A deadline arrives, and the reflex is to buy something: software, a consultant, a platform plan. Call it the software reflex. It jumps past the cheaper first move, which is to read what the rule really demands and look for a free official channel that already covers it.
Here are five Quebec requirements with dates attached, or imposed on suppliers by large clients. Each section says what the rule asks, when it bites, and where the official tool lives.
Sources are government pages, law-firm bulletins, and vendor pages checked in October 2026 and read as search extracts. A number carried by only one document is flagged as such. None of this is legal advice. Amounts are in Canadian dollars unless marked US.
| Requirement | Who has to act | Key date | Official channel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prompt payment | Contractors and subcontractors on public construction contracts | Started September 8, 2025; widened September 8, 2026; all covered contracts September 8, 2027 | Treasury Board guide, quebec.ca page |
| Energy declaration | Owners of large buildings | June 30, 2027; smaller buildings in 2028 | Provincial platform fed by utility data |
| Prequalification | Contractors serving large clients | Whenever the client says | None; the client’s own price sheet |
| Pay equity | Employers with 10 or more employees | Every five years | Free CNESST online tool |
| Residential inspection | Owners building outside the new-home warranty plan | Draft only | Building regulator documents |
Prompt payment on public construction contracts
About 400 public bodies are bound by the regulation. Cities aren’t, for now: the municipal contracts law still waits on a regulation that nobody has adopted (ACQ).
The rollout depends on contract size (ACQ, Miller Thomson):
- September 8, 2025: buildings at $750,000 and above, civil works at $2.5 million and above.
- September 8, 2026: buildings from $75,000, civil works from $675,000.
- September 8, 2027: every covered contract.
The calendar sits in the Treasury Board secretariat’s guide. Subcontractors submit by the 25th. The general contractor submits on the 1st. The public body has until the 21st to refuse and until month end to pay. Below it, the general contractor pays by the 5th, the next tier by the 10th, and each further tier gets five more days.
Some rules matter more than the dates. A payment request must be written, dated, and signed with set content, and it’s presumed valid unless challenged before the refusal deadline (BLG). A refusal must also be written, naming the amount, the items, and the contract clauses. Anything not refused in time becomes payable. Expect a 10% holdback and late interest at whichever is higher, the contract rate or the 5% legal rate. Disputes go to an accredited third-party decision-maker with 50 days to rule.
Where to look: the Treasury Board guide, which runs about 40 pages and speaks to public bodies; the regulation page on quebec.ca; and a free ACQ webinar for members. Our searches found no software sold for this rule. Ontario has run a similar regime since 2019, and a firm there tells contractors to keep a simple log of invoice dates, due dates, and notices.
Quebec’s own 2018 to 2021 pilot struggled with communication, not arithmetic. Subcontractors weren’t told the calendar applied, change orders muddied the dates, and fixed dates bunched the work (Treasury Board report). So begin with a written notice to every firm in your chain saying the calendar applies.
The yearly energy declaration
The regulation was made on June 9, 2026, and appeared in the Gazette officielle on June 23. By June 30, 2027, these buildings must file: commercial and municipal ones of 5,000 m² or more, residential ones of 50 units or more, and State buildings over 100 m². The next tier, 2,000 m² or 25 units and up, files in 2028 (quebec.ca). A first filing needs monthly energy data going back two years. The government counts roughly 48,200 buildings.
Filing was designed to be light. In the government’s words, collection is “automatisée et prise en charge par les distributeurs d’énergie”: automated, and handled by the energy distributors (news release). The province’s platform is expected in early 2027, and its builder was announced in October. Hydro-Québec has a page on sharing your consumption data with the free benchmarking tool the province accepts.
The one item with a price tag is verification. It’s due at least every four years and has to come from a member of a named professional order; the technologists’ order is on the list, and we didn’t read the rest of it.
In Montreal, owners have already been disclosing to the city, staggered by size from 2022 to 2024, under bylaw 21-042. Owners elsewhere in Quebec file for the first time in 2027.
We found no Quebec price for filing help. Elsewhere, an Ontario firm lists $150 a building for a data-verification report, and a Chicago non-profit listed US$800 a building in 2021; each is a single page. Before you pay for a filing, ask what the platform will already pre-fill from your utility’s records.
What a missed declaration costs, we couldn’t confirm. The regulation’s text answers that.
Prequalification platforms: a client’s condition, two price grids
No statute requires Cognibox, ISNetworld, or Avetta. A large client makes them a condition of doing business. Hydro-Québec requires Cognibox of its suppliers (supplier session, October 2023), and Cognibox takes payment before opening access. Expect a yearly fee, a file you keep current, and, for some clients, written safety programs.
