Progress payments in Queensland
Here, nothing is prescribed except proportionality — and the figures people quote come from a template, not the law. What a progress payment is, and how the stages of a build line up, is on the main guide.
Queensland does not set stage percentages. Only Victoria and the Northern Territory do. Here the amounts are whatever your contract says, and the law constrains how they may be claimed rather than how large they may be — so the check below is a different one.
Queensland: what the law sets
- Deposit, $3,300 or less
- Maximum 20%
- Deposit, $3,301 to $19,999
- Maximum 10%
- Deposit, $20,000 and over
- Maximum 5%
- Deposit, off-site work
- Up to 20% where off-site customised or prefabricated work exceeds 50% of the price
- Stage percentages
- Not prescribed — negotiated above $3,300
- The rule that bites
- No claim above 50% of the price until at least 50% of on-site work is done
Read from QBCC, Deposits and progress payments on 26 October 2026. Queensland Building and Construction Commission is the authority on what applies to a particular contract, and a figure here is a ceiling rather than an entitlement.
Queensland prescribes deposits, and nothing else
The deposit caps above are ceilings set by law. The progress payments are not: for any contract over $3,300 the number and timing are negotiated between you and the contractor, and the QBCC sets no stages and no percentages.
What the law polices instead is proportionality. Every payment must relate to the work actually completed, and the worked example the regulator gives is the one to remember — a contractor cannot claim more than 50% of the contract price, deposit included, until at least half the on-site work is finished.
The figures you will be quoted are from a contract template
Search for Queensland stage payments and you will be given 15% base, 20% frame, 25% enclosed, 20% fixing, 15% practical completion. Those numbers are real, but they are the defaults in the QBCC's own new home contract template. They are not law and they are not caps. A contract using different figures is not breaking a rule, and a contract using exactly those figures is not thereby compliant — the proportionality test still applies to it.
The distinction matters in the one situation that counts. If a builder claims a stage you think is overpriced, quoting the template at them establishes nothing. Showing that the claim exceeds the work actually done on site is the argument the law actually gives you.
Questions about paying a builder in Queensland
Are the 15/20/25/20/15 stage figures the law in Queensland?
No. They are the defaults in the QBCC's new home contract template. The law sets no stage percentages; for contracts over $3,300 the stages and amounts are negotiated.
What stops a builder front-loading the payments?
The proportionality rule. Payments must relate to work actually completed, and a contractor cannot claim more than 50% of the price, including the deposit, until at least 50% of the on-site work is done.
What is the maximum deposit?
5% where the price is $20,000 or more, 10% between $3,301 and $19,999, and 20% at $3,300 or less. Up to 20% is allowed where off-site customised or prefabricated work is more than half the contract price.