Bill 20, the Construction Prompt Payment Act, received Royal Assent on November 27, 2025. It is not yet in force: the province is finalizing regulations, standing up an adjudication authority, and running a transition period. When it lands, BC construction payment stops being governed mainly by contract terms and starts being governed by statutory clocks.
Here is the whole system in one list.
The payment clocks
Everything starts with a 'proper invoice', an invoice meeting statutory content requirements, which contractors are entitled to submit at least monthly. From the day the owner receives it: the owner has 7 days to reject the invoice as non-conforming, 14 days to deliver a notice of non-payment disputing some or all of it, and 28 days to pay whatever isn't validly disputed.
The notice of non-payment is the pivot. Without a valid notice inside 14 days, the full invoice is due at day 28. Withholding without one stops being a negotiating position and becomes a statutory breach.
Once a contractor is paid, the money must flow down: subcontractors must be paid within 7 days of the contractor receiving payment. Sixty-day sub terms and pay-when-paid clauses collide head-on with this.
Adjudication: disputes in weeks, not years
Payment disputes get a fast-track process. An adjudicator, once appointed, must deliver a written determination within 35 days unless the parties agree otherwise. A party ordered to pay must do so within 15 days, and an unpaid party may suspend work if it doesn't happen.
Fast processes reward organized parties. If assembling your contract, invoices, and correspondence for a project takes you three weeks, adjudication timelines will hurt. If it takes an afternoon, they're your friend.
The lien changes riding along
The same bill amends the Builders Lien Act: the holdback period drops from 55 days to 46, and the Shimco lien against the holdback is abolished. The 45-day lien filing window itself is unchanged.
What to do before the in-force date
Get your invoice template to proper-invoice standard, set a hard internal deadline of under 7 days for reviewing incoming invoices, align subcontract payment terms with the 7-day flow-down, and put someone specific in charge of deadlines. LienClock's free readiness audit scores you on exactly these practices, and the waitlist gets one email the day the in-force date is announced.