The yearly fee is where sources part ways. Hydro-Québec’s sheet, version of January 19, 2024, reads:
| Employees | New Cognibox member | Already a member |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 5 | $105 | $75 |
| 6 to 19 | $236 | $75 |
| 20 to 99 | $394 | $100 |
| 100 to 499 | $540 | $100 |
| 500 or more | $630 | $100 |
A safety consultant’s page is undated, adds tax, and doesn’t name a currency. It shows $780 for 0 to 2 employees, $1,230 for 6 to 20, $2,850 for 76 to 100, and $14,300 for 901 to 1,000. For the smallest firms that’s about seven times Hydro-Québec’s figure. Capterra Canada shows from $300 a year. Our guess is two separate fees, a grid negotiated for Hydro-Québec suppliers and the platform’s standard list, but no document says so.
For the other platforms, the numbers come mostly from US pages. They list US$400 to US$900 a year for Avetta at a small contractor, with larger firms reaching US$5,000 and more, and about US$875 as the ISNetworld baseline, climbing to US$1,500 to US$3,000 for bigger companies (ExpiryEdge, a seller of alternatives). Consultants there charge $300 to $1,500 for each written safety program. A small general contractor needs 8 to 12, delivered in two to six weeks.
Last year’s invoice answers the grid question. Your client knows which price sheet it uses.
Pay equity: maintenance every five years
The Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CNESST) counted 40,007 employers covered by the Pay Equity Act on December 31, 2025. The maintenance exercise comes back every five years, and the working papers stay on file for six (CNESST, maintenance evaluation). An employer guide puts fines at up to $45,000. That’s one source, dated January 2025.
The official tool is the CNESST’s own, and it’s free. No consultant we looked at publishes a price, so request more than one quote before hiring help. A caution: the documents we read disagree on one date in the maintenance calendar, so confirm yours with the CNESST before you schedule anything.
The first step costs nothing. Find the date your last exercise was completed, then open the CNESST tool before you phone anyone.
Mandatory inspection of new homes: a draft, nothing more
The construction-quality law was sanctioned on November 27, 2024. On May 13, 2026, the Régie du bâtiment published a draft regulation for comment. It’s not in force, and both scope and timing could shift.
The draft targets residential buildings that the new-home warranty plan doesn’t cover. The owner appoints an engineer, architect, or professional technologist as coordinator. That professional writes a surveillance plan, inspects at five stages (foundations, superstructure, closed envelope, closed interior walls, commissioning and finishing), files a report after each visit, and signs an attestation on the Régie’s form. Reports, attestations, and tests are kept ten years. One source says an owner building their own single-family house would have three of the five stages (CMEQ).
The impact study prices the attestation at 1.2% to 1.5% of construction cost, or $105 million a year in new spending (draft text). The technologists’ order told the National Assembly that about 1,700 members are qualified, and it warned that a shortage could delay projects.
Nothing needs buying before the final text appears. The engineers’ order already publishes a practice guide on surveillance documents. Read it and wait for the final regulation.
What the sources leave open
- The penalty for a missed energy declaration.
- Which Cognibox grid applies to a given company.
- How many Quebec contractors are on ISNetworld or Avetta.
- When the inspection regulation takes effect, and how many buildings it reaches.
- Prices: they come from page extracts, so reread them at the source before spending.
Where a rule hands a step to a professional who signs, as with energy verification or the inspection attestation, the cost is real. Everywhere else, the free channel goes first.
If you want to know which of these rules reaches your business, the first consultation is free.
FAQ
Which public construction contracts fall under Quebec’s prompt-payment rules?
Phase one started September 8, 2025, for building contracts of $750,000 or more and civil works of $2.5 million or more. Phase two started September 8, 2026, at $75,000 for buildings and $675,000 for civil works. From September 8, 2027, every covered contract is included. Contracts let by cities are outside the regulation until a separate municipal regulation is adopted.
Do I have to file an energy declaration for my building in 2027?
If it’s a commercial or municipal building of 5,000 m² or more, a residential building with 50 units or more, or a State building over 100 m², yes, by June 30, 2027. Smaller buildings (2,000 m² or more, 25 units or more) follow in 2028. Someone from a named professional order has to verify the data at least every four years.
What does Cognibox cost a Quebec contractor?
Two published price grids disagree. Hydro-Québec’s supplier sheet shows $105 to $630 a year for a new member, rising with headcount. A safety consultant’s page shows $780 to $14,300. Nothing we read says which applies to your company, so check last year’s invoice or ask the client that required the platform.
What are the fines for skipping pay-equity maintenance?
One employer guide says up to $45,000. The exercise comes back every five years, and the working papers are kept six. The CNESST runs a free online tool, and its maintenance page shows your own deadline.