The main contractor has knocked thousands off my application without a proper notice

Written for general builders, groundworkers, carpenters and joiners, roofers, plasterers, bricklayers and kitchen and bathroom fitters in the UK, from one-van firms to small main contractors.

The short version

1. Work out the payment dates when you apply.Due date, pay less deadline and final date, from the contract or the Scheme. Once money is late, the pay less deadline has passed.
2. Demand the full notified sum in writing.No valid pay less notice by the deadline means no deduction. Cite section 111 and claim interest.
3. Suspend on notice, or adjudicate.If still unpaid after the final date, give written notice of intention to suspend first. Adjudication is open at any time.

Say you apply for £48,000, receive no payment notice, and get paid £35,500, with a note about a contra charge. Or nothing arrives because the main contractor says it has not been paid itself. On a business-to-business construction contract you have more than a chasing letter, but every step runs on dates, so work them out first.

1. Work out the dates.The due date, the payment notice deadline, the pay less deadline and the final date, from the contract or from the Scheme where it applies. A pay less notice served after the pay less deadline is ineffective, even by one day. Under the Scheme that deadline is 7 days before the final date, not the final date itself.
2. Demand the full notified sum in writing.Cite section 111, and claim interest from the day after the final date at the contract rate, or under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts Act.
3. Give notice before suspending.If the sum is still unpaid after the final date, serve a notice of intention to suspend stating the grounds, the final date that passed and the work affected. Wait at least 7 full days counted from the day after service: a notice served on day 0 allows suspension from day 8.
4. Adjudicate.Adjudication is available at any time on a construction contract and runs to a 28-day timetable. It does not need the pre-action protocol. A construction solicitor or claims consultant should sign off the notice and referral.

Interest adds up. On the unpaid £12,500 in the example, where the contract sets no rate of its own, interest at 11.75% a year is about £4.02 a day from the day after the final date, plus fixed compensation under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts Act. As of Oct 2026.

Without a valid notice the deduction is not allowed, however strong the contractor thinks its case is. It can argue the true value later, after paying.

Pay-when-paid, retention and insolvency

• A clause paying you only once the main contractor is paid is ineffective outside the insolvency exception. Use the Scheme timetable and claim interest.
• Retention held past its release date on finished work is a debt: send each job's statement and a demand with interest, and adjudicate if it is ignored.
• If the main contractor goes into administration, do not assume you can stop work. Check the subcontract, any moratorium and whether a suspension right has already arisen, and take insolvency advice first. Secure unfixed goods where your title clause works, prove the debt and reconcile CIS.
• Working past a letter of intent cap with no signed contract: stop at the cap until you have written authority, and take legal advice.

If the client is a homeowner

None of the Construction Act steps apply to a homeowner's work on their own home. Fix any genuine snags in writing, price the disputed items separately, then send a letter before claim under the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims (the client gets 30 days to reply) and use the small claims track for claims up to £10,000 in England and Wales. If they threaten a bad review, reply factually and without their personal details. As of Oct 2026.

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