If you read our Ontario holdback guide, you know the drill: 10% off every progress payment, held until the lien period clears, with new annual-release rules in 2026. But the moment your business crosses a provincial line — a demolition job in the Lower Mainland, a reno crew working Calgary, a supplier shipping into Montréal — the rules change. Not the 10% habit; the deadlines, the paperwork, and the security you actually hold.
This guide covers the three markets most Ontario-rooted contractors stumble into: British Columbia, Alberta, and Québec. Same discipline as always — every number here comes straight from the statute, with the source listed at the bottom.
BC: the Builders Lien Act
British Columbia’s holdback rules live in the Builders Lien Act, S.B.C. 1997, c. 45. The core numbers:
- The holdback is 10% of the greater of the value of the work or material actually provided, or the payments made on account of the contract price (s. 4(1)) — and it applies at every level of the contract chain.
- The holdback period expires 55 days after the certificate of completion is issued, or 55 days after the head contract is completed if no certificate issues (s. 8(1)).
- A “certificate of completion” is issued by the payment certifier — an architect, engineer, or other person named in the contract; if none is named, the owner fills that role (s. 7).
That 55-day clock is the single biggest difference from Ontario, where holdback is released after the 60-day lien period. In BC, the certificate of completion is the trigger — so who certifies, and when, matters enormously to your cash flow. If nobody issues a certificate, the clock runs from completion of the head contract instead.
BC lien deadlines move fast
If a payment dispute is brewing, a claim of lien must be filed no later than 45 days after the certificate of completion was issued — or after the head contract was completed if there is no certificate (s. 20(1)). Miss it and the lien right is gone. Two more details: claims under $200 can’t be filed at all (s. 17), and enforcing a lien means an action in BC Supreme Court (s. 26) — real litigation, not a strongly worded email.
BC still has no prompt payment law in force
Here’s the part that surprises people: BC passed a prompt payment act in late 2025, and it is still not law you can use. The Construction Prompt Payment Act, SBC 2025, c. 24, received royal assent on November 27, 2025 — but every operative part of it is marked “Not in force,” and it only comes into force by regulation of the Lieutenant Governor in Council (s. 59).
Practical meaning: as of today, a BC contractor has no statutory payment clock. Your invoice terms are the clock. That makes contract negotiation and invoice discipline in BC more important, not less — nobody is coming to force the owner’s hand on a schedule.
Alberta: the Prompt Payment and Construction Lien Act
Alberta is the opposite story. The Prompt Payment and Construction Lien Act (RSA 2000, c. P-26.4) has had an active prompt-payment regime since its 2020 amendment, and it has teeth:
- Holdback: 10% retained under s. 18 — the Act’s own lien-fund definitions reference “the 10% referred to in section 18(1)”.
- Owner must pay a proper invoice no later than 28 days after receiving it (s. 32.2(1)). To dispute it, the owner must deliver a notice of dispute within 14 days (s. 32.2(2)) — silence means the invoice stands.
- The contractor must pass payment down to subcontractors within 7 days of receiving it, for the amounts included in that proper invoice (s. 32.3(1)).
- Interest accrues on unpaid amounts at the prescribed rates (s. 32.6).
The “proper invoice” definition (s. 32.1) is strict — it lists what the invoice must contain, from contractor details to the payment period covered. An invoice that doesn’t meet the checklist can fall outside the regime’s protection, so Alberta billing paperwork is worth doing properly.
Alberta lien timelines
Alberta liens expire on their own if you don’t act: a lien must be registered within 60 days of the work being completed or the contract abandoned (s. 41 — with a 90-day window only for oil and gas well site and concrete-related improvements). Minimum claim is $700 (s. 35(3)). And registration isn’t the finish line — a registered lien ceases to exist unless an action is commenced and a certificate of lis pendens registered within 180 days of registration (s. 43(1)).
So an Alberta subcontractor’s real protection calendar is: 60 days to register, 180 days to lawyer up and file. Compare Ontario’s 60-day preservation window and you can see why crews working both provinces need two separate deadline systems, not one.
Québec: a different legal family entirely
Québec doesn’t use liens at all. Under the Civil Code of Québec, subs and suppliers get a legal hypothec on construction — a real mortgage-style security on the building itself (arts. 2724, 2726–2728). The client-side withholding rule also reads differently: the Code lets the client withhold from the contract price an amount sufficient to pay the claims of workers and other persons who have given notice and may enforce a legal hypothec (art. 2123) — rather than mandating one fixed statutory percentage the way the common-law provinces do.
The preservation clock is short and procedural: the hypothec exists without any publication, but it subsists for only 30 days after the work is completed unless a notice describing the immovable and stating the claim amount is registered — and served on the owner — within that window. Even then, it is extinguished six months after completion unless the creditor publishes an action against the owner or registers a prior notice of exercise of a hypothecary right (art. 2727). The strategic takeaway is the same either way: in Québec, your unpaid invoice can attach to the immovable itself, and the 30-day/6-month sequence is what preserves that position.
What this means for your process
- One calendar per province, not one national calendar. BC: 45-day lien filing, 55-day holdback release. Alberta: 60-day registration, 180-day action. Ontario: its own clock. Québec: hypothec notices.
- In BC, chase the certificate of completion — it starts both your holdback release and everyone’s lien countdown.
- In Alberta, invoice to the proper-invoice checklist; it’s the difference between statutory protection and an ordinary debt.
- In Québec, written notice of your contract to the client is what powers hypothec rights — don’t leave it to memory.
None of this is exotic. It’s calendar discipline with province-specific dates — exactly the kind of thing spreadsheets quietly get wrong when jobs stack up.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Statutes get amended and commencement dates move; confirm current requirements for your province with the statute itself and qualified counsel before acting.