Getting Paid
Your contract, your lien rights, and what to do when a client or general contractor stalls.
Getting paid in Canadian construction rests on two things: the contract you signed, and the lien rights every province gives you by statute. A tradesperson who has supplied work or materials to a property can register a lien against it, which is powerful leverage but runs on tight deadlines. On top of that, most provinces and the federal government have brought in prompt-payment and adjudication regimes that force payment on a timeline and give you a fast route to a binding decision. This hub covers getting the contract right, holdback, the lien and its deadlines, prompt payment, limitation periods, and small claims. The rules differ by province, and Quebec runs on its own system, so always check your own jurisdiction.
Get the contract right first
Your strongest position starts before the job: a written contract or signed quote setting the price, the deposit, when progress draws fall due, how many days the client has to pay, and what happens if they do not. A handshake deal is still enforceable, but you have to prove the terms, which is far harder once money is owed. Spell out your payment terms, your right to charge interest on overdue amounts, and the holdback. If you are a subcontractor, read the payment clauses in the general contractor's contract and diarise the dates; pay-when-paid wording can leave you waiting on the owner's payment to the general, so push back or negotiate a longstop date. A clean contract is also what a prompt-payment notice or a lien claim is built on later.
Holdback: the money held back by law
On most construction projects the payer is required by the provincial lien legislation to hold back a percentage of every payment (commonly 10 percent) as security for unpaid subcontractors and suppliers. The holdback is released after the lien period for the project has expired and any liens are cleared. The percentage and the release timing come from your province's Act, with some exceptions (Manitoba's holdback is 7.5 percent, and Prince Edward Island sits higher), so check the figure for where you work. The two things that catch trades out are not realising holdback is being kept (it is on top of, not instead of, the price), and not chasing its release once the lien period has run. Diarise the release date and ask for it in writing.
The construction lien: your biggest lever
Every province and territory gives a contractor, subcontractor or supplier the right to register a lien (called a builders' lien, construction lien, or mechanics' lien depending on the province) against the property you improved when you are not paid. It is powerful because it clouds the owner's title, but it is unforgiving on time: you have a fixed number of days from your last day of work or last supply to register, and miss it by a day and the right is gone. The deadline varies a lot, for example 60 days in Ontario and 40 clear days in Saskatchewan, so do not rely on a number from another province. After registering you have a further period to start a court action to perfect the lien. Quebec does not use liens at all; it uses a legal hypothec of construction, which has its own 30-day registration rule. Check the deadline for your province, and treat the clock as running from your last day on site.
Prompt payment and adjudication
A wave of prompt-payment law has changed how fast you must be paid. Ontario led with its Construction Act (in force October 2019); the federal government, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and others have followed with their own regimes, and more are phasing in. Where it applies, a proper invoice starts a statutory clock: the owner generally has 28 days to pay the general contractor, who then has 7 days to pay subcontractors, and a payer who wants to hold money back must send a notice of non-payment within a set time. The same laws give you adjudication, a fast, binding interim decision by a neutral adjudicator that gets you paid now and argued later, instead of waiting years for a trial. The detail and the in-force dates differ by province, so check the status for where you work, and serve a proper invoice and the right notices to keep your rights alive.
When they still will not pay
If reminders fail, send a formal demand letter: it puts the debt, the deadline and the interest in writing and is the step a court expects you to have taken. If that fails, your route depends on the amount and the deadline. Small claims court is cheap, fast and lawyer-optional, but the limit varies by province, for example $50,000 in Ontario and lower or higher elsewhere, so check your province's ceiling. Above the limit you go to the superior court. Mind the clock: most provinces have a basic limitation period of two years from when you knew you had a claim to start a court action (Quebec is generally three years), with longer ultimate limits, so do not let an old invoice drift. And remember the lien runs on a much shorter clock than the limitation period, so protect the lien first.