Subcontractors add risk margins
More than half of subcontractors surveyed in Australia and New Zealand said they tack a risk margin onto bids when payments run slow, signalling payment timing is feeding price and availability decisions; Payapps is launching an Early Payment feature to address that problem. (manilatimes.net)
Slow payment is now showing up in construction prices: 55% of subcontractors in Australia and New Zealand told Payapps they add a risk margin when a builder pays late. (manilatimes.net) The survey covered 754 subcontractors, and 44% said they would be less likely to bid again for a builder known for slow or unreliable payment. Payapps, an Autodesk company, published the preliminary findings on April 13, 2026. (manilatimes.net) Payapps said 39% of respondents would reject early payment if it came with a fee above 2% of the invoice, while 38% said they would accept a discount of 1% or less to get paid sooner. The company is launching an Early Payment feature inside its progress-claim software to let main contractors manage those requests in the same workflow. (tmcnet.com) In construction, subcontractors often carry labor and materials costs for weeks before a payment clears. When cash arrives late, smaller firms can respond by raising bid prices, avoiding certain builders, or both. (payapps.com) That puts payment timing alongside price and workload as a factor in who gets a bid and at what cost. Payapps said its new tool is meant to standardize optional early-payment offers rather than change contract terms. (payapps.com) The company sells software for progress claims, the monthly payment requests contractors and subcontractors file as work is completed. On its website, Payapps says the platform is built to help users comply with Australia’s Security of Payment laws and New Zealand’s Construction Contracts Act. (payapps.com ) Autodesk moved deeper into that niche in 2025, saying Payapps — known as GCPay in North America — had helped construction teams save nearly 350,000 project hours a year. Autodesk said the acquisition was aimed at improving payment visibility between project stakeholders. (autodesk.com) Payapps has been making a broader case that payment administration is still too manual in the region’s construction industry. In a separate 2025 survey of 125 finance professionals in Australia and New Zealand, the company said 37% were dissatisfied with their current systems for managing progress claims. (prnewswire.com) The immediate question is whether builders use early payment often enough to change bidding behavior. For now, Payapps’ own survey suggests subcontractors are already pricing payment risk into the next job. (manilatimes.net)
