Time bars & EOT notices
A time bar clause extinguishes a claim unless you give notice within a fixed window — sometimes as short as 48 hours from the delaying event. It's the quietest way subcontractors lose money: not by doing bad work, but by doing the paperwork three days late. Standard forms like AS4000 allow 28 days for an EOT claim; aggressive subcontracts cut that to 5 or 7, then add a second notice as a further precondition.
The clause makes notice a condition precedent: no notice in time, no entitlement — regardless of merit. Watch for the layered version: an initial notice within days of the event, detailed particulars within another window, and updated particulars monthly, where missing any layer bars the claim. Count every distinct notice obligation in the contract before signing; finding six is common, and each one is a tripwire.
Western Australia pioneered a statutory answer: under its Security of Payment Act 2021 (s 16), an adjudicator or court can declare a notice-based time bar unfair — and of no effect for that claim — where compliance wasn't reasonably possible or would be unreasonably onerous. Victoria adopted the same mechanism in its April 2026 reforms (s 13A), covering payment, EOT, and security-release notices. Elsewhere, including NSW and QLD, there's no blanket rule voiding time bars — clauses that obstruct statutory payment rights can fall foul of anti-contracting-out provisions, but a well-drafted EOT time bar generally stands. Assume it will be enforced.
Ask for: 10–20 business days for initial notices (measured from when you became aware, not when the event occurred), 'notice-first, particulars-later' so a short holding notice preserves the claim, and no time bars on statutory rights. Pair every ask with the LD cap conversation — a heavy LD rate beside a 5-day EOT bar is one mechanism designed to run out your entitlements.
Whatever survives negotiation, build it into site routine: a one-page notice template, a deadline list per contract, and a default of 'notice everything, withdraw later'. A brief protective notice costs five minutes; a barred claim costs the whole entitlement — how subbies lose money they've earned walks the discipline in full. ContractorCounter Review extracts every notice obligation and time bar in the document so the deadline list writes itself.
Common questions
A clause that makes timely written notice a condition of a claim — for an extension of time, a variation, or delay costs — so that missing the notice window extinguishes the entitlement entirely, however valid the underlying claim. Windows range from 28 days in standard forms like AS4000 down to 48 hours in aggressive subcontracts, and many contracts stack multiple notice layers where missing any one bars the claim.
Generally yes, if clearly drafted — courts enforce conditions precedent, which is exactly why they're used. The exceptions are specific: WA's Security of Payment Act 2021 (s 16) and Victoria's 2026 reforms (s 13A) let adjudicators and courts declare a notice-based time bar unfair and of no effect where compliance wasn't reasonably possible or would be unreasonably onerous; and clauses that operate to defeat statutory payment rights can be void under anti-contracting-out provisions like NSW's s 34. Outside those lanes, plan on the time bar being enforced as written.
Treat notices as production work, not admin. Extract every notice obligation and deadline into one list the day you sign; use a standing one-page notice template; measure deadlines from the event, not from when you got around to it; and when in doubt, send a short protective notice — 'we notify a delay event occurred on [date]; particulars follow' — because notice-first-particulars-later preserves claims that silence kills.
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