The contract says nothing about when we get paid

A contract that never states the payment cycle hasn't left the question open. Construction contracts get the Construction Act's default machinery where their own is missing or non-compliant, and those implied terms come with their own dates and notice windows. The cycle the parties have actually been working to - agreed by habit and email - may match none of it.

The gap stays harmless while everyone keeps getting paid. It stops being harmless the first time money is short: rights turn on the contractual dates, not the habitual ones, and neither side can say with confidence what those dates are. A review establishes which machinery actually applies and writes the calendar down - and where what's implied and what's practised have drifted apart, that is a conversation to have while relations are still good.