Construction adjudication is a fast-track way to get a payment dispute decided by a neutral adjudicator in about a month, instead of waiting years for a court. Where prompt-payment law is in force, you refer the dispute, the adjudicator reviews the documents, and a written determination lands in roughly 30 to 46 days. It must be paid within 10 to 15 days, and it is interim-binding: it stands until a court or arbitration finally decides, so you get paid now without giving up your right to fight on later. It is available in Ontario, on federal projects, in Saskatchewan, Alberta, Manitoba (new contracts) and the Northwest Territories has the payment rules but not adjudication.
What adjudication is, and what it is not
Adjudication is not court and it is not arbitration. It is a streamlined process built into the prompt-payment legislation to break payment logjams while the job is still moving. The adjudicator is a trained construction professional, often an engineer, quantity surveyor, project manager or lawyer with at least ten years in the industry. The whole thing usually runs on documents, not a courtroom hearing, and it is confidential.
The key feature is that the determination is interim-binding. The losing party must pay, but either side can still take the underlying dispute to court or arbitration afterwards for a final ruling. In practice most determinations are simply paid and the matter ends there.
What you can adjudicate
The disputes you can refer are payment-focused: the value of services or materials, payment under the contract including approved or unapproved change orders, set-off amounts, holdback, and disputes flowing from a notice of non-payment. In Ontario, amendments in force 1 January 2026 widened this further to cover scope-of-work disputes, change-order price requests and extension-of-time requests, and you can now refer a dispute up to 90 days after the contract is complete, abandoned or terminated.
The step-by-step process
The Ontario process is the model the other provinces broadly follow:
- Notice of adjudication. The claimant serves a written notice on the other party and sends a copy to the nominating authority, identifying the parties, the contract, the dispute and the relief sought.
- Pick the adjudicator. The parties have about 4 days to agree on one from the registry. If they cannot, the authority appoints one, usually within 7 days.
- Submit documents. Within 5 days of the appointment, the claimant files the contract, the invoice, proof of delivery and supporting documents.
- The determination. The adjudicator must issue a written determination within 30 days of receiving the claimant's documents.
- Get paid. Payment is due within 15 days in Ontario (10 days in some provinces). If it is not paid, you can register the determination as a court order and enforce by garnishment, and you can suspend work and recover your suspension costs.
What it costs
Adjudication is far cheaper than court. The adjudicator's fee is usually negotiated and split equally between the parties. In Ontario, fallback flat fees run from about $1,100 to $3,300, and ODACC charges no referral fee for claims under $50,000; at or above $50,000 there is a $600 referral fee plus a $120 certification fee, each plus HST. For a typical $60,000 claim, the all-in cost is often in the range of $800 to $1,900 for your side. Each party normally bears its own legal costs, unless someone acted in bad faith.
Who runs it, by jurisdiction
Each in-force jurisdiction has its own nominating or adjudicator authority:
- Ontario: the Ontario Dispute Adjudication for Construction Contracts (ODACC).
- Federal projects: Canada Dispute Adjudication for Construction Contracts (CanDACC), under the Federal Prompt Payment for Construction Work Act; note federal projects in designated provinces (Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta) use that province's regime instead.
- Saskatchewan: the Saskatchewan Construction Dispute Resolution Office (SCDRO). The notice of adjudication is Form A.6, available via the SCDRO adjudication page.
- Manitoba: the Manitoba Prompt Payment Adjudication Authority (MPPAA) and the Winnipeg Construction Association; the notice of adjudication is Form 6 under Manitoba Regulation 113/2024.
- Quebec is different: there is no ODACC equivalent. For public projects only, a dispute goes to an accredited third-person decider on a register kept by the Minister of Justice, decided within 50 days of designation.
Common mistakes
- Waiting for adjudication to finish before preserving a lien. Adjudication does not pause the lien clock. Run both in parallel: protect the lien first, then adjudicate.
- Assuming it is available everywhere. It is not available in British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, Yukon or Nunavut, and the Northwest Territories has the payment rules without an adjudication step.
- Missing the referral window. In Ontario you must refer within 90 days of contract completion; after a notice of non-payment, the related referral undertaking runs on a 21-day clock.
- Treating the determination as final. It is interim-binding only. Pay it, but know the merits can still be litigated.
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