of contract works completed, against the schedule of rates or bill of quantities. Check it against the site, not against last month's claim. | $2,742,000.00 |
| Variations completed to date (ex GST) | The cumulative value of approved variation work completed. Keeping it on its own line is what stops an unapproved variation being buried in a contract line item. | $118,000.00 |
| Materials on site (ex GST) | Unfixed materials delivered and stored, where the contract allows them to be claimed. Verify delivery and title before certifying any of it. | $64,000.00 |
| Total completed to date (ex GST) | Work plus variations plus materials on site. This is the cumulative figure, not the amount of this claim. | $2,924,000.00 |
| Less previously certified (ex GST) | The cumulative amount already certified on earlier claims. Take it from your own certificates, not from the claim in front of you. | $2,610,000.00 |
| This claim before retention (ex GST) | Total completed to date less previously certified. This is the movement for the period. | $314,000.00 |
| Retention deducted this claim | The retention withheld from this claim, at the percentage and up to the cap your contract sets. Track the running retention balance separately — it is money owed but not yet released. | $15,700.00 |
| Amount claimed (ex GST) | This claim before retention, less retention. The figure the GST is calculated on. | $298,300.00 |
| GST | GST on the amount claimed, where the supply is taxable. Show it as its own line so the ex-GST and inc-GST figures can never be confused. | $29,830.00 |
| Amount claimed (inc GST) | The total the claim asks to be paid. This is the number the payment schedule responds to. | $328,130.00 |
| Scheduled amount (payment schedule) | The amount you propose to pay, which the NSW Government says can be Nil. This is a required field of a payment schedule, not an optional note. | $274,300.00 |
| Reasons for any difference | If the scheduled amount is less than the amount claimed, all the reasons why. NSW Government guidance is that a respondent cannot raise a reason at adjudication that was not in the payment schedule. | Variation VO-12 ($24,000.00 ex GST) is claimed but has not been directed or approved, so it is not certified. Every other line is certified as claimed. |
| Payment schedule served (date) | The date the schedule reached the claimant. The NSW Government states it must reach them within 10 business days after you received the payment claim, unless the contract sets a shorter period. | 2026-09-11 |
| Due date for payment | The due date under the contract. The NSW Government's table of key dates gives 15 business days after the claim is made for payment by a principal to a head contractor. | 2026-09-21 |
| Status | Where the claim sits: received, scheduled, paid, or in dispute. A claim with no status is a claim nobody owns. | Scheduled - awaiting payment |
How to fill this in
- The demonstration row is arithmetic you can check: $4,200,000.00 + $186,500.00 = $4,386,500.00 adjusted contract sum; $2,742,000.00 + $118,000.00 + $64,000.00 = $2,924,000.00 completed to date; less $2,610,000.00 previously certified = $314,000.00 this claim; less 5% retention ($15,700.00) = $298,300.00; plus GST = $328,130.00. The scheduled amount is $24,000.00 lower because one variation has not been approved.
- Every deadline runs from the date you received the claim. Record that date first, before you read the numbers.
- The scheduled amount and the reasons for any difference are fields of a statutory document, not commentary. The NSW Government states a payment schedule must be in writing and addressed to the claimant, identify the payment claim, state the scheduled amount you propose to pay (which can be Nil), and state all the reasons why if it is less than the amount claimed.
- Retention percentages and caps come from your contract. The NSW retention money trust requirements described by the NSW Government are a different leg of the chain: they apply to retention a head contractor holds from its subcontractors on projects valued over $20 million, not to retention a principal holds from a head contractor.
- The demonstration dates count business days without allowing for public holidays. Count your own deadline against the calendar that applies to your contract.
- General information, not legal advice. Read your own contract and confirm your position with your solicitor.
How do you fill in each section?
The contract block — contract sum, approved variations, adjusted contract sum — is the only part that should be stable. Take the approved variations figure from your own variation register, never from the claim. If the contractor’s adjusted contract sum is higher than yours, you have found an unapproved variation before you have found it in a line item.
The completed-to-date block is cumulative, not periodic, and it is deliberately split three ways: contract works, approved variation works, and materials on site. Splitting it is the whole defence against a variation being buried inside a contract line. Materials on site are unfixed goods, claimable only where the contract allows it and only where delivery and title can be verified.
The movement block — less previously certified, this claim before retention, retention, GST — is arithmetic, and it should be arithmetic you can do in front of the contractor. Previously certified comes from your certificates, not from the claim. Retention is deducted at the contract percentage, up to the contract cap, and tracked as a running balance elsewhere, because it is money owed rather than money saved. More on the mechanism in retention in construction.
The response block is the statutory half. The NSW Government states that a payment schedule must be in writing and addressed to the claimant, identify the related payment claim, state the scheduled amount you propose to pay — which can be Nil — state all the reasons why if it is less than the amount claimed, and reach the claimant within 10 business days after you received the payment claim, unless the contract requires it sooner.
What goes wrong with progress claims?
Recording the claim’s date instead of the date you received it. Every deadline runs from receipt. A claim dated the 25th that arrives on the 2nd has moved your response window by a week, and only one of those two dates is the one that counts.
Treating the certificate as the schedule. A payment certificate issued under a contract like AS 4000-1997 or AS 2124-1992 is a contractual document on the contract’s own certification timetable. The two can coincide, but only if what you issue actually contains what the Act requires and arrives inside the statutory window. If the certification date falls later than that window, the certificate cannot be the schedule.
