Queensland BIF Act Project Trust Accounts, Explained

What a PTA is, in one sentence

A Project Trust Account (PTA) is a separate bank account opened by the head contractor at the start of a Queensland commercial construction project. Money paid by the principal goes in. Money paid to subcontractors comes out. The head contractor's general operating funds never touch it.

The PTA framework lives inside the Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017 (Qld) — the "BIF Act." Its purpose is to stop the recurring pattern where a head contractor receives payment from the principal, mingles it with general operating cash, and then can't pay subcontractors because the funds have been spent on overheads or a different job.

Who's caught — the current thresholds

As of 2026, PTAs are required on:

• Queensland Government and hospital and health service contracts valued at $1 million or more, and
• Local government and private industry contracts valued at $10 million or more.

That's the current settled position after several delays. In January 2025, the Queensland Government pushed back the next phase of the rollout — which was meant to drop the private-industry threshold further — and handed the timing to the Queensland Productivity Commission. As at mid-2026, no firm new date has been published, but the direction of travel is clear: thresholds will keep falling. Builders doing private commercial work above $3 million should plan as if they'll be caught within 12 to 24 months.

What the head contractor has to do

If you're the head contractor on a caught project, the obligations stack up fast:

1. Open a PTA before you start. It must be a separate account at a financial institution with an Australian banking authorisation. Mixing PTA funds with operating accounts is the single most common compliance breach.
2. All payments from the principal go into the PTA. Variations, retention release, final payments — everything related to the contract.
3. All payments to directly contracted subcontractors come out of the PTA. Plus your own margin and overheads attributable to that project, which can be drawn from the PTA in the normal course.
4. You can pay yourself for work done on the project — the PTA is not a "subbies only" account. But the order of payment matters: subbies before yourself, when funds are tight.
5. Notify subcontractors that a PTA exists within 5 business days of opening it. They have inspection rights — they can ask for records of what's in the account.
6. Maintain transaction records for at least 7 years and provide them on QBCC request.

Penalties for non-compliance under the BIF Act run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars and include personal liability for company directors.

What the subcontractor needs to know

Most subbies don't have to open their own PTA. Subcontract-to-subcontract chains are generally exempt — the framework targets the principal-to-head-contractor relationship where the money actually enters the chain.

What you do need to do:

• Confirm in writing that a PTA exists for any contract above the threshold. If you're on a $3 million private fitout, the head contractor must open one and notify you within 5 business days.
• Keep your payment claims clean. PTAs work only if the money owed to you is properly claimed and documented. A vague invoice that doesn't reference the contract or itemise the work makes life harder for the head contractor's PTA administrator and easier for them to delay you.
• Exercise your inspection rights if a payment is late. You're entitled to ask for the PTA records that show what came in from the principal and what went out to other subbies.
• Use the BIF Act's payment timeframes. Subcontractors on a caught project must be paid within statutory timeframes (usually 25 business days from claim, with adjudication rights if missed).

Evidence: what you actually need to produce this quarter

Compliance audits are increasing. Both QBCC and the principals themselves are now demanding evidence packs at major milestones. Here is the practical minimum:

For the head contractor

• PTA bank statements for every project period, showing principal payments in and subcontractor payments out.
• A reconciliation ledger mapping each principal payment to the subcontractor disbursements it funded.
• Copies of every payment claim received from subcontractors and the corresponding payment schedule you issued.
• Notice-of-PTA records showing the date each subcontractor was notified and the form of notice used.
• Internal controls documentation showing who has signing authority on the PTA and how payments are approved.

For the subcontractor

• Signed scope and contract for each PTA-caught job.
• Dated, sequential payment claims referencing the BIF Act.
• Photo and document evidence for each milestone or progress claim — what was done, when, where.
• Written variation orders for any work outside the original scope, signed before the work starts where possible.
• Records of payment schedules received (or not received) within 15 business days of each claim.

If you can produce these on demand, you're inside the compliance envelope. If you can't, you'll spend the next twelve months rebuilding the audit trail under pressure.

Where a CRM with milestone escrow plugs in

The PTA framework solves the liquidity problem — money is ring-fenced so it can't be spent on the wrong job. It doesn't solve the evidence problem — every party in the chain still has to maintain the documentary record that proves what work was done, when, and for how much.

That's where a properly configured milestone CRM plugs into the framework:

• Milestone definitions become the basis for your payment claims under the contract. Each milestone is a discrete, measurable trigger ("waterproofing complete to AS 3740, sign-off photo attached"), not a vague progress percentage.
• Milestone escrow holds the principal's milestone payment in a regulated trustee account until the milestone is signed off — analogous in function to a PTA at the milestone level. The money exists, it's ring-fenced, and it can only flow when the evidence is on file.
• Audit log captures every change in milestone status, every variation, every payment claim, every approval. When QBCC or the principal asks for records, the export is one click.
• Subcontractor notification is automated. Every subbie attached to a project gets a system notice when the PTA-equivalent escrow is funded.

For a head contractor caught by the PTA framework, this doesn't replace the bank-side PTA — that statutory obligation stands. What it does is provide the evidence layer sitting on top of it: the documentary record that the PTA framework assumes you're maintaining but doesn't actually generate for you.

What to do this quarter

If you're a Queensland head contractor with a project in the pipeline above $3 million private or $1 million government:

1. Open the PTA before the principal's first payment lands. Banks take 2 to 3 weeks. Don't be the head contractor with a $200,000 incoming wire and no compliant account to receive it.
2. Set your subcontractor notification template so it goes out within 5 business days.
3. Build your reconciliation workflow — spreadsheet at minimum, ideally a proper ledger that maps principal-in to subbie-out.
4. Brief your accounts team on the PTA rules. Mingling funds is usually a clerical mistake, not deliberate, but it's still the breach that gets prosecuted.

If you're a Queensland subcontractor working on commercial projects:

1. Ask, in writing, whether each job is PTA-caught. Keep the reply.
2. Audit your payment-claim format against the BIF Act requirements. Most subbies' invoices don't comply with section 75 of the Act, which is a free way to lose adjudications.
3. Set up your milestone evidence pipeline — photos, sign-offs, written variation acceptance — so when payment is delayed, the file is ready.

The honest read

The PTA framework is good policy poorly rolled out. It works where it applies. The rollout delays mean it's still applying to a fraction of the projects that the industry needs it to apply to, but the direction is one-way. Plan as if you'll be caught within the next 24 months — the operational lift is real, and getting ahead of it is much cheaper than scrambling when the threshold drops.

Stagex's milestone CRM was designed against the PTA framework's evidence requirements. Sign up at stagex.com.au and run your next project against the regime regulators are quietly building toward.

Sources

• Project Trust Accounts (PTAs) — Master Builders Queensland
• Trust account framework — Queensland Department of Housing and Public Works
• Trust account rollout — Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC)
• Staying alert: PTA framework rollout delays in Queensland — MinterEllison
• Project Trust Accounts: A Builder's Guide to Queensland's New Rules — Merlo Law