What does Texas’s prompt payment law require on private construction?

In Texas, an owner must pay a contractor’s written payment request within 35 days of receiving it, a contractor must pay each subcontractor its share within 7 days of being paid, and an unpaid amount bears interest of 1.5% a month. The chapter covers private owners only, since "owner" excludes a governmental entity. Interest starts the day after the payment becomes due. In a good faith dispute under a contract for a detached single-family home, duplex, triplex or quadruplex, the disputing party may withhold no more than 110 percent of the difference between the amounts each side claims. A written contract for a single-family residence may let the owner pay on a date before the 61st day after receiving the payment request, and any other attempted waiver of the chapter is void. If the owner’s lender fails to disburse loan proceeds within 35 days after the owner received the request, the owner’s deadline becomes the fifth day after the owner receives the loan proceeds. A written contract can set its own payment terms where the statute allows. This is Tex. Prop. Code §§ 28.001, 28.002, 28.003, 28.004, 28.006, 28.008.

WhatTexas
Payment deadlineOwner pays within 35 days; sub within 7; 1.5% a month
Who this coversPrivate construction, not only public works

What the statute says

“… the owner shall pay the amount to the contractor, less any amount withheld as authorized by statute, not later than the 35th day after the date the owner receives the request.”

Quoted word for word from the section’s text.

Source

Tex. Prop. Code §§ 28.001, 28.002, 28.003, 28.004, 28.006, 28.008

Read the statute in the Texas Statutes (Texas Legislature): statutes.capitol.texas.gov.

Checked against the statute on November 15, 2026.

This is a summary of a published statute, not legal advice. Rules change, local ordinances can add to them, and the terms of a specific lease may differ. Check the citation and speak to a lawyer before acting.

How Seayora uses this rule

A contractor on Seayora keeps every job’s dates, its estimate, its invoices and its payments in one record, so the date work was last performed, the date each invoice went out and the amount still owed are on file when a lien or payment deadline is counted.

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