Prompt Payment in Ontario: The 28-Day, 7-Day and Day-35 Rules

What prompt payment is, and which jobs it covers

Since October 2019, Ontario’s Construction Act has set deadlines for paying invoices down the chain: owner to general contractor, GC to sub, sub to sub-sub and supplier. It applies where the main contract was signed, or the procurement started, on or after October 1, 2019.

• Nobody can contract out of it. The Act applies whatever the contract says, and every contract and subcontract is treated as amended to comply.
• Home renovations aren’t exempt. There’s no residential carve-out in the Act — a homeowner who hires a contractor is an “owner.”
• Suppliers are covered too. A supplier hired by a contractor or a trade is treated as a subcontractor.

The chain: 28 days, 7 days, day 35, day 42

Is my invoice to the GC a “proper invoice”?

No. The proper-invoice rules apply between the owner and the GC. Your clock runs off the GC’s invoice to the owner and the date the GC gets paid — which is why the next section matters.

What is a “proper invoice”?

A GC’s invoice to the owner with the details the Act requires: who it’s from, the date and the period or milestone it covers, the contract or PO it relates to, a description of the work, the amount and payment terms, and who to pay. Since January 2026, if the owner doesn’t object in writing within 7 days, the invoice is treated as proper — the owner can’t dig up a technicality a month later.

“The owner hasn’t paid me” — what the GC actually has to do

This is the line every trade has heard. Here’s the rule. If the owner didn’t pay, the GC can only hold your money past day 35 if it does three things on time:

• Gives you a written notice of non-payment in the prescribed form,
• attaches the owner’s own notice of non-payment, and
• commits to start adjudication against the owner within 21 days.

No paperwork, no excuse: the full amount is due by day 35, plus interest. Pay-when-paid clauses in the subcontract aren’t banned, but they only protect a GC who follows this procedure.

Find out when the GC invoiced the owner

Every date below you runs from the day the GC gave the owner its proper invoice. You’re entitled to ask, and the GC has to tell you. Do it in writing:

“Please confirm the date you gave the owner your proper invoice that included our work for [period / invoice number].”

Then count. Day 35 from that date is when your money is due if the owner hasn’t paid and you haven’t received a proper notice.

Invoice so the clock works for you

• Bill monthly unless your contract says otherwise. That’s the Act’s default rhythm, and it keeps your work in the GC’s monthly invoice to the owner.
• Never save changes for the final invoice. Surprise extras on the last bill invite a fight and hold up the whole payment. Bill approved changes in the month you do them.
• “The architect hasn’t certified it yet” doesn’t stop the owner’s clock. A proper invoice can’t be made to depend on certification or owner approval, except for testing and commissioning.
• Re-sending an invoice resets nothing. A revised invoice keeps its original date. So when they say “send it again,” send it — and keep proof of when you sent the first one.

When they withhold: notices of non-payment and set-off

A payer who disputes your invoice has to say so in a notice of non-payment, on time, with the amount and every reason. Reasons that appear for the first time after you ask for your money — a list of complaints nobody mentioned while you were working — are worth testing at adjudication.

And if the GC simply left your work off its invoice to the owner, so the owner never paid for it, you can take that straight to adjudication against the GC.

Interest on late money

Late amounts carry interest at the court prejudgment rate — 2.5% through 2026 — or your contract rate if it’s higher. At 2.5%, paying late costs the payer almost nothing, so put a proper rate in your contract.

Can I stop work?

Under the Act, you get a right to suspend work when an adjudicator’s decision goes unpaid past its 15-day deadline — and you can recover your reasonable costs of stopping and restarting. Outside that, it depends on your contract.

Walking off without a right to can be treated as abandoning the job, and suddenly you’re the one being sued. If you’re thinking about stopping, talk to a lawyer first, and put everything in writing.

Questions trades ask

Not legal advice. This is general information from an Ontario builder, current to October 2026. Your dates and rights depend on your contract and your facts — confirm them with an Ontario construction lawyer before you rely on them. Read the Construction Act on ontario.ca.

Getting paid: the full set of guides