A reason that is not a reason. “Amount disputed” explains nothing and survives nothing. The NSW Government states that at adjudication you cannot raise any defence, set off, cross-claim or other reason for not paying that was not in the payment schedule — so the schedule is the only place the reasoning can live, and it has to be detailed enough to show how the difference was calculated.
Assessing the paperwork instead of the work. A percentage on a page is a claim about a building. Walk the job before you certify it, and compare the claimed percentages against the programme rather than against last month’s claim — a front-loaded claim is consistent with itself every single month.
Download the template
Free, no email required. Both files carry the same demonstration row you can see above — delete it and type over the structure.
The CSV is the register: one header row of fields and the demonstration record. The PDF is the same template as a printable form, with a blank column to write in.
Frequently asked questions
What is a progress claim?
A progress claim is a contractor's formal request for payment for work carried out in a period under a construction contract. The NSW Government states that all contractors doing construction work or providing goods or services under a construction contract have the right to receive progress payments for work delivered, and that unless the contract says otherwise, progress payment claims can only be made once per month. On a head contract that makes the claim a monthly cycle: the contractor claims, the superintendent or project manager assesses, a scheduled amount is stated in writing, and payment follows on the contract's due date.
What must a payment schedule include in NSW?
The NSW Government states that a payment schedule must be in writing and addressed to the claimant, identify the related payment claim, state the scheduled amount of payment you propose to make if any — which includes an amount of Nil — state all the reasons why if the payment is less than the amount claimed, and be posted, delivered or faxed to the claimant to reach them within 10 business days after you received the payment claim. Those are the last four fields of this template, and they are fields of a statutory document rather than a covering note.
How long do I have to respond to a payment claim in NSW?
Ten business days after you received the payment claim, unless your contract requires a shorter period — check the contract first, because the Act sets the outer limit and not the default. The NSW Government's table of key dates also gives 15 business days after the claim is made as the due date for payment by a principal to a head contractor. The count runs from receipt, which is why the first field of this template after the claim number is the date the claim was received, not the date printed on it.
What happens if the scheduled amount is less than the amount claimed?
You state all the reasons why, in the payment schedule, in enough detail to explain how the difference was worked out. The NSW Government is explicit that at adjudication you cannot raise any defence, set off, cross-claim or other reason for not paying that you did not include in the payment schedule. A reason left out of the schedule is a reason you no longer have. In the demonstration row on this page the difference is a single unapproved variation, named and priced, which is the shape a reason has to take.
How is retention shown on a progress claim?
As its own deduction line, after the value of work for the period and before GST, at the percentage and up to the cap your contract sets. Keep a running retention balance beside the claim register: it is money owed but not yet released, and it comes back in stages the contract defines. Note that the NSW retention money trust requirements the NSW Government describes are a different leg of the chain — they apply to retention a head contractor holds from its subcontractors on projects valued over $20 million, not to retention a principal holds from a head contractor.
Can I use this progress claim template outside NSW?
The claim fields — contract sum, approved variations, work and variations completed to date, materials on site, previously certified, retention, GST — are the same arithmetic on any Australian head contract, so the structure carries. The last four fields do not: security of payment regimes operate in every state and territory, but the deadlines, the forms and the process differ, and this page states only the NSW day counts. If your project is elsewhere, keep the structure and check that jurisdiction's own requirements before you rely on a date.
Keep this register live in UpScale
A claim register that reconciles is a register the variation module, the retention balance and the budget all feed. UpScale.build keeps claims, certificates, variations and retention against one contract, so the adjusted contract sum on a claim is the one your own approvals produced rather than the one you were sent.
Start freeFeasibility is free — 3 feasibility projects at a time, no card. Or read construction cost management software first.
Sources
- Security of payment — About (NSW Government) — accessed 2026-09-17. The right to progress payments, the once-per-month default, and the table of key deadlines including 15 business days for payment by a principal to a head contractor.
- Making a payment claim — Security of payment (NSW Government) — accessed 2026-09-17. What a payment claim may cover, the one-claim-per-reference-date rule, and the head contractor's supporting statement.
- Responding to a payment claim — Security of payment (NSW Government) — accessed 2026-09-17. The five requirements of a valid payment schedule, the 10 business day service window, and the rule that no reason can be raised at adjudication that was not in the schedule.
- Retention money held by head contractors (NSW Government) — accessed 2026-09-17. Cash retention as security, usually up to 5% of the total contract value, and the trust account requirements that apply to head contractors on projects valued over $20 million.
The other templates
- Construction variation template — A variation request and register: origin, cost breakdown, time impact, the contract clause it is directed under, and the approval chain.
- Construction RFI template — An RFI form and register: question, drawing and specification reference, who has to answer, by when, and whether the answer costs money or time.
- Scope of works template — A scope of works structure for a residential development head contract: inclusions, exclusions, provisional sums, PC items, interfaces, standards and deliverables.
- Construction meeting minutes template — Site and PCG meeting minutes: attendees, apologies, safety, programme, RFIs, variations, claims, and actions with an owner and a due date.
General information, not legal advice. These templates are a starting structure, not a contract document: read your own contract, and confirm your position with your solicitor before you rely on any of it. The statutory statements on this page restate the NSW Government's own guidance on the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 (NSW), read on the dates above. Other states and territories have their own regimes with different deadlines, and this page does not state them.